About Me
Zoran Ljepovic was born in Zagreb, Croatia, European Union where he earned an Engineer of Agronomy Degree in Enology, Viticulture and Pomology from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. He worked as a Production Winemaker for renowned wine and spirits company Badel 1862. During his Masters he in Co-pigmentation in Rubired juice and concentrate he worked as a Lab Supervisor for California Natural Color (aka SJVC a part of E&J Gallo) in production of the grape skin extract. After graduation, Zoran moved to Franciscan Oakville Estate winery as QC Enologist for six years. Later, Zoran transitioned to Robert Mondavi winery as Wine QC manager for Icon Estates wines, a luxury wine division of Constellation Brands Inc. In 2008 Zoran was promoted to a QC/QA Manager for Wine Process Improvement. He managed QC/QA for bottling facilities: Robert Mondavi in Napa and Clos du bois in Sonoma for the luxury wines. In addition, he conducted sanitation & GMP audits for the CBI wineries on the West coast, wine microbiology consulting and introducing emerging new technologies and procedures. In 2014 Zoran was promoted in QA Director for Microbiology and Sanitation. In this role Zoran is conducting Quality audits at all the Constellation wineries with the US including a few in Canada and Ruffino in Italy. His lab was developing the best microbiology and sanitation practices. Since 2018 Zoran is focusing in winemaking and quality consulting. He presented his research at various conferences and symposia from ASEV, Unified Symposium for Wines & Grapes, CERA group, New Mexico Wine Conference, Brewers & Vintners Symposia among others. He served as a technical board member for ASEV and board member for Napa Valley Wine Technical Group as well as co-president of CERA microbiology group. Zoran is teaching VESTA on-line classes and conducting enology workshops that include: wine sensory, wine and must analysis, sanitation, bottling QC, and wine microbiology. He is also consulting winegrowers in winemaking in California, Michigan and Croatia. Zoran also serves as a wine judge at various international wine judging competitions such as Finger Lakes (FLIWC), Watkins Glenn (EIWC), Indiana (IIWC) El Dorado county, and California State Home Winemakers Competition in Lodi.
