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Global
Vineyard Importers was founded in the spring of 2001 by three
wine industry professionals. The company's mission was to create
a small, quality-oriented importer specializing in up-and-coming
varietals, principally from family-owned boutique wineries and
with a focus on the wineries of South America.
Larry
Challacombe
General Manager
Larry
is knowledgeable about fine wines from all over the world and
is passionate about seeking out those wines that communicate
a sense of place. Having worked on the producer, supplier/importer
and retail ends of the wine business, Larry has a clear understanding
of the pressures that wholesalers, retailers and restaurateurs
face and the necessity of having not just top-quality wines
but effective marketing in a competitive wine market.
From his first
job out of graduate school as a Sales Representative for the
Gallo Wine Company, Larry has moved to positions
of
increasing responsibility in the wine industry, including
Vice President of Marketing for C. Mondavi & Sons (Charles
Krug & C.K. Mondavi wines), Executive Director of the Oregon
Wine Advisory Board, Director of Marketing for Beaulieu Vineyard,
and Director of Marketing for the Western Schieffelin &
Somerset organization. Prior
to founding Global Vineyard Importers, Larry was Vice President
of Sales & Marketing for A.G. Ferrari, an Italian wine and
food importer.
Email: larry@globalvineyard.com
Ricardo
Rivadeneira-Hurtado
Co-Founder
Ricardo lives in Santiago, Chile, and his family has owned vineyards
in the Colchagua Valley for several generations. Although Ricardo
was trained as a winemaker and viticulturist at Catholic University
in Santiago (Chile’s equivalent of U.C. Davis), he feels
it is also necessary to have finely-honed business skills to
successfully import wine. Ricardo and his extended family of
successful Chilean businesspeople opened their own winery, Los
Maquis, in 2004. Their first wine, Maquis Lien, is now in its
third vintage. The winery's second wine, Calcu--a "Super
Chilean" blend--was released in September 2006. Since forming
Global Vineyard Importers, Ricardo has been instrumental in
discovering several of the quality, family-owned South American
wines currently in Global's portfolio.
Email:ricardo@globalvineyard.com
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