Wine Blog
"Juicy Tales by Jo Diaz"

My name is Jo Diaz.

(Jo is the feminine use of the name Joe. My father wanted a boy.)

After an 11-year career in radio broadcasting, involving PR and photographing rock and rollers, I moved to California (1992). Rather than continuing in radio, I segued into the wine industry.

I’ve been in the wine industry as a publicist for 18 years now. I’ve worked for Belvedere, Grove Street, Barefoot Cellars, Mondavi, Ironstone Vineyards, and K-J wine companies, as an employee.

WINE ACADEMICS: I have 60 college units dedicated to wine sales and marketing (which includes enology, vit, marketing, marketing and sales, PR, and wine components, taught by industry professionals from Sonoma County).

WINE EXPERIENCE:

• Belvedere & Grove Street (March 1993 – May 1998)
  • Communications Coordinator
  • District sales manager (N. CA, N. NV, OR, WA, MN, IA, ID, PR)
• Looking for the right job
  • Barefoot Cellars ~ Norther California sales manager (May – August 1998) ~ Not the right fit for me
  • Robert Mondavi ~ wine educator (September – January 1999) ~ Loved it, not enough travel
• Ironstone Vineyards ~ director of PR (January 1999 – August 2001)
• For US wine companies
  • Educated about wine in 40 of our 50 states
  • Organized panels and conducted seminars with my panel members: Kent Rosenblum, Dave Pramuk – one of the owners of Robert Biale Winery, Mike Phillips of Michael~David Winery, Greg Lint – president of oak Knoll Winery, Paul Foppiano of Foppiano Vineyards… that list goes on…
  • Taught the teachers:
    • Society of Wine Educators
    • American Wine Society members
  • I’ve educated consumers
    • Santa Fe Chile Fiesta
    • Florida Wine Festival
    • Dusty Wings (flight attendants at their national headquarters)
    • This list seems endless to me
• Producing educational forums
• Producer and director of the Oregon Pinot Gris Symposium (June 2011)
• Held at Oak Knoll Winery
• Willamette Valley, OR
• Producer and director of the Annual Symposium of Petite Sirah (9th)
  • Held at Foppiano for the first six years
  • Held at Concannon for the last two (2009, 2010, 2011)
• Founding wine advocacy groups (2002)
  • Association of African American Vintners
    • Founded
    • Was the Executive Director for a year (2002)
  • PS I Love You (2002) ~ Advocacy group for Petite Sirah
    • Founded
    • Am still the executive director
    • Tasks
      • Travel the country and educate about any of my 80+ member bottles (pour, educate, and sample Petite Sirah in ways that no one else has the luxury)
    • Produce Dark & Delicious Annual Event (6th, February 17, 2012)
      • Annual event for PSILY, going into its sixth season of Petite (Dark) and gourmet foodies (Delicious)
      • There will be nearly 60 wineries and 30 restaurants/caterers

PUBLISHED:

• The Wine News, Coral Gables, Florida (stopped printing in 2009, and it is a great loss)
• Wine Business Monthly
• Patterson’s Beverage Journal (it is now called The Tasting Panel)
• Wine Country This Week
• Vine Times
• Winefest (Texas)

Diaz Communications clients are my primary passion.