Kay Simon may have grown up in California and studied fermentation at UC Davis, but the Washington State Wine industry claims her as one of its own.

A very talented winemaker and general partner of Chinook Wines of Prosser, Washington, Kay began her career in California, but quickly accepted a position as winemaker at Ste. Michelle – Woodinville, Grandview and Paterson – before starting Chinook Winery with her husband, Clay Mackey, in 1983.

These were the early years of the Washington wine industry, and Kay was one of its pioneering women in wine. Today, her pioneering spirit continues as she forges new avenues for women not only in wine but Washington agriculture.

A charter member and former #LesDamesSeattle Chapter President, she has been an advocate for women in WSU Viticulture Extension education at Washington State University opening doors and helping to provide opportunities for them in the industry through her active role in the #LesDamesdEscoffier scholarship program, both as a member of and former Chair of the Chapter’s Scholarship Committee. In the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2020, she was one of the driving forces in setting up the Chapter’s seventh endowed scholarship for women, this one in Organic and Sustainable Agriculture at WSU.

Professional and industry organizations have reaped the benefits of her wine knowledge and her savvy business acumen. She has served as President and Board Member of Wine Yakima Valley, and Past Vice President and Board Member of the Washington Wine Institute. She is a Charter Member of the Washington Research Advisory Committee and has served on the committee for over 20 years. In addition, she is a Professional Member of American Society for Enology & Viticulture and a Charter Member of the Washington Wine Technical Group.

In 2008, Kay was honored by the Auction of Washington Wines as Honorary Vintner. And in 2010, she received the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers Industry Service Award.

As in the past, Kay continues to make small quantities of high quality wines from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc grape varietals that she & Clay hand sell to top restaurants and fine wine merchants in the Pacific Northwest as well as a few select markets elsewhere.

Photos: Kay Simon and Husband Clay Mackey, along with the Yakima Valley hills and vineyards; a fun throwback from the Chinook website (http://www.chinookwines.com/); a photo from Kevin Cruff and Seattle magazine celebrating Chinook Wines and the Yakima Valley AVA turning 30 in 2013; and the February/March 2020 issue of Wine Enthusiast profiling Kay.

Dames are trailblazers. Dame Marie-Eve Gilla created her own vision of what Washington wines can be as one of the first woman winemakers and winery owners in our state, where women make up a small percentage of the winemaking ranks.

Born in Burgundy and raised near Paris, Marie-Eve fell in love with the demanding, but rewarding, pastoral lifestyle while working summers on the farm.

Passionate about nature and biology, she earned a double Masters in Enology and Viticulture at the University of Dijon. She gained practical training in the wineries and vineyards of Burgundy.

Marie-Eve arrived in the United States in 1991 with the intention of staying just a few months. She worked at various wineries including Argyle, Covey Run, and Hogue and realized the incredible potential of the Northwest wine industry. After marrying her compatriot Gilles Nicault in 1999, they moved to Walla Walla in 2001, where Marie-Eve became Forgeron Cellars’ founding winemaker and managing partner. Forgeron was only the 23rd bonded winery in the AVA.

In 2018, she joined Valdemar Estates — the first internationally owned winery in Washington (the Martinez Bujanda family has made wine in the Rioja Valley of Spain since 1889). As Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Valdemar, Marie-Eve gets to return to her European roots, making complex, balanced, and age-worthy wines.

Over the past twenty-five years, Marie-Eve has devoted endless time and energy researching and establishing relationships with the best growers from around Washington State. Believing firmly that ʺgreat wines are made in the vineyard,ʺ she sources grapes from established vineyards in the Red Mountain and Walla Walla A.V.A. to craft her wines. Working in a boutique winery allows her to focus on quality by keeping each vineyard lot separate. This gives each wine the ability to express its full potential.

In 2015, Marie-Eve became a member of our Seattle Chapter. She was honored to receive the grade de Chevalier dans l’ordre du mérite Agricole from the French government in January of 2016 (the Ordre recognizes people who have rendered exceptional services to agriculture, whether in public duties or in the very practice of agriculture.) Since 2019, Marie-Eve has been a member of the Wine Research Advisory Committee (WRAC) which serves as the scientific review arm for the Washington State wine industry. She has also received numerous accolades for her wines including international recognition at blind tastings held in both San Francisco and Miami with her 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and “best white wine of the year” at the 2017 Seattle Wine Awards.

Five Washington State governors, Republican and Democrats, cannot be wrong about the superb creativity and culinary talents of Seattle Charter Dame Kyle D. Fulwiler, retired Washington State Governor’s Mansion Chef and former chapter president.

A native Washingtonian, raised in Bellevue, she was always interested in cooking. As the story goes, by the time she was 14, her mind was set on going to cooking school in New York City.

In reality, it was the Cordon Bleu School of Cookery in London where Kyle received her professional training. Armed with her certificate, she returned to Washington State to live on Hood Canal where she started her own catering business, Cuisine Unlimited, and also served as luncheon chef at La Petite Maison in Olympia.

Hearing about the job at the Governor’s Mansion, she interviewed for it, and the rest is history, serving 24 years and nine months as its Chef, with her tenure starting during Governor John Spellman’s administration and continuing into Governor Christine Gregoire’s administration.

Kyle’s fine-tuned palate, love of local ingredients and wines, coupled with her skillful use of them, speaks volumes. But it is her flexibility, quiet leadership, and organizational ability that stand out. How else could she and her two long-time assistants, Michi Delaney and Hai Vo, have managed the dozens of official events, sometimes two a day, year in, year out, without these qualities. Former Washington State first lady, Mary Lowry was quoted in a Seattle Times article as saying, “She is absolutely terrific.”

Although Kyle knew each of the governors and their families well, she cooked for official functions rather than serving as the first family chef. Those functions included elegant dinners for 80 as well as receptions, breakfasts, and more for legislators, dignitaries, and international figures including the King and Queen of Norway, the French Ambassador, and the Vice Premier of China.

During the early 1990s, Kyle received a culinary scholarship for a week of classes at the famed Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland that further honed her culinary artistry and enhanced her love of traveling.

She has written four cookbooks, represented Washington State apples on the Food Network, developed recipes for Washington Wine Month, served as President of the Governor’s Mansion Foundation and currently serves as the Chapter Administrator. She is an avid gardener, and her greenhouse is filled with her favorite, orchids.

In a letter from former Washington State Governor Booth Gardner included in Kyle’s Celebration, a Washington Cookbook, the Governor expressed it well, “Kyle’s performance at the Mansion is a tribute to the fine chefs of the Northwest.”

Photos via Kyle: A gathering of former Washington State governors and Kyle. Kyle served as Governor’s Mansion Chef for five of these former Washington State governors; Kyle’s Celebration, a Washington Cookbook; A photo of Kyle on the Seabourn Sojourn in 2010; and beautiful orchids in Kyle’s greenhouse.

Profile by Karen Binder

How did a child with an Irish mother who hated cooking become a classically trained French chef and cooking school creator? Dame Beverly Gruber grew up in St. Louis, the daughter of a Prussian father and an Irish non-cook mother. Bev’s early years were spent working in mental health psychiatry clinics in St. Louis, and where she wound up working for the dean of the medical school.

Following a move to Boston in 1974, Bev enrolled in Madeleine Kamman’s School for Chefs, graduating at the top of her class, no doubt because of her interest in both cooking and its underlying science.

She earned a teaching certificate from Kamman, and then was invited to be a teaching assistant where she taught until moving to the Pacific Northwest in 1978.

In 1979, Bev’s entrepreneurial spirit inspired her to start a company producing cheesecakes. She soon realized, however, she would much rather teach someone how to bake a cheesecake than grow a business dedicated to making the creamy dessert — no matter how popular the recipe was for building a successful business.

Inspired again, the following year Bev pursued freelance teaching and opened the Everyday Gourmet School of Cooking in her home but quickly realized she needed a larger space. She soon located a new location where she taught an 18-week course focused on becoming a chef, teaching her students everything she’d learned from Madeleine.

A few years later, Larry Mckinney, founder of Larry’s Markets, saw a good thing in Bev and asked her to move her cooking school to Larry’s Markets. She did, and remained there until 1999, teaching classes focused on her first culinary love, Italy, and its cuisine.

At the request of many students wishing to travel to Italy under her guidance, Bev formed the Everyday Gourmet Travel Company. The tour company allowed Bev to follow her passion and lead small groups to Italy’s many regions for more than 20 years. From Venice to Sicily, she shared her love for Italian cluture with her clients, introducing them to regional traditions and the authentic warmth of its people.

Along the way, Dame Beverly joined the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), and in 1985, she chaired and hosted the first IACP convention in Seattle. She also served on IACP’s board of directors and as chair of IACP’s Scholarship Committee for seven years. During this time, she was also on IACP’s International Committee, which later inspired her tour business.

While involved with IACP, Bev realized Seattle was becoming a notable culinary and hospitality center. Fortuitously, in 1989, Dame Alice Gautsch Foreman, along with Bev and 13 other local culinarians formed the organization that became the Seattle chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) — the first expansion chapter of the international non-profit organization focused exclusively on women in culinary professions.

At the Seattle chapter’s first election in August 1989, Bev was elected president, the first to hold this office for our chapter. In 1992, she chaired the national conference of Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI), the first held in Seattle. As yet another milestone, in 2004-2005 she again served as the chapter’s president.

Bev remains an active force in LDES and, along with having served as the scholarship chair for many years, she is still involved with several committees. We are grateful for Beverly’s foresight in helping organize the Seattle Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier and thrilled she’s still an engaged and enthusiastic member.

Dame Judith Dern’s career is nothing short of remarkable. As she so aptly says, “It’s spanned the print to digital worlds. I feel lucky to have experienced this depth.” A published author with numerous cookbooks, national and regional magazine articles to her credit, Judith has pursued word wizardry and all things edible throughout her career, the outcome of cooking and collecting cookbooks since she was a teenager.

This Northwest transplant is originally from upstate New York. She was studying architecture at Dartmouth when a chance meeting changed her path.

During her senior year, she met someone who spent his junior year studying in Norway. Also, her aunt, a professional weaver, inspired Judith to investigate the craft. After attending a summer weaving program in California, Judith spent the year after her college graduation in Finland where she took 8 weeks of language classes and studied at a college for weaving and sewing teachers to further her skills. Returning to the U.S. in 1972, she was hired to teach weaving in New Hampshire. This led to setting up a production studio where she wove, taught, and produced items to sell directly and through the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s shops.

As a professional weaver, Judith continually honed her craftmanship. While at classes, she met a woman who worked for Sunset Designs in California. Not long after, a job came up writing instructions for weaving kits for the company, which hired and moved her to the Bay Area in 1977.

The public relations world with its focus on writing soon attracted Judith. She explored it further working with a friend who focused on restaurant promotions, and then joined Ketchum Public Relations in San Francisco as Account Supervisor. At Ketchum, her key accounts were the Norway Sardine Industry and Wisconsin Cheese. Her work with Norway Sardines led to her first cookbook. Going out on her own in 1991, she freelanced, writing a second cookbook for Norway Sardines, which earned a First for a Communicator Award in 1994 from the Washington Press Association. It was also recognized by Florence Fabricant at The New York Times as the best industry publication she had seen.

Judith moved to Seattle from San Francisco in 1994 after flying from Sea Tac on a sunny day when the islands, mountains, and sparkling sea reminded her of Scandinavia. The city turned out to offer multiple food opportunities. Her first 10 years in Seattle she worked on freelance writing assignments for food clients – mainly Nestlé USA – and had several retail jobs, including at City Kitchens and the Danish-Swedish Antiques shop in Kirkland.

In 2007, she joined Allrecipes.com, a food-focused site with user-generated content that is now the world’s largest digital food brand. Judith served as Senior Research and Insights Manager for Meredith Corporation (who took over ownership of Allrecipes in 2012) where she triaged ad hoc ad sales research requests, wrote the Allrecipes Measuring Cup Trend Report, and composed data stories to describe the traffic patterns of significant SEO terms. Her most recent book, The Food and Drink of Seattle – From Wild Salmon to Craft Beer, describes Seattle’s food history from its geology and geography to Native Americans, settlers, immigrants, and contemporary restaurateurs.

Judith has been on the Board of Les Dames and is an integral member of the Communications Committee. She previously served on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Following her Scandinavian passions, she regularly volunteers and teaches cooking classes at Seattle’s National Nordic Museum. She has also been Vice President of the Seattle chapter of the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and was an Advisory Committee Member for the Edible City exhibition (fall 2016 to fall 2017) hosted by MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry). Asked how many times she’s returned to Scandinavia over the years and the answer is “at least 40 trips!”

Not so long ago, clicking a keyboard to find recipes to inspire dinner and dessert was new and fascinating. When one of your passions is food, as it was and still is for innovator, entrepreneur, and Member Sheri Wetherell, co-founding a food website and hosting special conferences for food bloggers were super exciting. Stints at Amazon and eBay in San Francisco prepared her, and, in December 2008, after a move to Seattle, Dame Sheri with her husband Barnaby Dorfman co-founded and launched Foodista. Their concept was a community site for food fans with a database of information about food, cooking tools, and techniques, along with recipes contributed by users and special guest writers.

“We wanted Foodista.com to be the online cooking encyclopedia everyone could edit, Wikipedia-style,” says Sheri. “It might have been too early technology-wise though, because people didn’t like having their recipes messed with, so the site evolved to offer different versions of iconic recipes.”

Friends and engineers helped set up and launch the Foodista site, and yes, since Sheri and Barnaby had previously worked at Amazon building its Marketplace pages, Amazon was an early investor, along with friends and family. Today, Sheri is the driver and social media maven for the site, which has evolved to keep up with algorithm changes and challenges. It’s still a top destination for finding recipes, reading blog posts, watching videos and podcasts, and more.

Back then was also primetime for bloggers. Attending a BlogHer conference in San Francisco inspired her second business idea. Finding no events targeting food bloggers, in 2009, she and Barnaby hosted the first International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC) in a charming event space in West Seattle. An event planner, for Sheri planning events was easy as pie. Enthusiasm for the speakers and from the camaraderie among attendees bounced off the walls at their first event. “We wanted the conference to have a higher-end boutique feel,” she recalls, “to keep it authentic and special.”

Everyone demanded another conference, so IFBC events continued successfully in several locations, from Seattle and New Orleans to Sacramento, beginning in 2010 in partnership with Zephyr Conferences. In 2017, IFBC was sold to Zephyr for exclusive management rights with the group continuing to host annual conferences until this year’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Dame Sheri credits her grandmothers with instilling her passion for cooking. Her paternal grandmother owned a diner in San Francisco, while her mom’s mother lived on 100 acres in Sonoma, California. “From an early age, I smelled fresh bread baking in her kitchen and I also loved exploring her vast garden,” she remembers. “Cooking has always been a stress reliever for me.”

Count travel as another of Dame Sheri’s passions, which she sees as “a bridge to food and culture.” Growing up in Sun River, Oregon, might seem to guarantee a small-town perspective, but when your dad is an airline pilot, the world is your oyster. Childhood trips to New York, London, Paris, and other destinations prompted a college study-abroad year in Italy, and then, three years teaching in an ESL program in Japan and discovering the country’s fascinating culture and foodways during her first marriage. Shari’s favorite destination when arriving in a new place? No surprises here. It’s the nearest market to explore local foods and wines. Sounds like a recipe for success!

You scream I scream, we all scream for ice cream, UNLESS, you have tasted authentic gelato from Gelatiamo founded by Dame Maria Coassin. Gelatiamo, headquartered at Third and Union in downtown Seattle, is where the product is made and served – although it is also available for purchase at Metropolitan Market, Pagliacci Pizza, and served at fine restaurant and cafes in the greater-Seattle area.

Maria’s unique downtown gelato café, opened in 1996, is now a landmark for “the real thing” when it comes to true gelato and Italian specialties like her panettone. Ardent followers know panettone is only baked by Gelatiamo between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Taking hours to make, it is what you would call a “labor of love,” an Italian tradition that Maria is passionate about and that helped her through a lean first winter in business.

Maria and the Gelatiamo team produce over 1,000 panettone each season from a recipe dating back to the1800s. According to Maria, “It takes 27-hours before the bread finds its way into the oven.” Served most often after dinner in Italy, this delightful holiday sweet bread is a welcome addition to New Year’s and Twelfth night tables, too.

Born into a family bakery business with a 200 plus-year history, in the town of Maniago, Italy, Maria learned all of the Italian baking traditions as well as the art and science of making authentic Italian gelato including the importance of using quality ingredients. Her first USA address was in LA. The flip of a coin was the deciding factor as to where her business dream would be built, and Seattle was the lucky winner.

Les Dames is very proud of the fact that the same week Maria was elected to the chapter she became an American citizen. She has provided luscious holiday treats for our gatherings, and has given products to many nonprofit charity events.

Maria has served as an emeritus member of the Italian Advisory Board of the Department of French and Italian Studies at the University of Washington and is a consultant on projects around the country. In addition, she teaches gelato classes quarterly in Southern California emphasizing recipe development and business startup practices.

She was a culinary hero prior to the pandemic and now, as an educator, she continues her heroic efforts on the educational frontlines teaching her classes in a new way –remotely– and training her students for what people are calling the new normal or the now normal for the future of the foodservice and hospitality industries.

Teaching in the new or now normal is not for the faint of heart, but for those who are creative and have the talent and resiliency to master new ways successfully. And Seattle Dame, Diana Dillard, former Chapter President and current Chapter Secretary, has all the right stuff to do it all!

A proud Seattleite through and through, she graduated from Roosevelt High School, and as she says, “Meandered lacking passion through a few years of traditional college.” Then, she found her calling in the culinary arts. She was accepted to and graduated from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) then landed a plum job as Executive Sous Chef at the Banker’s Club in Miami, Florida where her skills and knowledge grew exponentially.

A circuitous route brought her back home to Seattle and provided another great career opportunity, working at the former widely-acclaimed fine-dining restaurant, Fullers, at the downtown Seattle Sheraton Hotel. While there, the opportunity of a lifetime happened. She was asked to be part of the all-female culinary team traveling to the Soviet Union as guests of the Republic of Georgia, the first American chefs to visit the Soviet Union. Noted New York Times reporter, Marian Burros, and a Times photographer traveled with them and chronicled their Northwest inspired meal preparations.

The next chapter for Diana, opening the much loved Rain City Grill restaurant on Capitol Hill with her husband and CIA classmate, Tom. After four plus years of ownership they sold the restaurant and charted a new course — exploring food throughout Europe with their 10-month old baby in a backpack. But these plans were interrupted by an offer for Diana to be a culinary instructor at Seattle Community College in the expanding Seattle Culinary Academy. She taught at the Academy for 15 years and during that time earned a teaching degree. Along the way, Diana had a hard fought battle with breast cancer, but happily, she won and today celebrates 17-years as a survivor.

Over the last 14 years, Diana has trained many students at Shorewood High School running the Special Events/Catering Business Curriculum as well as teaching foods and nutrition along with cuisines and cultures as occupational education courses.

Diana’s career highlights are many. She co-authored the popular cookbook “Entertaining Simply” with John Sarich, former Culinary Director of Chateau Ste. Michelle winery; cooked for famous people – Elton John, Michael Jackson and the King of Brunei; appeared in a TV commercial and has done promotional work for the Char Broil Grill Company; taught classes in Santiago Chile and studied on scholarship at the Beringer School for American Chefs with Grande Dame Madeleine Kamman.

There is no truer example of a Dame than Diana Dillard. We salute her and honor her as a Dame and frontline educational hero.

Whether planning large festivals or intimate media gatherings, you can count on Seattle Dame Jamie Peha to “deliver the goods!” Jamie has a flair for generating ideas with big picture focus and bottom-line results while developing actionable business plans that meet client expectations.

A Washingtonian through and through, Jamie grew up on Mercer Island and graduated from (WSU) Washington State University’s College of Business and Economics, majoring in Hospitality Management.

Her vast experience in media, hospitality, and wine leaves little wonder why she was tapped for the key role as the Executive Director of the Auction of Washington Wines (AWW) in March of 2019. The Auction supports the growth and awareness of all wines produced in Washington State and includes a series of events benefiting Seattle Children’s and WSU Viticulture & Enology Program. Over its 33-year history the organization has raised $54 million for community and industry.

Looking back, Jamie has had an extraordinary career path leading up to her current position. From her earliest job as general manager of a #Seattle restaurant to her experience as a restaurant business manager in California, to serving for 10 years as Director of Marketing and Promotions for the Washington Wine Commission (Washington State Wine.) Add to this her media experience as Director of Promotions and Sales Development for Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, Seattle Bride, and Northwest Meetings & Events, and you can see why Jamie excels in the sales, marketing, and promotional arena.

Her savvy business sense and entrepreneurial spirit have given her the foundation to develop her own successful events and consulting business – Peha Promotions. In addition, she established TableTalk Northwest, a website and radio program that brought an industry insider’s viewpoint to the culinary and beverage world. She founded and produced the very successful Seattle Wine and Food Experience; now owned by Seattle Magazine; plus developed the Washington Wine Commission’s Taste Washington event.

In 2017, Jamie was appointed Director of the Auction of Washington Wines Private Barrel Auction for the trade, a position in which she now oversees in her position as Executive Director of AWW.

#LesDamesSeattle is proud to share Jamie’s many successes and appreciates her contributions to the chapter including serving as Chapter president 2016-2017.