The Wino

Muddling Herb Cane. Fresh-cut sugar cane. Bees in fresh-pressed cane juice. Duggan McDonnell is a culinary boozehound, an educator, consultant, and a partner in the Latin cocktail lounge, Cantina. Raising Cane! Portuguese can be tough on the tongue. Like the word cachaça (kuh-shaw-suh), for instance. When sloppily said, the word…

Photo: Ira Fox, Gramercy Park Photo, (from ASA website). Michaël Engelmann is currently a sommelier at restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco. He has worked in high-end restaurants in France and England, including Georges Blanc and Chewton Glen. A native of a small village in Alsace, France, he has lived…

Rich Higgins is president of the San Francisco Brewers Guild and has been brewing professionally in San Francisco for five years. He is also a certified Cicerone and a consultant to the restaurant industry on beer and food pairing. He can be reached at rich [at] richhiggins [dot] com. 2009:…

Emily Wines is the wine director for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants and the Fifth Floor Restaurant. In February of 2008, she became one of 15 female Master Sommeliers in the world. In addition to maintaining the Fifth Floor's Wine Spectator Grand Award, she teaches the casual Wednesday wine…

Jerry Cooper owns Swirl on Castro, a wine/spirits retail store and wine bar in the Castro district, and is an active participant in the wine and spirits world. He judges for the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Panel, The SF International Wine Competition, and the SF World Spirits Competition. My…

10 years ago, Jessica Furui tasted sake for the first time. She didn't know then all the inspiration it would bring. Currently, sake sommelier and buyer of Ozumo Contemporary Japanese Cuisine, she spends several nights a week "finding something that her guests don't know they…

Duggan McDonnell is a partner in the Latin cocktail lounge Cantina, an educator, consultant, and a culinary boozehound who says, "America: love it or leave it!" Repeal Day: The Fight for Your Right to Party This Friday, December 5th, marks the 75th Anniversary of one of the most…

Ian Becker has worked in the restaurant industry for much of the past 15 years, and is currently the manager of Arlequin Wine Merchant, the sister store of Absinthe Brassiere and Bar in Hayes Valley. Ian’s interest in wine began as a waiter getting through undergrad while studying journalism.…

In addition to his work as a freelance writer and illustrator, Wayne Garcia oversees the tiny but carefully chosen wine list at Piccino Café in Dogpatch, where his wife Sher is a partner, and writes a wine column for Edible San Francisco. When not sipping rosé, Garcia also writes about…