Lallemand has over 50 people worldwide devoted exclusively to the development and marketing of our oenological products. We are a tightly knit group of researchers, enologists, and 'jacks-of-all-trades' who work together to support each other's markets. You may have met the North American team and possibly some of our other team members at trade shows, conference or meetings.

We just don't do all of this fabulous work ourselves; we also rely on the expertise of researchers from Institutes and Universities throughout the world.

Below find the biographies of our North America team.

Gordon Specht
Born and raised amidst the bucolic rolling hills of central Pennsylvania, Gordon obtained a B.S. in Food Science from Pennsylvania State University with an independent study in malolactic bacteria. This upbringing still causes Gordon to occasionally lose control at the mention of Penn State Football where he was brainwashed into believing (and still believes) that coach Joe Paterno can do no wrong.

While some people we know started their wine drinking careers with fortified wines, Gordon jumped directly to premiums while waiting tables at top restaurants. Of course his first tastes were of rejected corked bottles. Fortunately his tastes have evolved!

After graduation, Gordon answered the call of 'go west young man' to follow his dream of becoming a winemaker. He soon discovered that cleaning tank bottoms seemed an awful lot like mucking out calf pens in PA and his back wasn't up to the task.

As luck would have it his background playing with ML bugs helped him land a job at an oenological laboratory where he toiled for 11 years. In 1995 he joined Lallemand as the North American Technical Support Manager for the Fermented Beverage Division.

Although Gordon resides in Santa Rosa, CA with his wonderful wife (I wonder who edited this) and two children he spends most of his time on the road living out of a suitcase. He enjoys eating, drinking and spoiling his wife.

After residing in California for almost 25 years, Gordon still misses fine central Pennsylvania cuisine such as hoagies, pretzels and one of his favorites, Jell-O salad with coleslaw!

Sigrid Gertsen-Briand
Sigrid came to Lallemand after retiring from her career as cover girl for the Scandinavian tabloid 'Viking Secrets'.

Sigrid has a B.S.c. in Microbiology from McGill University in Montreal. Before coming to Lallemand in 2001 she worked as the lab manager at Mosti Mondiale in Quebec as well as at Pelee Island Winery in Ontario. She is a 'real' Canadian girl! Eh!

Sigrid is part of the North American support team for our oenological products.

Shirley Molinari
Living in Sonoma County for the past 30 years, the wine industry was the natural career choice. When she is not working or asking her daughter to do her work for her, she enjoys a good hike, margaritas, and Scrabble. Of course, nothing beats her obvious passion for drinking wine with good company!

Shirley has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Purdue University in Indiana, her home state. After spending time in clinical research followed by several years in technical sales for Boehringer Mannheim Biochemicals in the Midwest and in the West after relocating to California, was opportune for meeting key wine industry personnel while promoting enzymatic analysis!

Shirley is one of the North American support team members for Lallemand products. Joining the team after 28 years of experience with an oenological laboratory allows her to focus on winemaking applications from grape to bottle. Dubbed the "Ultimate Enologist" in 2009, Shirley's advice is only a phone call away.