In 2004 Karen MacNeil received the highest honor awarded to a wine professional in the United States–she was named “Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year” by the James Beard Foundation. The following year she was named “2005 Wine Educator of the Year” by the European Wine Council. Past recipients of the Council’s awards have included journalist Morley Safer (60 Minutes), filmamker Francis Ford Coppola and winemaker Robert Mondavi. Karen is the host of “Wine, Food and Friends with Karen Macneil,” a 13-part series on PBS television nationally. For the last 25 years, Karen has been a writer, consultant, and educator whose articles on wine and food have been published in more than 50 United States magazines and newspapers including: The New York Times, Food & Wine, Saveur, and Town & Country. She is the author of the award-winning The Wine Bible –one of the best selling wine books in the United States, with more than 250,000 copies sold since it was released in 2001.