Our Consultants

Alberto Antonini, an oenologist, winegrower, and consultant, has been recognized by his peers as one of the top five wine consultants in the world (Decanter, July 2015). He graduated from the University of Florence in 1985 with a degree in Agricultural Science. His thesis focused on Tuscan vines that were heading toward extinction. Alberto continued his education in oenology at Bordeaux University and the University of California at Davis. He went on to work as an assistant oenologist with Frescobaldi and served as technical director at Col d’Orchia in Montalcino. In 1996, he was selected as head of oenology at Antinori.

Alberto provides consulting services for vintners in his native Italy, the U.S., Argentina, Canada, Chile, Uruguay, Armenia, and Australia. His goal is to assist clients in creating wines that bring forth the terroir’s richness and simplicity. As he is fond of saying, “The wine of the future will be the wine of the past.”

Chilean born Pedro Parra is a trained geologist with a PhD in Agriculture who has forged a unique niche in the understanding and expression of terroir in wine. He has travelled the world extensively studying various geologies of some of the most world-renowned estates including Romanee Conti. He uses the winegrowing knowledge acquired by trial and error over generations in his studies of wines and their relationships with the soils from which they are produced and combines these analyses with electro-conductivity surveys to determine best practices for making the best wines within the variations of soils throughout each vineyard.

Interview with Pedro Parra and Alberto Antonio in Decanter, October, 2013

Elizabeth Berger began her journey with wine in London specialising in Marketing and PR for some of the most highly acclaimed wine families in the World.  She acquired a BA Hons International in History of Art and Architecture before beginning her wine education achieving Hons in her WSET Diploma where she was awarded the Geoffrey Jameson Award which took her on to studying the Master of Wine.

Based in Italy since 2013, she has worked globally connecting stories and people to fine wines and the culture behind them. Her experience tasting, analyzing and selecting fine wine spans over two decades.

Dr. Casandra Hoffman is a classically trained microbiologist and biochemist. She attended Juniata College, where she first fell in love with bacteria. She continued studying microbes; obtaining her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia and she has held two Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (UVA and Oregon Health and Sciences University). Her projects over the years have investigated microbial biofilms, infectious organisms, circadian rhythms of infection, and most recently, the microbiome and human health.

She launched and manages the TransUniversity Microbiome Initiative at UVA, which has expanded her research interests into soil and plant microbes. Casandra works with the Ramiiisol team to characterize the vineyard microbiome and identify beneficial microbes that protect and enhance the vines.

Sarah Horne is a certified Horticulturalist who has been gardening since her childhood in Norfolk, England. She studied horticulture for three years at Easton College in Norwich, England and went on to receive a BSC, Horticulture, from the prestigious Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London.

Sarah and The English Gardener Team have worked within our Ramiiisol Territorium since 2013 creating and maintaining orchards, ornamental gardens and kitchen gardens.

Ryan Williamson grew up on a West Virginia mountain homestead watching his parents do everything, even beekeeping.  As apples don’t fall far from the tree, Ryan too enjoys multiple and diverse interests.  In high school he started The Mouse Works, designing, sewing and selling fanciful and functionally warm, cuddly fleece hats online and at craft shows.  He also kept his passion for bees.  So, when not sewing, we can find Ryan in the bee yards where he tends between 100-150 honeybee colonies or between 2 and 12 million bees!  Over the years of caring for his bees, he also started selling queens, bee colonies and excellent local honey.  He has become an outstanding local expert in bee care, their diseases, honey production, favorite seasonal plants and flowers and annual life cycle.  Ryan helps us keep Ramiiisol Territorium’s bees healthy and happy.