Dr. Liz Thach, MW is a professor, wine writer, and consultant based in Napa and Sonoma, California.

She also holds the position of President of the Wine Market Council, a non-profit dedicated to providing forward-looking market research on U.S. wine consumer buying habits, attitudes and trends.

Liz is an award-winning author and educator, specializing in wine business strategy, marketing, leadership/executive development, and wine lifestyle. Liz’s passion is wine, and she has visited most of the major wine regions of the world and more than 70 countries.

Prior to her wine career, Liz worked for more than 10 years as an HR executive and manager in Fortune 500 companies, before transitioning to Sonoma State University(SSU) in 2000 to teach management and wine business classes in their Bachelors and MBA programs. While there, she taught thousands of students, conducted multiple international research projects, presented at more than 100 conferences, and published 9 books and over 200 articles, including consumer/trade journal and academic publications. She retired from SSU in May 2023, and now teaches online wine classes for Stanford Continuing Studies, in addition to her writing and consulting work.

Liz was the first woman in California and the 7th woman in the US to become a Master of Wine (MW), leading to the California Legislature honoring her with Resolution No. 422, and the California State University system granting her the title of Distinguished Professor of Wine for life. She also holds a Ph.D. in Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University, an M.A. in Organizational Communication and Management from Texas Tech University, and a B.A. in English from Notre Dame de Namur University in California.

Dr. Liz Thach, MW
Writing Services

Writing Services

Liz’s passion is writing about wine, food, travel and lifestyle pieces. She is an award-winning author with more than 300 publications, including over 200 magazine/journal articles, 9 books, multiple books chapters, and hundreds of blog posts, wine reviews, and press releases. She has also written many grants and technical research reports.

Consulting Services

Consulting Services

Liz has over 20 years’ experience providing consulting services to multiple industries, including wine, computer, telecom, and energy companies. With her unique background in wine combined with a Ph.D.in management and 10 years’ experience as a manager and executive, she is well-qualified to offer a variety of consulting services.

As Seen In

7 Sophisticated Sauvignon Blancs From Napa And Sonoma. Forbes, August 2023
Thach, L. (2023) Auction of Washington Wines Raises More Than 4 Million for Charities. Wine Spectator Magazine, August 2023 online and Nov. 2023 in print
Thach, L. (2023). Napa Rise Offers the Wine Industry a Roadmap Towards Greater Diversity. Decanter Magazine, May 11, 2023
Thach, L. (2019). Palate Meets Pallete: Imagery Estate Winery Paints a Picture of Multigenerational Talent. The Tasting Panel Magazine. November/December Issue 2019, pages 70-71
The Somm Journal, August/September Issue 2022
Thach, L. (2018). Hidden Napa Valley Winery Steals the Show. Prime Women, Aug. 15, 2018.
Thach, L. (2020, June 30). Solutions and Words of Wisdom from Black Female Vineyard Manager, Brenae Royal. Wine Industry Network Advisor
Eight Opportunities to Connect with Future Wine Consumers. Winebusiness.com, August 2023
Thach, L. (2017). Mexican-Americans Move from Vineyard to Boardroom. Winesearcher.com. Sept. 6, 2017
Thach, L. & Olsen, J. (2015). Profiling the High Frequency Wine Consumer by Price Segmentation in the US Market. Wine Economics and Policy. Volume 4, Issue 1, June 2015, Pages 53–59
Thach, L., Reiwe, S. & Camillo, A. (2020, In Press). Generational Cohort Theory and Wine: Analyzing How Gen Z Differs from Other American Wine Consuming Generations. International Journal of Wine Business Research
Thach, L. (2018). A Brief History of American Winemaking. The Conversation. May 25, 2018