Williams Selyem hires Michael Traverso as hospitality manager

<p>Williams Selyem Winery of Healdsburg, one of the leading pinot noir producers in the Russian River Valley, has hired Sonoma County native Michael Traverso as its new hospitality manager.</p><p>Traverso joins the winery after serving for 13 years as the co-owner and vice president of Traverso's Gourmet Food and Liquors of Santa Rosa, an iconic market that closed last fall after 90 years of providing authentic, Italian food and wine to Sonoma county.</p><p>At Williams Selyem, Traverso will manage the hospitality staff that conducts tours of the winery and estate vineyards for the by-appointment-only Tasting Salon at the new estate winery.</p><p>In addition to his experience at the market, Traverso has served on the board of directors of the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, as an adjunct faculty member of the Santa Rosa Junior College and a professional wine reviewer for local and national competitions.</p><p>“This is an amazing opportunity for me to join one of the best, and one of my personal favorite wine brands in the country,” Traverso said in a press release. </p><p> Starting out in Forestville in 1979, winery founders Ed Selyem and Burt Williams turned their winemaking hobby into a cult-status winery in less than two decades and set a new standard for pinot winemaking in the U.S.</p><p>The partners sold the winery in 1998 to John and Kathe Dyson, who have built a new winery at 6575 Westside Rd. williamsselyem.com.</p>