W. R. Tish, known in the wine trade simply as Tish, has been writing and speaking about wine and food for more than two decades. As editor of Wine Enthusiast magazine from 1988 to 1998, he re-worked the publication to position it as a spunkier alternative to other wine magazines. Tish also has written on wine and food for publications including In Style, Details, Private Clubs, Williams-Sonoma Taste, Beverage Media, Wines & Vines, Wine Business Monthly and the Journal News. He also writes monthly for Westchester magazine and has been featured and/or quoted by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Time Out NY, EXPO and Imbibe.
Through his firm Wine For All, Tish develops custom wine events, ranging from private dinner parties to corporate team-building and focused trade seminars. Wine For All counts diverse banks, businesses, law firms, pharmaceutical companies, trade associations, social groups, universities, nonprofits and individuals as clients. Tish is both a regular wine instructor and special-event speaker for The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, and as has served as the auctioneer for several wine-driven fundraisers.
Tish attended Harvard University, where he graduated with a degree in psychology and was a literary editor of The Harvard Lampoon. After a brief stint in ice cream, he went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing from American University before getting into the wine industry. He lives in Westchester with his wife and twin sons, and can occasionally be found doing standup in Manhattan. His blog, The Wine Skewer, serves up “comedy and commentary from a recovering wine critic.”