Mike Veseth (pronounced VEE-seth) is editor of The Wine Economist newsletter (WineEconomist.com) and author of more than a dozen books including Wine Wars (2011), Around the World in Eighty Wines (2018) and Wine Wars II: The Global Battle for the Soup of Wine (2022). He is a sought-after speaker at wine industry meetings both in the United States and around the world.

Veseth’s writings on wine and globalization have been widely praised. Globaloney was selected as a Best Business Book of 2005. Wine Wars was named a Best Wine Book of 2011. The Wine Economist was named Best Wine Blog by Gourmand International in 2015. Money, Taste, and Wine: It’s Complicated received the 2016 Gourmand International award for Best Wine Writing.

Jeff Bitter is a life-long resident of California. Born into a family vineyard operation, Jeff has always had a passion for agriculture and specifically grape growing. Jeff is the President of Allied Grape Growers (AGG), a 500-member statewide grape growers cooperative marketing association. AGG markets approximately $100,000,000 worth of grapes annually to wineries, shippers, packers and dehydrators. In addition to managing AGG, Jeff is a fourth-generation California grape grower on land he and his wife own, and live on, in Madera County.

Jon is the managing partner of bw166 LLC, providing advisory services and data intelligence to the beverage alcohol industry. Jon is also a partner in and the editor of, The Gomberg Fredrikson Report. 
Jon began his career in the Wine industry at twelve years of age when his father decided he needed to develop a work ethic. The work included working weekends and summers in the vineyards where the typical schedule was 10 to 12 hours per day, 60 to 70 hours per week.