THOM ELKJER has written about wine and wine appellations for more than a decade, including feature contributions to Wine Spectator and the James Beard Award-winning weekly wine section of the San Francisco Chronicle. During his ten-year association with Appellation magazine (later named Wine Country Living) he wrote a series of appellation descriptions covering California, Oregon and Washington. As Wine Editor for the magazine, he also contributed a regular column, “By The Glass,” on wine trends and tasting. He is currently Wine Editor for WineCountry.Com, which also publishes a bimonthly magazine.

Elkjer judges for the two largest international wine competitions in the U.S., and his frequent travels have taken him to more than a dozen other wine-producing nations in the northern and southern hemispheres. Not content to understand winemaking solely from the outside, he has also made varietal wine and blends from well-known vineyards in Napa, Sonoma and Carneros, and is part of a team creating a new biodynamic estate winery in Oregon’s Applegate Valley appellation.

Elkjer’s most recent book was "Beautiful Wineries" (Ten Speed), designed by Jennifer Barry and featuring the work of photographer Charles O’Rear. Previous titles include "True to Our Roots" (Bloomberg Media), "Adventures in Wine" (Travelers Tales), and "Escape to the Wine Country" (Fodor’s). He has also published numerous travel essays, book reviews and an award-winning novel. He lives with artist Antoinette von Grone among the vineyards of Anderson Valley in Northern California.

For AppellationAmerica, Thom’s diverse editorial beat covers the Mendocino and Lake County appellations.