“We had a great night! Liza’s events are a true delight. Her knowledge about wine is jaw dropping. She knows how to educate about wine in a playful way. The experience was excellent!”
- Hermine Baker
Owner,
Atmani Wine Country Tours
Atmani Wine Country Tours
“Liza is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to wine! She makes wine education fun and approachable. I always discover new wines at her events.”
- Miki Carlton
SF marketing executive
“You did an outstanding job! It was not an easy crowd to please,”
- René Van Camp
Corporate Beverage Director, The Americas,
InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group
“Liza’s years of writing about the wine business gives her ready access to experts across the industry. In her seminar at Sonoma State, her first-hand knowledge and experience was complemented by first-class panel of colleagues,”
- Ray Johnson
Director,
Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute
Sonoma State University’s Wine Business Institute
“You are a credit to the profession and we feel privileged to have shared this delightful experience with you.”
- Walter Pietschnig
Food and beverage manager and Mario da Silva, head sommelier,
Crystal Cruises
Crystal Cruises
“Liza’s ‘How to be Wine Savvy in Business’ was a big hit with our alumni. Liza’s warmth and natural ability to pique her students’ curiosity ensured that everyone went home learning a lot. We tasted some great wines, answered all our burning wine questions and had tons of fun. Liza took care of all the details making sure the whole night ran smoothly.”
- Anna Kharbas
San Francisco Regional President,
Cornell Alumni Association of Northern California
Cornell Alumni Association of Northern California
“What an elixir! I sort of know one is not supposed to enjoy one’s own publicity but I couldn’t help enjoying how well you write even if it was about my firm and myself.”
- David Rockwell
CEO,
Rockwell Group (restaurant architects),
New York City
Rockwell Group (restaurant architects),
New York City
“I was very impressed with the depth of knowledge and expertise you so eloquently shared with our attendees. You did a great job balancing a very knowledgeable group of wine enthusiasts. I would highly recommend your services to anyone.”
- Renee Feeney
Business Development Manager,
Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.
Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co.
Services
Consumer Services
Tailored Seminars
Wine events for groups of different professional backgrounds (tech, banking etc.), levels of wine knowledge and demographics (such as women’s groups, gay groups).
Dynamic Team Building Events
Interactive wine tasting and competitive events appropriate for groups of 10 to 300, which can include seminars, interactive wine tasting activities-such as comparing styles of oak and tasting blind—and wine battles based on Iron Chef.
Event Planning Services
Assistance with finding the right venue, caterers, stemware and negociating it all as an insider on your client’s behalf.
Wine and Food Pairing Seminars and Consulting
Sugar and salt, how do they affect the flavor of wine? How can you cook differently to make your dishes work better with wine by using judicious quantities of seasonings? These seminars also cover hints for dining out in terms of both food and wine pairings.
Access to Top Wine Country and Culinary Personalities
Want to visit wineries closed to the public, eat dinner and tour the cellar at a winemaker’s house or taste vintages no longer commercially available on the market? Let a career journalist open the door to experiences that your clients will talk about for years to come.
Wine Tourism and Tastings off the Beaten Path
Let me help in securing tastings at lesser-known wineries, give you access to older vintages, combine them with unique food excursions and give your group the benefit of tasting in private rooms and staying at winery properties not open to the public.
Women and Wine Seminars
Women-only weekends, bridal celebrations and educational programs for any occasion or when spouses are focused on other activities. These can cover great wines made by women winemakers and can include wine-based spa and beauty treatments, elaborate meals and unique sports and hiking activities.
Wine Etiquette for Corporate Executives and Planners
Ask anything and everything you ever wanted to know about wine purchasing, ordering, storage and service. Learn how to choose the perfect wines for corporate gatherings, buy within your price point and serve wines at their ideal temperature and point of drinkability.
Competitions for Consumer and Trade Tastings and Networking Events
Take on your friends and clients like an Iron Chef. Compete at regional, varietal and pairing challenges to win stars for your wine knowledge and a prize. Your guests will love the playfully competitive format.
Liza the Wine Chick is a font of new and exciting ideas that inspire everyone from corporate planners to consumers. Her dynamic formats include educational seminars and boot camps, interactive food and wine pairings and blind tasting competitions and tailored wine- and cocktail-themed sessions for team building, parties and private and corporate festive gatherings.
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Trade Services
Academic Programs for Wine and Culinary Schools
Region-, varietal-, style-, trend- and portfolio-specific courses to take wine and food schools and academic institutions to the next level.
Staff Training for Hotels, Bars and restaurants
From trends to standards in customer service, bring in an expert to reinforce best practices and get your staff up-to-date and re-energized.
Pairing Courses for Restaurant Wait Staff
Wait staff and chefs can always benefit from training, whether it is tableside with clients, in the kitchen or in your meetings to optimize sales. Zimmerman will get your staff focused on key food and wine trends, new service standards and pairing synergies to help your operation pump up sales.
Courses on Different Wine Regions, Styles and History
For wine schools, restaurants and bars, importers, brands and more.
Tactical Brand Building Support
Zimmerman can help your team strategically fine-tune sales pitches and marketing materials across spirits and wine categories with key insights on trends, data and what is relevant to consumers.
Targeted Portfolio Tastings
Informative, fun and educational tasting formats give producers and importers access to key on- and off-premise accounts and specific consumer demographics when executed by a noted journalist and educator as a value-added presentation.
Copy Optimization for Marketing, Public Relations and Sales Materials
Zimmerman’s creative use of trends and data helps publicists and marketing execs communicate key messages and points of brand distinction, look beyond traditional wine media, provide ideas for RFPs for new brands and get the message out to operators.
For more information on event formats and services for the event planners and DMCs; wine tourism and visitors associations; publicists; and brands and marketing executives; as well as themed wine events for bankers, attorneys and general information and pricing please click the appropriate link.
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About
Biography
Liza Zimmerman has been writing, educating and consulting about wine, cocktails and food for two decades. She has also worked almost every angle of the wine and food business: from server and consultant to positions in distribution, education and sales. Her approach to wine education, coverage and training is savvy, down to earth and unpretentious.
Zimmerman is one of a very limited number of career magazine editors in the education field.
She focuses on demystifying wine and transforming it into a daily joy and tool for business and networking for her clients and readers. She has visited all the world’s major wine growing and spirits producing regions—50 plus countries and counting—is one of several hundred people in the U.S. to hold the Diploma of Wine & Spirits (D.W.S.), the three-year program that is the precursor to the Master of Wine.
Partial Client List
- Cornell University
- Crystal Cruises
- Culinary Institute of America St. Helena
- Deloitte
- DFV Wines
- Folio Fine Wine Partners
- Genentech
- IBM
- Jordan Winery and Vineyards
- Manhattan Cocktail Classic
- Meadowood Napa Valley
- National Restaurant Association: International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event
- Pernod Ricard USA
- Society of Wine Educators
- Sonoma State University Wine Business Institute
- Terlato Wines International
- The Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco
- Trinchero Family Estates
- Wine & Spirit Education Trust
- Unisys
Hot off the press
Editorial Coverage
Sandy's Toll on NY
Superstorm Sandy may have been the most devastating event to happen to the New York Metro’s restaurant and retail wine scene since the World Trade Center attacks on Sept 11…
Washington Ends Liquor Monopoly
The end of the state-controlled sale of spirits in Washington State took place at the end of May, and has many retailers worried about the impact on wine sales. When Prohibition ends…
Mother Knows Best
I am the child of a stubborn wonam, and like mother, like daughter. We’re both hardheaded, but she has nevertheless managed to pass down some wisdom over the years. A few of her…
Red Blends
The Bulk of the world’s wine producers have historically produced blended wines according to the traditions and terroir of their lands. Many of the longest producing of the New…
Snakes on a Plate
I don’t know whether it was the kick of the Nuoc Mam, fermented fish sauce, or the seductive crunch of summer rolls with mint, but I fell in love with Vietnamese food at an early age. …
Where the Cabbies Eat
I have spent a lifetime asking cabbies for restaurant tips. They have taken me to classic “Meat ‘n’ Three” places outside of Nashville and incredible mustard-based barbecue dives in strip malls in…
NY 7 Wonders of the World
It’s a New York take on manifest destiny: the image of the IRT 7 train, spreading out across the wilds of Queens, like a wagon trail rolliing west across the Great Plains. A quarter of a million immigrants…
Fodor's
Comfort Food in Melbourne
The Commoner. The dining room here is packed with young couples enjoying some of the town’s best and most eclectic food. Chef Matt Donnelly’s…
Blogs
Public Relations and Marketing Writing Samples
Cruz Tequila Sell Sheet
Cruz Tequila is made from only estate-grown agave from the highlands of the prestigious Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico. Cruz’s estate is at one of the highest elevations in Los…
Business of Wine Restaurant Chapter
The on-promise trade has always been a key sector for the wine industry. From huge chains with hundreds of units that sell a handful of wines in massive quantities to white-table cloth…
Wines of the Pacific Northwest Course
Almost half of the state of Oregon is covered in forests. The eastern part of the state is semi-arid: the west is extremely wet. Oregon has 11 national wildlife refuge areas, and is home to deer…
Cindy Pawlcyn Bio
Cindy Pawlcyn is a pioneer in the development of wine country cuisine and a top chef at the helm of her own rapidly growing culinary group. Pawlcyn is the owner of three of Napa Valley’s beloved…
Brassica Wine Program Release
November 4, 2011- San Francisco – Cindy Pawlcyn and managing partner Sean Knight have launched Brassica Mediterranean Kitchen & Wine Bar to a tremendous reception and Napa…
Terlato Berlucci Release
The wine market these days is overflowing with bubbles: thank goodness! However, how do you…
Beam Sauvignon Blanc Tasting Note
Clos du Bois Classic Wines are consumer favorites that reflect the winery’s accessible and elegant winemaking style. We source our fruit from those regions that are best suited to…
Ambrosia (1-800 Flowers-owned) Wine Club
This winery is managed by the four Buoncristiani brothers who were raised in Napa and in the business. The wine is the winery’s house red blend. The name is short for “Ol’Pa’s Claret,” in honor of their winemaking predecessors…
Coverage
A Drink with Liza Zimmerman
I adore rowdy rosés from Italy, Spain’s Navarra region and Bordeaux in the summer. Austrian Grüner Veltliner and sauvignon blanc from practically anywhere are divine, as …
Imbibe Summer Wines Coverage
Summer wine-tasting trips can be memorable, but not always in a good way. Sometimes a spontaneous jaunt to wine country to take advantage of a warm-weather weekend can feel like…
Glam Wine Values with Amy Sherman
Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you have to skip the wine. We turned to Liza Zimmerman, principal of the wine education…
Hutch Premier Chefs Dinner
SEATTLE — May 22, 2006 — No longer content toiling behind the scenes, members of the Premier Chefs Advisory Board took center stage to raise more than $308,000 for the Fred Hutchinson…
National Television Appearances
Wines for Summer Entertaining
I just did a segment on a local ABC channel View from the Bay with home décor diva Lisa Quinn. We covered some of the basics of home entertaining on a reasonable budget. In having to pack …
Audio
Dining Around: Sicily and Chicago
Listen to 910.KKSF’s Dining Around hosted by Gene Burns with special guest Liza Zimmerman, who talks about her trips to Sicily and Chicago.
Dining Around: Turkey
Listen to 910.KKSF’s Dining Around hosted by Joel Riddell with special guest Liza Zimmerman, who shares her culinary experiences in Turkey.
Events
Events
Liza the Wine Chick offers everything from interactive wine and food pairing sessions, insight on wine for business etiquette and high-energy, competitive wine competitions (based on Iron Chef). As an educator and consultant, she excels at new wine and spirits formats that bring value to consumers, restaurants, wine and spirits marketers, event planners and DMCs.
Upcoming Events
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Contact
