North Bay professionals news: Castle Rock Winery, Leveque Wine Consulting, Sonoma Clean Power and more

Meghan Rech has been chosen as director of winemaking at Castle Rock Winery in Geyserville.

Rech has 14 years of wine-making experience, the winery stated, most recently at Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, where she had the position of winemaker.

She is a graduate of the University of California Davis in viticulture and enology. Rech is replacing Eric Laumann, who the winery stated has elected to retire.

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Steve Leveque has opened Leveque Wine Consulting in Napa.

His announcement stated that Leveque has worked as executive vice president and winemaker of Chalk Hill Estate Winery in Sonoma as well as making wine at: Mondavi, Chalk Hill, Opus One, HALL and an 11-year tenure as winemaker at Robert Mondavi Winery.

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Sonoma Clean Power, the public electricity provider for Sonoma and Mendocino counties, recently awarded their “Spirit of Entrepreneurship” Grant to students participating in the Santa Rosa Junior College's Business Entrepreneurship Certificate Program.

Laura Feil was awarded $6,500 for her company, Terrabliss Naturals. Terrabliss Naturals is a hemp-derived CBD start-up that manufactures and distributes full-traceable wellness products from seed to shelf.

Jennifer Friedman was awarded $3,500 toward her business Humane Plate, created to provide plant-based lunches to K-12 students in Sonoma County. “Friedman founded Humane Plate to fill the void in schools where students who require subsidized lunches but adhere to a plant-based diet for ethical, health, and/or religious reasons have little options,” SCP stated.

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The Spring Mountain District Association in St. Helena announced new board officers. President is Meg Laughridge; vice president is Matt Sherwin; treasurer is Reilly Keenan; secretary is Kevin Hague; and member at large is Julie Ann Kodmur.

The association works to generate awareness and respect of the Spring Mountain District wine grape growing region.