Ray Isle

Executive Wine Editor, Food & Wine Magazine

Ray Isle is the Executive Wine Editor of Food & Wine and the Wine & Spirits Editor for both Travel + Leisure and Departures. For Food & Wine he writes the monthly “Wine Flight” and “Bottle Service” columns; he also contributes regular magazine and online features on wine, spirits, and wine travel to all three brands.

Christopher Kostow

Executive Chef, The Restaurant at Meadowood/The Charter Oak Restaurant

Christopher Kostow is the critically acclaimed chef of The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, California and the third youngest chef to ever receive three Michelin stars. Kostow draws upon his own American upbringing and the singular beauty and bounty of the Napa Valley to cook food that is thoughtful, personal, and in concert with his community and collaborators.

Christopher, a Chicago native, graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in philosophy before moving to the kitchen. He has cooked with celebrated chefs such as Trey Foshee of Georges at the Cove in San Diego, Campton Place in San Francisco with Daniel Humm and Le Jardin des Sens in Montepellier, France. After earning two Michelin stars at Chez TJ in Moutain View, Kostow arrived at The Restaurant at Meadwood in 2008. He has since been chosen as one of Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs in 2009 and holds an award from the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Pacific 2013.

Ten Speed Press published Christopher’s debut book, A New Napa Cuisine, in 2014. In 2015, his work was awarded “Book of the Year” by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP).

Christopher opened a casual restaurant, The Charter Oak, in the Napa Valley in late spring 2017. Located in the heart of the Napa Valley, The Charter Oak is centered on a celebratory, family-style dining experience, using simple, approachable and seasonal food. The menu reflects the products of the Napa Valley through an elemental cooking style, with a hearth at it’s center, and by highlighting one or two ingredients at a time.

Christopher’s newest endeavor, Ensue, opened in Shenzhen, China in August of 2019. This project marks the first international restaurant, and represents Chef Kostow’s latest evolution, blending California farm-to-table culture and techniques with Cantonese tastes and ingredients.

Christopher lives in Calistoga with his wife Martina, his two daughter’s Daisy and Lulu, his kitten Gus Gus, and dog Charlie.

John McConnell

Executive Chef, Clif Family Winery

John McConnell’s cooking career spans several noteworthy restaurants and food-centric cities. Most recently, he served as the Executive Chef for Hillstone Restaurant Group, a position that afforded him the opportunity to work in New York City, Santa Monica, Washington D.C. and East Hampton, NY. Through his experience with Hillstone, John strengthened his business acumen and skills in restaurant management. Prior to working for Hillstone, John was Chef de Cuisine for Michelin-star rated Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco. He was Chef de Cuisine at Terra Restaurant in St. Helena for three years before that.

John credits his grandmother with instilling in him an appreciation for food and cooking. When she would visit him growing up in Oklahoma, her passion for family and for cooking wholesome, from-scratch meals was infectious. Years later, while attending Iowa State University for Chemical Engineering, John felt a calling to the culinary arts. He enrolled at the New England Culinary Institute in 2004. After graduating with honors, John accepted an internship at Terra and moved to wine country.

John brings his passion for local food sourcing and seasonal ingredients to Clif Family Winery & Farm. He lives in the Napa Valley with his wife, Claire (also a chef), and their three young daughters.

Jammir Gray

Executive Chef, Compline Wine Bar

Jammir Gray knew she wanted to be a chef from the time she was in the fifth grade. Drawn to art in school and the stove at home, Jammir was reading candy cookbooks at an early age and jumping aboard family trips to the farmers’ market. Her interest in a cooking career took shape after reading a 1997 Smithsonian magazine article on legendary French pastry chef and culinary artist Jacques Torres—the idea of a profession joining a love of food, craft and art provided impossible to resist.


A native of Northern California, Jammir graduated from the University of California at Davis and followed her aspirations to New York’s Culinary Center of America. After finishing culinary school in 2008, Jammir came back to California to work at One Market Restaurant, a Michelin-starred institution in San Francisco’s Financial District. From there, she joined Kimpton Boutique Hotels + Restaurants and spent six years moving across the United States, opening restaurants for the group in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. Jammir finally returned to the Bay Area in 2017 as Executive Chef of British Bankers Club in Menlo Park, and found her way back to Financial District two years later to join Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry’s International Smoke as Chef de Cuisine.

When the San Francisco culinary world came to a halt in 2020, Jammir looked toward wine country and the Napa Valley. She joined the Compline Wine Bar and Restaurant team in early July as Executive Chef, eager to match her love of Mediterranean flavors and the rich agricultural bounty of the region to an ever-changing chalkboard menu and a world-class wine list.

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