Your Personal Sommelier

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Meet Jil, your personal sommelier.  Jil began to collect wine in the late 1980’s.  Because of her new passion for wine, she and her husband traveled frequently to Northern California’s Wine Country.  In 1995 during one of their long wine tasting weekends to the Napa Valley, they stumbled into the quaint town of Santa Rosa and made the move to Wine Country in the spring of 1996.  

Jil began her career in the wine industry working for Kendall Jackson Winery, where she acquired extensive wine knowledge and training.  In addition to working for Kendall Jackson, Jil completed a degree in economics at Sonoma State University with a minor in business.  She also has a passion for the Spanish language and enjoys using it while traveling to the Southern wine regions of Chile and Argentina.  

An invitation to assist with wine competitions through “Vineyard and Winery Management Magazine”, one of the largest industry trade publications in the world, allowed Jil to again broaden her wine universe.  Her accolades include panel coordinator for these wine events. Jil’s continued quest for expanded wine knowledge assisted her in deciding to continue wine education with a goal of becoming a sommelier.  Her esteemed career now includes: nine years with Kendall Jackson winery, 3 years with Alexander Valley Vineyards and employment at Paradise Ridge.    

Jil greatly enjoys conducting wine education presentations, travel industry speaking engagements and on line chats with Wine Tours of the World, Inc. clients. She loves her role as wine educator and wine itinerary developer and ongoing communication with the individual wineries. She loves to share her passion for wine with all levels of wine consumers from the novice to the most discerning wine connoisseur and traveler. Jil’s international travel experience, combined with her wine knowledge helps our organization handcraft the best possible wine itineraries in the industry for each individual traveler. She looks forward to assisting each of our clients with a special, very personalized wine tasting trip. Jil can be contacted by calling our 888.635.8007 number or via email at jil@winetoursoftheworld.com.

Today Jil enjoys being a wine judge and is in the process of studying for her Master of Wine accreditation.  Her studies include programs at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa. Jil has also written winery articles for some of the local winery’s wine club publications.  Her consulting work includes lecturing at the Sonoma State University for continuing education with an emphasis in wine knowledge.  Local Napa & Sonoma restaurateurs also enlist Jil’s talents for food and wine tastings and wine list advice.

Her favorite past time by far, is sipping a lovely “Glass of the Vine” while husband Gary sails them around the San Francisco Bay. While sailing Jil spends time authoring a book with a topic of “The Practical but Humorous Approach to Wine” or contemplating her next culinary creation to be paired with a fine wine.