I think of myself as an interdisciplinarian, or maybe just a perpetual student.

I was academically trained in studio art and art history, and after graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in Visual Studies, I worked briefly as artist assistant, curatorial assistant, and studio art TA. But I soon took gigs in technical start-ups, and I hand-rolled my first website in 1993. As the web evolved so did I, and I’ve worked as digital strategist leading teams to design products for e-commerce, collaboration, research, marketing, communications, social media, and more.

Along the way I completed a Master’s in Dartmouth’s MALS program, a Creative Writing degree that demanded interdisciplinary inquiry. My métier was creative nonfiction and my thesis manuscript was a memoir, but as a lark I also started writing about gastronomy, launching a wine and food blog at a time that was novel. That led to contributions to other publications as writer, editor, designer, and editorial strategist, and to invitations to travel to research wine regions and their traditions.

I live in rural New England, and for decades have maintained a large backyard vegetable garden. Growing my family’s food brings me closer to both nature and culture, makes me feel powerful and small at the same time. It’s also a delicious practice. When I first started gardening, I realized I wanted to learn more about life sciences, so I took college courses in botany, plant science, ecology, evolution, and plant physiology. That foundation has been invaluable to my writing about wine, food, and the problems farmers face trying to coax sustenance, and beauty, from the land.

A few years ago I restarted my fine art practice, working principally in oil, later adding digital media. I’ve since exhibited and sold paintings and also collaborated on illustration commissions, and have produced long visual essays that mingle text and imagery. This remains a focus of my practice now; another focus considers how wine writing’s established lexicons affect wine education and criticism, and how we might diversify, personalize, and decolonize wine language.

Some other things I do and love, in no particular order: botany, gardening, wine science, regenerative agriculture, viticulture, speaking, teaching, and solving hard problems.

More about me:

Learn more about my work and discover a few recent projects. Or download my current CV.

Peruse my freelance writing clips or visit my own publication, Terroir Review.

Some people have said nice things about my work. You can find all of that in Awards & Accolades.