Staff Bios
Ken & Robyn Rauh
Robyn was raised on a ranch in the Salinas Valley where the entire family participated in planting vineyards. After college in Southern California, where she and Ken met, she succeeded in building both national and tasting room sales for Chateau Julien Wine Estate in Carmel Valley. Ken worked for the tasting room of Paul Masson Winery and served as a tour guide for The Monterey Vineyard.
Ken and Robyn have enjoyed promoting the wines of Monterey County serving as “Wine Ambassadors” for Monterey County on several cruises including 3 trips on the Spirit of Endeavor for Cruise West and on the Paul Gauguin for the Radisson Seven Seas in Tahiti.
Together, with a combined 30 years experience in the wine industry, Ken and Robyn continue to further A Taste of Monterey’s mission of promoting Monterey County’s Wine Country. Ken currently focuses on the daily development of the tasting rooms, wine club, special events and promotions. However, Robyn’s does not spend much time in the tasting rooms, as she is a dedicated mother of three growing boys. She and Ken combine efforts regularly to direct operations, foster creativity and support community involvement.
Rich Smith - Founder
Rich grew up on a 4H farm in Contra Costa County. Rich met his future wife and partner Claudia while at the University of California at Davis. In 1968, he received his degree in Agricultural Science and Management from U.C. Davis. He first used that degree to work in an agricultural laboratory doing soil, water and plant analysis.
Richard and Claudia Smith arrived in Monterey County in 1973, their children and belongings in the car. Fresh out of college with the lab work as his ‘graduate seminar’, the young couple was searching for the perfect locale to try out their newly minted training. Thirty years later, the Smith Family is one of the most influential and respected growers on California’s Central Coast; they have been instrumental in Monterey’s rise to prominence as a world-class winegrowing region. Rich has helped write the “Monterey Textbook” on everything from mechanical harvesting design to sustainable, integrated viticultural practices. Today Rich and his son Jason oversee 3,000 acres of grapes throughout Monterey County, providing fruit to Beringer, Hess, Mondavi, Kendall-Jackson, Saintsbury, and many others.
In 1988, the Smiths began producing wines under their own Paraiso label from their 400-acre estate vineyard in Monterey’s famed Santa Lucia Highlands appellation. Today their very limited, much sought-after wines are distributed in 20 states and Japan and Europe.
In 1994 Rich joined forces with Butch Lindley to create A Taste of Monterey, a region wine tasting room and visitors center, where is still an active owner and President.
Butch Lindley - Founder
native of Mesa, Ariz., Butch Lindley, grew up in a farming family in Blythe, Calif., and earned a degree in agronomy from Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo. After service in the U.S. Army, including a tour in Vietnam, he worked as an agronomist for several years before he began work in row crops and later in vineyards.
Butch, together with founding partners Paul Toeppen and Phil Johnson, in 1981 planted an 1,850 acre vineyard located in the southern extremities of Monterey County. The vineyard is one of the largest premium estate vineyards in the world, selling fruit to a handful of California’s most elite wineries. Lockwood Vineyards was born in 1989 with the intent of producing premium and ultra-premium wines from this single, contiguous vineyard. The partners of Lockwood are dedicated to the concept of estate bottled wines, a legal definition that requires 100 percent of the wine to be grown, produced and bottled from vines exclusively tended and vinified on-site.
As a vineyard owner and wine producer in a relatively newer wine region, Butch saw the need for a central tasting room that could showcase the products of the county. Together with other Monterey grape growers, Butch created what is now A Taste of Monterey.
Butch was elected to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors from District Three in 2002. He admitted that running for office was "a daunting task" and his duties during the four-year term consumed more time than he thought when he filed as a candidate late in 2001. Butch has an extensive record of public and community service, and has received the following awards: Blue Ribbon Award Winner; Monterey County Fair, 2001; Salinas Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Leadership “Man of the Year” Award, 2000; and was named Monterey County Veteran of the Year, 1996.
Leslie Anderson – Special Projects Director
Originally from Northern California, Leslie is a graduate of Sonoma State University with a bachelors in International Management. Leslie brings over fifteen years of event management experience plus a background in retail as a store owner, to her current position. With experience in both large corporations and small businesses as a consultant and accountant, she is well equipped to handle the diverse array of projects that come across her desk. She began with A Taste of Monterey in 2003 as the Event Coordinator but now works on special promotions and club projects, the annual catalog, licensing, and in many other areas of the business. Her main focus is on the In Home Wine Party business that is now expanding nationwide.
Orsina Cazares-Bercilla – Retail Manager
Orsina is a native of Salinas, California. She earned a certificate in word processing from Central Coast College and went on to become a secretary for an adoption agency, and then spent 15 years as a Special Education Instruction Assistant in the Monterey School System. She seasoned her interest in the wine industry one summer while working for Chalone. This interest in wine and her knack for seasonal window displays, led her to A Taste of Monterey where she has been designing eye catching retail exhibits for over four years. We attribute a great deal of Orsina’s creativity and resourcefulness to skills learned in the rearing of 6 children, and the 4 grandchildren they have given her.
Liz Donnan – Wine Club Manager
A native of Texas, Liz came to A Taste of Monterey with 15 years of experience in direct marketing. In this field Liz was an expert at recruiting and building strong sales teams, which earned her valuable people skills and the use of 3 company cars. Today she single-handedly maintains the Monterey Wine Club, including entering all new wine club members into the database, as well as making any updates to their accounts. She also tracks and prepares for shipping, all wine club requests and orders. Liz works out of our Salinas location full-time and can occasionally be seen greeting customers behind the bar. If you have questions regarding our wine club or your account, Liz is always there to help.
Dave Eriksen – Director of Hospitality
Born and raised in the East Bay (SF Bay that is), Dave has been visiting family in Monterey since he was a young boy knowing he would someday be happy living in the cooler climate.
Graduating from San Jose State with a BS in Public Relations, he spent his last semester living in Australia. Dave has spent the subsequent years traveling the world visiting friends made while abroad and is more than happy to share stories of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, Oktoberfest in Germany, or Running with the Bulls in Spain.
With experience in high-tech PR and corporate events at IBM, Dave found his nitch in the wine industry when he was hired to manage events at the old Mirassou Winery in San Jose. There he honed his skills in the kitchen and in the cellar for four years when he was recruited to be a manager at The Stillwater Bar and Grill in The Lodge at Pebble Beach.
After a year working with an amazing wine list at the restaurant, and growing to love the Monterey area he realized that he wanted to get back into the wine industry. Having been a member of the Monterey Wine club for four years, it only seemed natural for Dave to join us in bringing more wine knowledge and educational opportunities for our staff, customers and community. He will be overseeing which wines end up on our shelves, so let him know which wines please your palate the most.
By the way, Dave still retains his membership in our Club Taste to this day...
Jasmine Hernandez – Director of Event Sales
Jasmine was born and raised in San Diego, CA and has lived in the Monterey area for three years. She joins the team of A Taste of Monterey with over 18 years of quality experience in Front Line and Hospitality Sales Management. With her background in the hotel industry, she has received numerous Certifications and Awards in Management, Sales and Service Training. Since the hospitality industry is ‘in her blood’, Jasmine is very excited to bring her experience and knowledge to another aspect of this industry and grow the already successful Event business of A Taste of Monterey to a higher level. It is said that if one can combine work with one’s passion, then life is good-and Jasmine has achieved this by joining our team.