Speaker:

Charles Finkel
Wine, Craft Beer and Specialty Food Pioneer

Charles Finkel is a designer, entrepreneur, and artist who has crafted some of the world’s most famous drink labels as well as created and resurrected various brewing styles. He has founded several iconic companies including Bon Vin, a wine importing company that started with small, family-owned wineries in Europe. He and his wife, Rose Ann, have nationally introduced emerging boutique wines of California. In 1974, the couple built the now famous Château Ste. Michelle in Woodinville. Under the Ste. Michelle labels, Bon Vin was the first national marketer of Washington state wines. They later founded Merchant du Vin, specializing in family owned, traditional breweries. They were the first to import Belgium beers, and their selection of boutique beers representing classic brewing style set the stage for the industry to evolve from two craft breweries in 1978 to more than 10,000 nearly 50 years later. In 1989, the Finkels founded Pike Place Brewery in Seattle and opened the Pike Pub and Microbrewery Museum in 1996. They sold the company in 1998 but re-purchased Pike in 2006. After Rose Ann passed away in 2021, Finkel sold Pike and now concentrates on designing, writing, traveling, cooking, and gardening. He is currently writing a book, A Brief History of Beer in the Last 10,000 Years.

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