"The Good Stuff” with Sonoma County Winegrowers is Sonoma County’s newest podcast for all things wine, vineyards and farming. Hosted by Virginie Boone and Co-Host Karissa Kruse. Episodes will dive...more
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Karissa Kruse is CEO & President of the Sonoma County Winegrowers, a marketing and educational organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Sonoma County as one of the world’s premier grape growing regions. Since taking over the top leadership role, Kruse has guided the strategy and implementation of Sonoma County becoming the most sustainable wine region in the world. With a BS in Economics and an MBA in Marketing from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Kruse is a forward-thinking leader that continues to innovate in areas of climate stewardship, ag preservation and social sustainability. Her current initiative and passion is the “Farm of the Future.” Kruse is also Executive Director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation which has a simple mission of supporting local vineyard employees and their families. Under her guidance, the foundation has created the first ever Leadership Academy for vineyard employees. Kruse is on the German Marshall Fund Alumni Leadership Council and FIVS Global Environmental Sustainability Working Group. Karissa recently gave a TEDx talk “Drink the Good Stuff” Karissa Kruse: Drink the Good Stuff. She is honored to have been a Marshall Memorial Fellow and is currently active in board roles for Memorial Hospital and the Green Music Center. Kruse has received several honors, but a few of her proudest achievements are being named to the Organic Authority’s List of “Badass Disruptors Changing Your Food System” and Food and Wine Magazine’s most Innovative Women in Food & Drink. Karissa was named A Green Leader by Wine Enthusiast and selected as the Leader of the Year by the California Association of Winegrape Growers. In 2020, Congressman Mike Thompson named Kruse Woman of the Year for his district.
Virginie Boone has written about and reviewed the wines of Napa and Sonoma for more than a decade. A resident of Sonoma County, she began her career with Lonely Planet travel guides and has written about wine, food and travel for New Wine Review, Food & Wine, GuildSomm, Somm Journal, Wine Enthusiast, Pix.wine and others. She writes a weekly column for the Sonoma County Winegrowers also called “The Good Stuff,” which explores timely local topics in agriculture and wine. She is a founding member of Les Dames d’Escoffier Sonoma County, Batonnage Mentorship Program mentor and author for the Capstone California Education Panel. Boone earned degrees from UC Berkeley and Stanford University.