Labeling Part 1: California Bottle Bill

John Trinidad

Organization:

Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty P.C., California

John Trinidad is a co-managing partner of Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty, and is a partner in the firm’s Wine Law, Business, Alcohol Beverage, and Geographical Indications practice groups. John advises wine and alcohol beverage industry clients on a broad range of legal issues, including business formation, obtaining alcohol beverage licenses, and the drafting of key contracts, such as grape purchase agreements, vineyard leases, and distribution contracts, and the purchase and sale of winery brands and assets. John also advises clients on federal and state alcohol beverage regulations such as franchise laws, tied-house laws, labeling requirements, and the protection and promotion of American Viticultural Areas.

John is a graduate of Harvard College and the New York University School of Law. In 2017-2018, John has led wine law classes the University of California Davis School of Law and Napa Valley College. He is currently a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley School of Law where he co-teaches a wine law class.

John is an avid photographer, and his pictures of vineyards, wineries, and producers were published in a book on the history of the Champagne region, But First, Champagne.

Adolfo Alarcón – Méndez

Organization:

Trinchero Family Estates, California

Adolfo Alarcón had dreamed about making wine before graduating from college with a degree in chemical engineering. After visiting a small, old-fashioned winery in Mexico early in his college career, Adolfo knew that the wine industry was for him. “I was intrigued with applying things I was learning in chemical engineering to winemaking,” he says. To further understand wine and its history, Adolfo began to study the major languages of wine-producing countries. A native Spanish speaker, he became fluent in English, French, and Italian, and has acquired the basics of German, giving him an incredible understanding of wine history and the ability to go anywhere in the world to follow his passion.

He had to wait eight years to fulfill his dream. “I needed money”, Adolfo comments, “I had to go out in the real world and work for a while first before I could go back and study winemaking.” As a graduate of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico, Adolfo first worked as a chemical engineer for Du Pont and later for IBM before he was able to go back to school to study winemaking. While working as an engineer, recognizing the need to be well-rounded in a competitive global work market, he completed a 3-year evening MBA program at the Universidad La Salle in Mexico, graduating in 1994. At that point, he decided to quit his job and leave his native Mexico to pursue a master’s degree in Viticulture and Enology at the University of California at Davis, which he completed in 1996. It was then that he was finally able to realize his true ambition as a winemaker.

Adolfo worked as a harvest intern at Grgich Hills in Napa Valley and Antinori in Italy. He has held winemaking roles at Stonestreet Winery and Murphy Vineyards in Alexander Valley; Franciscan Estates, Charles Krug, Acacia Vineyard, and Trinchero Family Estates in Napa Valley.

Friends and colleagues describe Adolfo as a “Renaissance Man”, somebody with a broad set of talents and interests who approaches problems and challenges using both his brain and his heart.

Since 1997, Adolfo belongs to Rebovar, a group of Napa Valley winemakers who gather monthly to blind taste and discuss red Bordeaux varietal wines (Cabernet, Merlot, and Bordeaux blends), mainly from Napa Valley and Bordeaux.

Adolfo is the seventh son in a family of nine. He and his wife Nancy have two boys, Rodrigo and Diego. He enjoys gatherings, playing the piano, the guitar, and singing. He likes cooking and enjoys food and wine pairing. He likes hiking and used to be a serious climber — he once made it to the top of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina (22,960 feet), the tallest summit outside the Himalayas, the tallest in the southern hemisphere, and also the tallest in the American continent.

Rachel Machi Wagoner

Organization:

CalRecycle, California

Rachel Machi Wagoner serves as CalRecycle’s director.

Prior to being appointed director by Governor Gavin Newsom in December 2020, Ms. Machi Wagoner served as Deputy Legislative Secretary in the Office of the Governor beginning in 2019.

Before that she worked as the Chief Consultant for the California State Senate Committee on Environmental Quality from 2009 to 2018, where she advised state senators on issues related to environmental protection, including waste reduction, environmental justice, pollution prevention, and hazardous waste.

Ms. Machi Wagoner’s experience also includes time as Research Director at the University of Illinois, Chicago School of Public Health and an Advisor at the Department of Environment for the City of Chicago in 2008. Other public service includes consulting for the California State Senate Committee on Environmental Quality from 2007 to 2008 and for the California State Senate Committee on Health from 2004 to 2007, working as Director of Legislative Affairs at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control from 2002 to 2004, acting as a consultant for the California State Senate Committee on Elections and Reapportionment from 2000 to 2002, and as Deputy Legislative Secretary for Governor Gray Davis from 1999 to 2000.

Ms. Machi Wagoner holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy with a minor in history from the University of San Francisco.

Tim Schmelzer

Organization:

Wine Institute, California

Wine Institute is the public policy advocacy group representing over 1,000 California wineries and affiliated businesses responsible for 80 percent of the nation’s wine production and 95 percent of U.S. wine exports. Wine Institute is the largest advocacy and public policy association for California wine, and the only group representing the industry at the state, federal and international levels.

Tim Schmelzer began his Wine Institute career in 2008. He has been Vice President of California State Relations since 2016 after having previously served as Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs.

Tim’s early years at Wine Institute focused on environmental and labor policy, but he has since expanded into the alcohol beverage control and taxation policy arenas. In recent years, Tim and his Sacramento team have also been heavily engaged in recycling, health & safety and wildfire policy issues. Earlier in his career, Schmelzer served as the Manager of State Legislative Policy for Southern California Edison, and the Legislative Director for the California Energy Commission. In total, he has over 30 years of experience working with California State Government.

Schmelzer is a California native and resides in Sacramento with his wife Karen and three children. He graduated cum laude from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa with degrees in Politics and International Relations.