Meet Manveer Sandhu, Executive Director of Winemaking at Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services in Healdsburg, California. He got his degree in Neurobiology but lucky for sparkling lovers he became fascinated with grape growing and winemaking while in college and switched his career from medicine to wine. Now he oversees the production of hundreds of brands of sparkling wine.

Meet Nicole Hitchcock, who was named winemaker of the year in 2022 by Wine Enthusiast’s Wine Star Awards. As head winemaker at J Vineyards and Winery in Healdsburg, California, Nicole is always expanding her horizons, from adding an MBA from Sonoma State’s Wine Business Institute to exploring new approaches to winemaking and food pairings.

Meet Jon McPherson, who has been instrumental in putting Southern California on the map for making classic method bubbly and pushing boundaries with the varieties he uses to make them. He is winemaker at Carter Estate family wineries crafting wines for two wineries in Temecula and a third in the Texas hill country.

Samantha is a Phoenix-based sommelier, influencer and TV personality who created a vibrant wine tasting community and online wine club. She loves bubbles so much she decided to make her own. “When in doubt, bubbles” is the first offering from her newest venture, Faff Wine Co.

Amanda is the entrepreneur extraordinaire who created Noughty Alcohol Free sparkling wine (as well as the much-celebrated Thomson & Scott Skinny Prosecco and Champagne). She's made waves all over the non-alcohol wine and wine lifestyle space in the UK.

Known as “Champagne Blaine”, she launched New York Champagne Week in 2013, a week of tastings and parties to spotlight the Champagne lifestyle. In 2016, Wine Enthusiast named her a 40 under 40 Tastemaker and dubbed her ‘The Champagne Queen’. Whatever you call her, she’s a dynamo, always finding new ways to promote the joys of Champagne & sparkling wine

Kelly is a Champagne and sparkling wine enthusiast. Her introduction to Champagne came when she spent a semester abroad in Paris. She weaves sparkling wine into her business, Purple Cork, a virtual wine tasting platform she founded during the pandemic. There is no one more excited than Kelly when she gets to introduce a bottle of bubbles to a new group.

Eric Bauman is the sparkling winemaker at Chateau Frank in New York state, a small, fourth-generation sparkling winery and the largest producer of traditional method sparkling wines in the Finger Lakes. Eric thought working in sparkling wines would be a chance to see the world, although it hasn’t quite worked out that way. However, he has seen both coasts of the U.S. after spending eight years at J Vineyards and Winery in California.

Matt and Alexis, owners of Brick and Mortar Wines in Healdsburg, California have many happy memories of tasting, visiting and learning about Champagne when they were dating. “We bonded over bubbles!” From crafting a variety of wines, to sipping bubbles from a can to popping the cork on a magnum of Dom Perignon, their exploration of bubbles knows no bounds.

Raymond James Irwin, known as Chief Champagne Officer, is the founder of Fizz Champagne and Bubbles Bars in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is on a mission to create a Champagne and sparkling wine revolution in California and beyond.