SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 11, 2022…The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium’s LLC Managing Committee, which represents the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) and the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG), has selected its co-chairs to lead its 2023 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium Program Development Committee. Leticia Chacón Rodríguez, winemaker and winery manager at the University of California, Davis, and Alisa Jacobson “AJ”, founder of Turning Tide Wines and wine consultant, have been appointed to manage the 36-member committee. All committee members volunteer their time to find applicable and timely topics in winemaking, grapegrowing, business and marketing, pursuing appropriate speakers for the Unified Symposium program sessions.
Chacón Rodríguez, a wine professional with over 20 years of experience in California, joined the University of California, Davis as winemaker/winery manager. Previously, she was the director of operations at Safe Harbor Wine Storage, where she oversaw the operations from harvest to bottling, as well as developed and educated the team on food safety and industrial safety programs. She has been part of the winemaking team for Treasury Wine Estates, E&J Gallo Winery, Golden State Vintners (now Wine Group) and Delicato Family Vineyards. An active member of ASEV she has served as past president (2012-2013) and on various ASEV committees. She has served on the Unified’s program development committee and LLC managing committee since 2008. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City, and her Master of Science with emphasis on enology from the University of California, Davis.
Jacobson founded her own wine label, Turning Tide, in 2018, and transitioned to a consulting role in 2021. Prior to that, she worked at Joseph Phelps Vineyards as a laboratory technician and was then hired by Joel Gott Wines as their first employee, where she ultimately became VP of winemaking, overseeing a team of 30 and managing all winery and vineyard operations in California, Oregon and Washington. She also supervised international projects in Argentina, Chile, Italy, France and New Zealand at Joel Gott Wines. She currently sits on the board of the Oregon Wine Council, a peer-review panelist for the NW Center for Small Fruits Research proposals, and chair of the research committee on the West Coast Smoke Exposure Task Force. She received her bachelor’s degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.
The Unified Symposium will host the conference and trade show on January 24-26, 2023, at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento, California. Registration is scheduled to open Tuesday, October 18 at 9 a.m. PDT.
Built with the joint input of growers, vintners and allied industry members, the Unified Symposium had served as a clearinghouse of information important to wine and grape industry professionals for 26 years. The Unified Symposium also hosts the industry’s largest trade show of its kind, with over 700 vendors displaying their products and services. For more information about the upcoming show, visit www.unifiedsymposium.org.
