Rodney Strong Wine Estates Hires Mark Mathewson as Hospitality/Direct to Consumer Director; Paul Lorenzen as North Central District Manager

HEALDSBURG, Calif., July 19, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rodney Strong Wine Estates recently hired Mark Mathewson as Hospitality/Direct to Consumer Director. Mark was most recently the Direct to Consumer Manager at Sterling Vineyards in Napa Valley. Before that he spent 16 successful years at Jackson Family Wines, where he was the Director of Marketing Services, overseeing marketing, operations and profitability of web services, direct sales, clubs, tasting rooms and hospitality for all of their wineries. Mark is Sonoma grown and very involved in the community. He was the event chairman of the Sonoma County Human Race and served as the vice president board member of the Sonoma County Volunteer Center.

Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Carmen Castaldi, notes, "Mark's leadership will be a great addition in the area of growing our direct to consumer and luxury club channel business." Castaldi continues, "And, as we continue to upgrade our customer experience at our hospitality center, his consumer-oriented retail operations experience will be extremely valuable."

Rodney Strong also recently hired Paul Lorenzen as the North Central District Manager, a new position for the company. Paul's region will include the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and North & South Dakota. Paul has 23 years of experience within the wine industry, both with distributors and producers including Johnson Brothers in Minneapolis, Griggs Cooper (Wirtz Beverage) in Minnesota, Robert Mondavi, Kobrand, and Fosters Wine Estates.

Note: Images of Mark Mathewson and Paul Lorenzen are available upon request.

Rodney Strong Wine Estates is a family-owned wine company that includes Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Winery. Rodney Strong grows and produces wines exclusively from four of Sonoma County's finest appellations – Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, Chalk Hill and Sonoma Coast.  The winery was founded in 1959 by Sonoma County wine pioneer Rodney D. Strong as the 13th bonded winery in the county. Davis Bynum crafts Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The company aspires to conserve and protect the environment in all its operations. The Klein family, a fourth generation California farming family, entered the wine business with the purchase of Rodney Strong Vineyards in 1989.

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