4/11-Michael Horn Talks with Barrie Lynn and John Kochis

Barrie Lynn-The Cheese Impresario
She will be pairing Mezcal from Mexico with cheese.

Welcome to The Cheese Impresario!

Here we are going to talk about all kinds of cheeses from all around the world. We will learn together and I will help you bring the world of cheese closer to your heart and learn the great enjoyment that it can bring to you, your family, and your guests. 

Agave cultivation  (in  Mexico: Agriculture) 
Distilled from blue agave. The drink takes its name from the town of Tequila in the state of Jalisco, the centre for its production and distilling. Yet another alcoholic drink derived from an agave is mezcal, which is produced primarily in Oaxaca.


Relation to tequila  (in  tequila (distilled liquor)) 
Mescal (also known as mezcal), a similar distilled beverage, is less expensive and stronger in flavour and is made from an agave plant that grows wild in the Oaxaca region.


John Kochis-General Manager Bridlewood Estate Winery

John Kochis is the General Manager of Bridlewood Estate Winery and is responsible for the day to day business of the Bridlewood Winery including the tasting room, wine club, & winemaking.  John is also one of the national brand spokespersons for Bridlewood and works very closely with marketing on brand and strategy concepts.  He is also president of the board for the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association.


Upon graduation from the University of Oregon in 1995, John began his career with Gallo in Portland, Oregon as a distributor salesperson.  He was promoted to a District Manager in 1996 and then on to a Field Marketing Manager calling on Eastern Oregon Distributors before accepting the position as the State Manager of Nevada in 1998.  In early 2000 John was able to return to Portland as the Retail Sales Manger inside Valley Wine Company.  He then accepted the opportunity to move to the international business as the Provincial Manager of Alberta in 2003 and after a year was promoted to the Western Regional Manager of Canada.  In 2006, John repatriated back to the U.S. as the Director of On premise for the Northwest Region based in Seattle, WA manager with 5 states.  This position increased in scope a year and a half later with 6 additional states as the Director for the newly formed Mountain West Region.  In late 2008, the opportunity at Bridlewood was presented and John made the move to Southern California beginning as the General Manager in January of 2009.


 John is a Certified Specialist of Wine and lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Chalan, a registered Nurse, and his two children, Ava (7) and Chase (5).