Cava Meeting Premiere NYC 2025
Speakers
A.J. Ojeda-Pons
A.J. Ojeda-Pons is a prominent sommelier, educator, and consultant, working in the hospitality industry for over twenty years. He advanced his career at leading NY restaurants including Tribeca Grill, The Lambs Club (whose wine list earned the Wine Spectator Best Award of Excellence for seven years), and Mercado Little Spain from Chef José Andrés.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he helped open Temperance Wine Bar in the West Village, creating a unique wine program of one hundred wines by the glass, featuring off-the beaten path grape varieties, whose list achieved the ‘2021 Global Winner for Best New Wine List in the World’ by the World of Fine Wines as well as the ‘Regional Award for North America.’
In May 2024, he started TERRA, in Jeffersonville, NY, a space dedicated to wine tasting education where he hosts weekly sessions and teaches classes at all level of wine knowledge. He holds the WSET Diploma as well as certifications as a Spanish Wine Specialist, Sherry Wine Specialist, Abruzzo Ambassador, and Champagne Specialist.
Doreen Colondres
Doreen Colandres is an accomplished cookbook author with a best-selling title under Penguin Random House and over 15 years of experience in food and wine. As the founder of Vitis House and a certified WSET Educator, she’s shared her passion in 40+ countries. Specializing in healthy cuisine with Mediterranean and Hispanic roots, she engages global audiences through education, media, and culinary storytelling.
Elaine Chukan Brown
Elaine Chukan Brown is an award-winning writer, speaker, and global wine educator, as well as a consultant on mentorship and diversity programs worldwide. Indigenous (Inupiaq and Unangan-Sugpiaq) from what is now Alaska, Brown specializes in American wine and reviews Napa Valley wine and wines of northeastern Spain for Wine Enthusiast. Previously, they served as the Executive Editor US for JancisRobinson.com and their work has appeared in Decanter and Wine & Spirits Magazine. They contributed to both the fourth and fifth editions of The Oxford Companion to Wine, the eighth and upcoming ninth edition of the World Atlas of Wine, and the compilations On Burgundy and On California from Académie du Vin Library.
Mary Gorman-McAdams MW
Mary Gorman-McAdams is a Master of Wine, wine educator, speaker and wine marketing consultant. Mary has taught WSET classes for over twenty years and creates bespoke wine education programs for both the trade and wine consumers. Mary is a regular speaker at wine conferences and a wine judge. Consulting clients include regional wine bodies, individual wine producers and channel partners. Mary is serving her second term as an elected Council member for the Institute of Masters of Wine, is Chair of the Membership Committee and served for 10 years on its Educational Committee. Prior to her career in wine Mary spent 15 years in international business management in the tech industry across a range of business types from startups to multinationals and semi-state bodies.