Dr. Elizabeth Smith #13
From a college professor to an award-winning wine writer
Dr. Elizabeth Smith is a professor of French and Spanish and California wine club manager turned award-winning writer, copywriter, brand ambassador, and marketer. Her writing awards include the 2017 Born Digital Wine Award for Best Tourism Content with a Focus on Wine and the 2022 Koch Winery category in the annual Hungarian Wines Web Wine Writing Competition. She was also a finalist in the 2023 and 2024 Wine Travel Awards “The Brightest Journey” category. Elizabeth has served as a judge for the Foothill Wine Fest since its inception in 2021, as well as the 2023 International Cabernet Franc Competition, 2023 Wine Lovers Wine Awards Competition in Budapest, Hungary, and 2023 Open Balkan Wine Trophy in Belgrade, Serbia. Elizabeth holds a doctoral degree in community college education, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in French, a graduate minor in Spanish, and Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s Level 3 Advanced designation. She is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers, Les Dames d’Escoffier International Sacramento and Sonoma chapters, and the International Food, Wine, and Travel Writers Association.
Elizabeth’s journey through Central European wine regions continued again this year – launched by the aforementioned web wine writing competition 2022 category win. Since August 2022, she has traveled to Hungary six times, as well as Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia – where she spent seven weeks visiting 20 wineries in all of the country’s major wine regions during May and June 2024 – and resulted in a new opportunity to serve as a Brand Ambassador for Croatian Premium Wine Imports in the U.S.
Elizabeth also attended six international wine events in 2024 – Vinitaly in Verona, the Hungarian Wine Summit in Budapest, Vinistra in Poreč, the London Wine Fair, GROW du Monde in Balatonfüred, and respekt-BIODYN Johanni 2024 in Langenlois – all of which have made her thirsty for more.
Exciting journey to Central Europe
In July 2023, Elizabeth returned to Central Europe, where she spent two and a half days in Slovakia visiting three wineries – Tajna, Kasnyik, and Château Bela – then returned to Budapest to serve as a jury member for the Winelovers Wine Awards. She concluded her trip at Koch Winery, which has locations in Hajós-Baja and Villány – and makes wines of all styles, including whites, rosé, traditional method sparkling, and reds.
Exploring the world of wine
After returning to the United States, the Slovak magazine VINOTÉKA interviewed her about her visit and her impression of Slovak wines in the world market.
Elizabeth returned to Hungary again in late September 2023. Her itinerary included wineries making wines in four regions – Szentesi in Etyek-Buda, Fekete Pince and Somlói Vándor in Somló, 2HA in St. György Hill (Lake Balaton region), and Márkvárt in Szekszárd.
In November 2023, Elizabeth returned to Central Europe – this time, Serbia – where she served as a jury member for the Open Balkan Wine Trophy in Belgrade and attended Wine Vision by Open Balkan. She concluded her trip with a two-day wine study tour – including visits to Zvonko Bogdan, Deurić, Fruškogorski, Erdevik, Temet, Aleksandrović, Matijašević, and Jeremić – plus a Discover Šumadija workshop. She recently wrote her first article about Serbia featuring Deurić and winemaker Mirko Niškanović.
In December 2023, after much deliberation, she chose the 2020 Fekete fkt ‘Gábor’ Hárslevelű Somló and Fekete Pince as her wine and winery of the year.
