W.R. Tisherman: Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Wine for All, Blogger at The Wine Skewer, and Editor in Chief of online Wine Magazine Palate Press

W. R. Tish (the professional name of William R. Tisherman), known to many simply as Tish, has been writing and speaking about wine and food for two decades.

After a psychology degree from Harvard (1982), a stint in ice cream (managed first Steve’s franchise outside of Boston, in College Park, Maryland, 1983-’84), an MFA in creative writing (American University, 1987) and a brief poetry career, Tish found himself proofreading at the magazine Friends of Wine.

He moved to New York in 1988 for the launch of Wine Enthusiast and went on to become executive editor, positioning it as a spunkier, funnier alternative to other wine magazines. Since 1998, Tish has written for In Style, Details, Private Clubs, Beverage Media, Better Homes & Gardens, Wine & Spirits and Westchester.

Through his New York-based firm Wine For All (“Pairing Wine and Fun Since the 20th Century”), founded in 1998, Tish has developed and led wine and food events for a variety of Fortune 500 corporations and law firms—not to mention private parties that would make Bacchus envious. At Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, Tish both teaches curriculum classes and leads hands-on-cooking parties. He has also taught at the Sarah Lawrence College; served as an auctioneer for charity wine auctions; and in 2006 became a certified instructor of Bordeaux wines.

Frequently called on to speak for the wine trade, Tish has led seminars on French regions Bordeaux, Loire Valley, Vacqueyras, Languedoc, Provence and Calvados; and Spanish regions Rioja and Jerez. (Yes, he does bachelorette parties and bar mitzvahs, too.)

Tish’s approach to wine veers naturally toward comedy. Wine For All has created lighthearted public events such as Desperate House Wines; Been There, Ate That; and The 13 Funniest Wines in America. Tish has also done standup in Manhattan as a “recovering wine critic,” and his annual April Fools parodies are eagerly awaited by industry peers. His unique and entertaining approach to gastronomy is captured in the motto “I drink, therefore I am; I eat, therefore I am more.”

Recent editorial projects include his own irreverent blog, The Wine Skewer; and the online wine magazine Palate Press (editor-in-chief).

He lives in Katonah, NY, with his wife, twin sons and an eclectic collection of wines.

Channing Daughters Winery: Walter Channing Jr.

Walter Channing Jr. is partner in Channing Daughters Winery, Long Island, NY. Channing planted his first Chardonnay vines at his Bridgehampton, Long Island farm in 1982. From the winery website:

Atlantic breezes cool our vineyards creating a climate hospitable to a wide array of fascinating grape varieties. At Channing Daughters we grow and create wines from the white varieties Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Tocai Friulano, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Ottonel, Malvasia, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Bianco, and the red varieties Merlot, Blaufrankisch, Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Soon the reds Teroldego, Refosco and Lagrein will join them. We are the only winery on the East End growing and producing wines from many of these grapes. Our home is a beautiful plot of land in Bridgehampton that contains twenty-five acres of vines, our small winery and tasting room. We source about fifty percent of our grapes from special sites and people on the North Fork.

Mr. Channing's business life includes the following: He is a founder and partner in C.W. Group, a venture capital business focusing on investments and business development in the healthcare, biotechnology, and managed-care provider service sectors. C.W. Group, its first fund started in 1983, has invested in over 40 companies and has acted as lead investor or originator of 25. Mr. Channing is a member of the Venture Advisory Committee of the Brigham and Womens's Hospital in Boston and the Center For The Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at The Harvard School of Public Health.

After graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Business School (class of 1967) , Channing moved to New York City and became involved in healthcare consulting and later venture capital investing in start-up medical businesses.

ON THE ARTISTIC SIDE:
On the side, Walter Channing followed in his father's footsteps, working with wood. He found a preoccupation in recovering and reworking discarded materials. The demolition of Hudson River piers led to a new focus: rescuing the wood from destruction. Hundreds of feet of strong seasoned wood were scheduled to be hauled out to sea for burning, but Channing stashed away as much of it as he could. Over the next few years, the wood was reborn as furniture, interior walls and art objects, all illustrating the form and quality of the original wood. Later he retrieved discarded trees from the Easthampton dump. This led to a new medium: roots and trunk forms. More recently he created his own personal dump in Bridgehamtpon to have on hand a ready inventory. The nobility of stumps about to be plowed into oblivion became a cause for Channing. He reworked them and gave them a new identity, often with a touch of humor.

Channing's work has been shown since 1975 at such places as the O.K. Harris Gallery, the Webb and Parsons Gallery, Handschin Gallery, Basel, Switzerland; the Indianapolis Museum of Fine Arts and the Root Art Center, Hamilton College. Other shows: the Squibb Gallery in Princeton, New Jersey, and the Elaine Benson and Louise Himmelfarb Galleries in the Hamptons. He also routinely shows his work at the annual Century Association's Sculpture Show in New York City.

More recent work includes inverted, whole trees mounted on scaffolding, chain saw carvings, wood "Berms", and curvilinear stacking of wood. Some of these portray tree roots in an anthropomorphized form, acting like and even imitating humans. The mischief goes on as carved human figures return the gesture, imitate and mime the nethers of the tree.

Channing's studio is in Bridgehampton, Long Island.

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