The Wine Panel Judges
David LeClaire, Sommelier
David LeClaire is a certified sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers and currently serves as Wine Ambassador for Esquin Wine & Spirits. David is the founder of the popular wine events business Seattle Uncorked and produces a wide array of wine, spirits, and beer events each year.
Mr. LeClaire is also a free-lance writer for the Washington Tasting Room Magazine, is an instructor at North Seattle College, and serves as judge for various wine competitions including the Seattle Wine Awards.
He was also the founder of Wine World & Spirits, which at its' inception was the largest independent wine store in the Northwest, and was awarded the “2013 Independent Retailer of the Year” award by the Washington Wine Commission. David LeClaire previously served as Wine Director at Seattle’s prestigious Alexis Hotel (& Painted Table Restaurant) for 10 years.
Tracey LaPierre
Tracey is the Owner / Enologist / Winemaker at Seattle Wine Lab since 2015, and offers a full service wine lab and consulting services for winemakers, both commercial and garagiste. She has over 15 years of experience in the wine industry and provides a clear, unbiased and practical approach to winemaking. Tracey has been a judge for the Seattle Wine Awards for many years.
She served as head instructor of winemaking at the Northwest Wine Academy at South Seattle College as well as the Enologist for Mark Ryan Winery from 2013 - 2015, after her role for 5 years as Associate Winemaker at DiStefano Winery in Woodinville, Washington. From 2008 to 2011 Tracey was in California as Winery Lab Taskmaster at Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery.
Christopher Gronbeck
Christopher Gronbeck is owner and manager of The Barrel Thief Wine & Whiskey Bar (150+ wines by the glass, 350+ whiskeys) in Fremont, founded in 2013 as a place to discover and appreciate fine food & drink from the Pacific Northwest and around the world. He's been writing and teaching about wine and spirits for many years, and has a 20-year history as an educator, and currently teaches classes thru The Barrel Thief as well as North Seattle College.
A graduate of Stanford University, Christopher is a man with many talents including his graphics design business and Sustainable By Design Solar Energy Consulting.
Shelly Fitzgerald
Shelly Fitzgerald of SommSomm is a wine expert who specializes in creating authentic wine education classes and experiences for all group sizes. She has worked in the wine industry; in restaurants, retail, and education for more than two decades, and is a Certified Sommelier (CS), Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW), American Wine Expert (AWE), and holds the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Shelly has delivered wine education classes for thousands of casual and serious wine aficionados and was recently named as “one of the state’s most approachable wine educators” by Tasting Room Magazine. Shelly is also a wine judge and expert contributor to Passport to Woodinville. Most recently, she has been featured in Costco Connection, Tasting Room Magazine, as well as judging for The Tasting Panel. Shelly currently works at Avennia Winery as the Northwest Wholesale Manager visiting accounts, fostering relationships, and sharing Avennia wines with her customers.
COLLEEN FRANCES, Director
Colleen Frances has worked with hundreds of wineries as an event specialist for Seattle Uncorked in many communities around the Greater Seattle area. Through her experience with events of all sizes she has established many relationships in the wine community.
As the Director for The Wine Panel, Colleen communicates with the wineries regarding their submissions, invites guest judges from the wine industry, inventories and adds wine submissions to our database, manages our storage lockers, and organizes the wines and our team of pourers for all of the blind tastings to keep the wines secret from our judging panels!