Winery
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- General Manager at Cornerstone Cellars, Napa Valley
- Publisher at The Wine Camp Blog
- Past
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- President at Anne Amie Vineyards
- Publisher at VinoCibo.com
- Wine and Italian Forum Host/ Daily Gullet Columnist at eGullet.com
4 more...
- Education
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- Illinois State University
- Recommended
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18 people have recommended Craig - Connections
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392
connections
- Industry
- Wine and Spirits
- Websites
Craig Camp’s Summary
I was born and raised in Harvard, Illinois, a land of Manhattans, Pabst beer and Friday-night fish fries: wine was unknown. However, during a college semester spent studying in Europe I discovered wine and fine food. After graduating from college, I worked as a photojournalist and food and wine writer for four years before my passion for food and wine overwhelmed my sense of reality.
In 1980, I joined Direct Import Wine Company which grew to be recognized as offering the most elite portfolio of estate wines in the Chicago market. In 1996 the company was devoured by Paterno Imports (who later fed it to Southern Wine and Spirits), but I remained at Direct as president until 1999. In a fit of sanity, prompted by an outburst of ethics, I left the corporate world of the Terlato Wine Group to return to the area of the wine industry that fueled my passion for wines to begin with: small estates making distinctive wines with a personality reflecting the vision of the people that created them.
I then moved to Italy, where I did sales and marketing for an elite group of European wineries. I was also writing and doing a total immersion experience in Italian winemaking. This led to my creating VinoCibo.com to share these experiences and engage in an exchange of ideas with other like-minded “terroir-ists”. Now that I am back in the USA that project has been replaced by The Wine Camp Blog (www.winecampblog.com) as I wanted my focus to go beyond the wines of Italy.
Upon returning from Italy I took over Chateau Benoit in Oregon, first as Director of Sales and Marketing then as President, recreating the brand as Anne Amie Vineyards. In a three year period I rebuilt the damaged brand establishing a 23 state distribution network from scratch and dramatically increasing sales, quality and profitability.
Currently I am general manager of Cornerstone Cellars in the Napa Valley, where I'm privileged to work with an extraordinary winemaker, Celia Masyczek.
Craig Camp’s Specialties:
Web 2.0, public relations, distribution, marketing, Wine 2.O, writer, blogger, photographer
Additional Information
Craig Camp’s Websites:
Craig Camp’s Interests:
cooking, jazz and baseball
