Chris Pearmund has been in the wine industry of Virginia for many years. Chris began his career in the restaurant industry as chef for several restaurants in California, England, and ultimately in the northern Virginia area.

Chris graduated to wine steward and manager for some northern Virginia area restaurants and, in 1985, became manager and buyer for a small gourmet wine shop called the Black Walnut in Middleburg, VA.

In 1990, Chris began working at a 5,000 case production winery, and was winemaker from 1991 through 1996. During those years, he helped start and manage the first winery mobile bottle line on the East Coast and worked for over 40 wineries in 10 states assembling, final filtering, and bottling wine.

From 1996 to 1998, Chris was a wine buyer and store manager for Total Beverage, a 25,000 square foot wine specialty store. He was also in charge of the wine training classes for all of its stores.

This extensive experience provided Chris with a solid foundation for his role as a consultant for The Country Vintner, a fine wine distributor, until 2003. He continues consulting as winemaker for six Virginia wineries and in North Carolina.

Chris was elected President of the Virginia Vineyards Association in 1996, a post he held until 2000, and he is currently chairman of the Virginia Wine and Food Society.

Chris regularly speaks at wine and vineyard seminars and conferences and has published The Grape Press, a quarterly professional vineyard trade publication, for 5 years.

Chris is a nationally certified wine judge by the American Wine Society, has taught the Higher Certificate Education course for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Masters of Wine program in London, and has organized and taught courses for both amateurs and professionals in wine appreciation.

Although he regularly travels extensively through the wine regions of North and South America, Europe and Africa, Chris and his wife, Lisa, live at Meriwether Vineyard, a small farm that also happens to be home to 15 acres of Chardonnay.

Pearmund Cellars, Chris’s 5,000 case production winery that opened in 2003, has quickly developed an outstanding reputation as one of Virginia’s premier wineries.  For additional information about Chris' namesake winery, visit the website at www.PearmundCellars.com.

In September 2006, Chris opened The Winery at LaGrange, in nearby Haymarket, Virginia.  Clearly, this ranks as Chris' most ambitious achievement to date.  Read all about it at Rich in History, Rich in Wine: The Winery at La Grange.

© 2008 Horizon Cellars LLC