Let the extensive expertise and attention to detail of Karen MacNeil and her staff create a dynamic wine and food experience for your next sales meeting, board meeting, convention, business retreat or customer appreciation program.
Karen MacNeil clearly understands the chemistry of wine and people, which when combined, makes for an extraordinary event. All Karen MacNeil programs are customized to meet the needs of your organization.
Karen MacNeil has a long history of successful creative consulting projects, from educational curriculums to television programs to consumer product design. Karen’s extensive expertise and creative viewpoint bring a high level excellence to the projects she works on. Karen offers a breadth of consulting services not only on wine and the wine industry, but also on the integration of wine with the consumer lifestyle.
In knowledge, skill, style, and presentation, no one in America tops Karen MacNeil when it comes to wine. The preeminent wine educator, wine consultant and author of The Wine Bible, Karen has won every top wine award in the English language. With her extensive wine knowledge and uniquely creative viewpoint, she knows how to captivate audiences large and small, and how to present wine in an engaging, real-world, American manner. For Karen, wine is more than a beverage; it’s a communal passage into the culture of living well.
Karen MacNeil offers numerous types of wine tours, wine tastings, and wine events, allowing you to experience wine in unforgettable ways. We will customize an individual or small group tasting, seminar, or tour for you. Here, for example, are some of our popular offerings:
Join Karen MacNeil & Company for “Big Nose, Long Legs, Full Body” – our name for our class on the fundamentals of tasting wine. In this fun, private 1½ hour workshop, you’ll learn insider tips on how pros taste, what they look for in a wine, and how they differentiate great wine from good Wednesday-night quaffs.
From $350 per couple in the Napa Valley. Contact our office for the cost of conducting this exciting, informative tasting elsewhere in the United States.
“Karen MacNeil is not only the most authoritative voice for Napa Valley wine, she is the most passionate and entertaining voice. Education has never been more fun. If you want to know something about wine (old and new world) and Napa Valley Wine in particular, she is a perfect choice for an evening of education and celebration. It will be the ‘highlight event’ for your year–I promise.”
-David Carter, ImmunoGen, Inc. Board of Directors
“At Lexus, our philosophy is to make the most of every moment in a way that makes a difference. Karen MacNeil’s experience, combined with her extraordinary ability to engage our dealers made for an incentive trip of a lifetime. Karen made a difference by exceeding our expectations.”
-Steve Waddell, Lexus
“Karen MacNeil has ‘poured’ years of wine experience onto paper and the result is astounding.”
-Thomas Keller, Executive Chef, The French Laundry (about The Wine Bible)
Karen MacNeil is the author of The Wine Bible and is the creator of a wide range of media projects. Karen has one of the most unique and engaging voices in the wine industry today. To that point, The Wine Bible has sold more than a half million copies since its publication… making it one of America’s best-selling books on the subject of wine. The Wine Bible is like a lively course from an expert teacher, grounded deeply in the fundamentals and enriched with passionate opinions, asides, tips, anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, maps… everything, in fact, but the wine itself.
Solidify customer loyalty, garner new clients, drive business, reward a job well done, or “close the deal” with an unforgettable, intimate and entertaining dinner on the art of pairing wine and food. These dinners are often preceded by an expertly planned wine reception that promotes networking and spirited conversation.
Boost morale, generate enthusiasm, and enhance teamwork all while building a strong set of wine skills. Specialized wine seminars designed for busy executives not only educate about wine in the business setting but also utilize tools and experiences to engage teams.
Enhance your next partner or board retreat with a unique interactive wine experience to bring diverse personalities together and bond over a common point of interest and inspiration.
Wine and food are the through-lines of living well. They inspire us. And their rich place in history naturally lends them to compelling story lines. Combined with Karen MacNeil’s extensive travels and personal life experiences, the story of wine and food woven together will enthrall any audience.
Reward your employees or customers with an incentive trip to wine country. Integrate private wine tastings and educational sessions with business meetings and other events. Explore themes of excellence, distinction and quality as told through wine. Culminate the days by experiencing the art of food and wine pairing. While these programs are most often conducted in the Napa Valley, they can be arranged in any wine region in the world.
Whether it is acting as spokesperson, creating high impact public events or developing wine education- based marketing materials to communicate a unique message, Karen will bring her top-notch communication skills to your project. Karen has consulted on public relations events for National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Wine Market Council and Suntory/Japan. In addition she has deep experience in every aspect of communication from print publication to television, where she co-produced and was host of the Emmy award-winning PBS show, Wine, Food and Friends.
Proper training and education are integral to any successful business strategy. As the preeminent wine educator in the US, Karen has worked with many organizations to develop wine and hospitality training programs and tools to assist these companies in achieving new highs in customer service and motivating their sales teams. Organizations such as Viking, the Culinary Institute of America, the Napa Valley Vintners Association and select wineries have benefited from Karen’s dynamic and impactful teaching style.
Karen personally conducts wine tastings for individuals and corporations around the United States. (See also Corporate Wine Events). If you’d like to experience a tasting with Karen, contact us. We can help you decide on the theme, wines, and every other aspect of your tasting. A private wine tasting with Karen is also a perfect wine gift for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, and other lifetime celebratory events.
From Bordeaux to Napa Valley; from Spain to Australia, Karen MacNeil can personally plan and take you and your group on a private wine tour of any wine region in the world. Karen has been the wine tutor for dozens of individuals who she has taken on customized wine tours globally. With Karen as your planner and personal guide, you’ll see wine country—and have access to top wines, in a way no tourist ever does.
Have a wine trip already planned? Karen MacNeil & Company can provide one of our trained wine tutors to accompany you. Whether you’re coming to the Napa Valley or are visiting wine country anywhere on the globe, a personal wine tutor can make your experience richer, deeper, and more meaningful by providing insightful wine education and wine advice every step of the way. The cost for a personal wine tutor, trained by Karen MacNeil, begins at $800 a day.
And if you are interested in Karen MacNeil as your personal wine tutor, please contact our office.
Karen MacNeil received the highest honor awarded to a wine professional in the United States when, in 2004, the James Beard Foundation named her Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year. The following year, she joined award winners Morley Safer (60 minutes), filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, and winemaker Robert Mondavi by being named Wine Educator of the Year by the European Wine Council. In 2006, the organization Women Chefs and Restaurateurs presented Karen with the Women Who Inspire Golden Goblet Award. And in 2007, Karen was honored with the Wine Literary Award by the Wine Appreciation Guild for her substantial contribution to the literature of wine, joining laureates Hugh Johnson, Robert M. Parker, Jr., and Jancis Robinson. In 2008, The International Wine & Spirits Competition recognized Karen as “the voice that has most effectively communicated wine and spirits to the public” by awarding her the global trophy for Communicator of the Year. And in 2010 Karen was inducted into the Wine Media Guild Hall of Fame for her “significant contribution to the body of wine writing and education.” Lastly, Karen MacNeil has won an Emmy for her PBS television series, and has been named a “Woman of Achievement” by the State of California.
Wine, Food & Friends is a hardcover food and wine cookbook, packed with irresistible photographs, stunning seasonal menus and all the right wines to match. With Karen’s expert advice and top-rated recipes, you’ll gain a better understanding of the art of selecting and serving wine as well as the inspiration for elegant, modern entertaining.
Karen’s wine knowledge and style, as well as her refreshing approach have helped companies such as Waterford Crystal and Lands’ End design products that reflect the contemporary lifestyle of people who love wine, food and entertaining. She has also brought her expertise to the sky while consulting with Singapore Airlines to create the wine lists which awarded Singapore Airlines with the “Best Cellar in the Sky” award.
Karen MacNeil is one of the foremost wine experts in the United States. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Wine Bible, recognized as “the most comprehensive and authoritative book on wine written by an American author.”
Karen’s articles on wine and food have been published in more than 50 magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, Food and Wine, U.S.A. Today, Elle, Cooking Light, and Town & Country. Karen has also brought her style and love of wine to television—first as the wine correspondent for NBC’s Today Show, and later as the Emmy-award winning host of the PBS television series Wine, Food & Friends with Karen MacNeil. In 2006 her companion book, Wine, Food & Friends, was released.
With her team at Karen MacNeil & Company, Karen creates and consults on one-of-a-kind wine experiences, seminars, and programs for corporate clients, businesses and individuals. Some recent past clients include: Lexus, Merrill Lynch, Disney, General Electric, UBS, World Presidents Organization, Sunset Magazine, Singapore Airlines, and Mattel (who, in recognition, designed a wine-glass-holding Barbie look-alike after Karen!)
An educator at heart, Karen is the creator and Chairman of the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley. The multi-million dollar center with its advanced wine curriculum and state-of-the art wine sensory classrooms has been called the “Harvard of Wine Education.”
In a full page profile in 2004, TIME magazine named Karen “America’s Missionary of the Vine.” She holds an Advanced Certified Wine Professional Degree.
“I have been visiting the Napa Valley for several years. Without a doubt, the single best day spent was on a private tour hosted by Karen MacNeil and her staff. We visited wineries I have tried and failed to visit before; saw a side of the winemaking process I had never thought about before; and accommodated my wife and daughter’s passion for cooking with a private tour of the Culinary Institute of America. Thank you.”
-Carl Camden CEO, Kelly Services
The Wine Lovers Calendar—2012 is a year of wine advice in a terrific Page-A-Day desk calendar. Here are hundreds of fantastic wine recommendations, plus tips, advice, history and lore. An enjoyable and informative page for every day of the year. And a perfect gift.
Let Karen MacNeil and her team create an “Insiders” wine tour itinerary of the Napa Valley for you, and then make all the appointments for you. You’ll get special treatment at top wineries, many of which are not open to the public. Your individualized itinerary will come with maps, helpful hints and key information about the Napa Valley. The process is simple. Contact our office, tell us the kinds of wines you like, and we’ll create a custom itinerary for you, and provide you with all the details you need to have an exciting, rich experience of the Valley and its great wines. And to increase your enjoyment and experience even more, we can also provide you with a Karen MacNeil trained wine tutor who will accompany your group as your personal wine educator.
Cost: From $300 per day and up.
Merrill Lynch
UBS
Disney
Lexus
Mattel
Oracle
Club Managers of America
General Electric
American Express
Zeughauser Group, LLC
J.P. Morgan
Hitachi
Acosta, Inc.
First Transit
TIME, Inc.
NBC
Young Presidents’ Organization
World Presidents’ Organization
Southern Progress
ImmunoGen, Inc.
Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
Ocular Nutrition Society
Sunset Magazine
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Waterford Crystal
Viking
Boisset Family Estates
Singapore Airlines
Lands’ End
PBS
Southcorp
National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc.
Wines from Spain
Napa Valley Vintners
Suntory
Raymond Winery
Wine Market Council
Alpha Omega Winery
Italian Trade Commission
Culinary Institute of America