A Virginia resident, Carl G. Brandhorst is a longstanding member of the American Wine Society (AWS) and an AWS-certified wine judge. As the current AWS Regional Vice President for Virginia, he assists in the formation of new chapters and supports current chapters through educational seminars. Carl is currently also the Vice President of the Vinifera Wine Growers Association (VWGA) and was co-chairman in July 2005-2007 of the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competitions sponsored by VWGA. He is a past President/Chairman (2002 & 2005) of the Washington, DC Chapter of the German Wine Society and currently serves on its Board of Directors. He is also a founding member (1988) of the National Capital Chapter of the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Vine, an international wine organization, in which he holds the cadre title of Charge d’Affaires. He has been a member of the Society of Wine Educators since 1985; further, he is a graduate of the two-week courses at the Austrian Wine Academy (Rust, Austria-1998) and the German Wine Academy (Geisenheim, Germany-1999). He is an honorary member of several international wine organizations – the Confraria del Cava Sant Sadurni (Barcelona) and the Federation Suisse des Confreries Bachiques et Gastronomiques (Morges). Carl participates as a judge in a number of annual competitions, namely: the AWS Commercial Wine Competition; the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Farm Winery Competitions; the VWGA Wine Competition in Virginia; the San Francisco Chronicle Competition in Cloverdale, CA; the Wines of the South Competition in Knoxville, TN; and the Finger Lakes International Competition in Rochester, NY. He travels extensively to wine regions in the U.S. and abroad. He has most recently been to Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Austria, Slovenia, Portugal, Spain, and Canada. Carl is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and holds Masters Degrees in both Public Administration (George Washington University) and International Relations (American University).