A member of the Circle of Wine Writers, Charlie Leary has directed restaurant wine programs in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, and France. In the mid 1990s, while earning a PhD in history from Cornell, he made artisanal cheeses and counted among the first North Americans inducted into the Guilde International des Fromagers; he later planted and managed an IGP vineyard in Andalusia. His book-length guide to worldwide wine education programs was first published in 2022. His articles have appeared in Decanter, Jane Anson’s Inside Bordeaux, jancisrobinson.com, and Tim Atkin MW’s website, among others. He now lives in Panama and is writing a book on Montesquieu as an eighteenth century winegrower.