North Bay Business Journal

Andy Beckstoffer was trained as an engineer, but he’s been training North Coast vines to produce world-class wines for four decades. He acquired what is now Beckstoffer Vineyards in 1973.

Mr. Beckstoffer will be a panelist at the Impact Napa 2012 conference the morning of Aug. 30. He spoke with the Business Journal about how the 2012 crop has been faring, whether or not the North Coast has a shortage of winegrapes and the impact of any crimp in supply on grape and wine prices.

NAPA — From a farmer of thousands of North Coast acres of winegrapes to producers of Napa Valley’s most prestigious wine brands to a broker of industry mergers and acquisitions, the speaker lineup for the Business Journal’s Impact Napa conference later this month includes major figures in Napa County’s wine industry.

Hospitality & Tourism column: The Thistle Dew Inn in downtown Sonoma has been purchased by new owners, who will rename the property as An Inn 2 Remember, according to Bay Area Development Company, a Walnut Creek-based SBA lender that provided the financing. …

Across California, restaurateurs, chefs and fine diners who fancy foie gras this week face a grim acknowledgement: their goose is cooked. …

Flavor Napa Valley, the star-studded food and wine festival that started last year as means of highlighting the culinary prowess of the region, will be back for a second year, organizers said. …

The Marin Convention and Visitors Bureau will be hosting a Tourism Summit on Thursday, Sept. 20, at Inn Marin in Novato from 10 a..m. to 2 p.m., with an introduction from Mark Essman on local, regional and state tourism trends presented by Visit California. …

NORTH BAY – With its unique concentration of high-tech talent and growers it’s not surprising the North Bay region has sprouted a number of companies dedicated to better yields through technology.

This is the last in a year-long series of nearly 30 profiles of Most Influential Leaders in the North Bay. These last four profiles appear in alphabetical order.

Chairman, Beckstoffer Vineyards, Rutherford