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JP Clement Joins Vara Winery & Distillery as Chief Executive Officer and General Manager

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JP Clement

(May 22, 2023; Albuquerque, New Mexico)—Albuquerque-based Vara Winery & Distillery is pleased to announce JP Clement as its chief executive officer and general manager. Clement joined the team in January, bringing with him decades of marketing and product management experience, as well as a lifelong love of great wine and food. Having worked across a multitude of culinary, tech and lifestyle brands, Clement will continue building the winery and distillery’s reputation as a boundary-breaking producer of wines and spirits in New Mexico, bolstered by a team of veteran industry artisans.

“Vara has laid a strong foundation as a New Mexican producer of fine wines and spirits that bridges the old world and the new quite literally by blending grapes from Spain, California and New Mexico,” says Clement. “I hope to make Vara a flagship beverage company in New Mexico, and in the United States at large, by combining my passion for spreading the stories of extraordinary brands with the incredibly high-quality craftsmanship already in place at Vara.”

In this role Clement oversees all aspects of production, hospitality, marketing and communications, working closely with Vara’s three expert winemakers Bob Lindquist, Louisa Sawyer Lindquist, Laurent Gruet and with Production Manager and Distiller Djuna Benjamin.

“Vara pays homage to New Mexico’s rich wine heritage while also innovating and thinking outside the box to produce compelling new projects that link our winemaking and distilling strengths, sources and practices that our Vara team has at hand,” says Clement. “It is an exciting company and we are looking forward to expanding our offerings and our neighborhood involvement as we work to become a pillar of the New Mexican wine and food community in the coming years.”

Clement grew up in the south of France, where his family always had wine on the table during al fresco summer dinners—usually carafes of rosé from the Bandol region. He holds degrees from both the Institut de Management International de Paris and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University. His diverse and well-rounded career in marketing and product development includes executive positions with General Mills, Clear Channel, Nestle, Ticketmaster, CitySearch, and many more. Clement believes strongly in the power of community involvement and served on the Corrales Mainstreet Board, proudly representing the city where he lives with his wife and two children.

About Vara Winery & Distillery

Conceptualized with the first release in 2016, Albuquerque-based Vara Winery & Distillery at once embraces and defies tradition, making it one of the most disruptive and exciting producers in the United States today. As a circle of professionals who are masters of their respective crafts and who have both witnessed and shaped the American beverage landscape, the Vara team is united and impassioned by the prospect of breaking boundaries and creating something entirely new. Vara is inspired by the wine history in New Mexico, which started in 1629 and is as rich, diverse and storied as the region’s colorful landscapes. The road to American wine began with Spanish missionaries who came through New Mexico to California. Thus, Vara wines are sourced from all three places and are intentionally blended to create beyond-standard cuvees using innovative techniques. At Vara, a melding of varieties and sources focuses not on what wine should be, but on what wine can become. The goal at Vara is to embrace diversity and make wines and spirits that are delicious and greater than the sum of their parts. Vara Winery & Distillery produces still, sparkling, fortified wines, brandy, gin and rum. Vara’s tasting rooms in Albuquerque and Santa Fe offer wine and cocktail classes and curated tapas. 

For more information about Vara Winery & Distillery, please visit www.varawines.com and www.varaspirits.com.

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