Penni Wisner joined House & Garden magazine in 1972 and was named Editor of the Wine & Food section in 1978. As editor, Wisner traveled frequently to California and its wine regions. She knew she wanted to be part of the exciting and new wine industry, and so she left House & Garden and traveled around the world between 1981 and 1982, to learn about viticulture first-hand.
Wisner worked the harvest of 1981 for Iron Horse, a super-premium Sonoma producer of still and sparkling wines; she worked the vintage of 1982 in Australia for Brian Croser at Petaluma, and the harvest in Burgundy – touring and tasting in Alsace, Bordeaux, Champagne, and the Rhone. Wisner spent some time catering the Friday wine tastings at Stephen Spurrier’s Academie du Vin in Paris which gave her in-depth knowledge of Parisian butcher shops, markets, pain de Poilaine, and affineurs (cheese shops that buy and age cheeses).
After Wisner returned to the United States, she sold wine in one of Manhattan’s top wine shops; and then in 1984 she joined Simi Winery in Sonoma County as Vice President/Public Relations. In this role she wrote the widely-respected quarterly newsletter, Simi News, and traveled extensively to represent the winery before consumer and trade groups.
In 1988, Wisner became the Public Relations Director of The Seagram Classics Wine Company to direct internal and external corporate programs, as well as the publicity for several brands in the company portfolio. I broadened my consumer products experience as the Public Relations Director of San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma, Inc., the well-known cataloguer and retailer.
Wisner has worked as a writer and industry consultant since 1993, and has authored cookbooks and worked with clients such as Kuhn Rikon, the Swiss manufacturer of premium cookware and kitchen tools; Laura Chenel’s Chevre, the premium goat cheese producer in Sonoma County; and San Francisco’s Center for Culinary Development, and the Sonoma County Wineries Association.
Wisner’s cookbooks include three for Michael Chiarello: Flavored Oils, 50 Recipes for Cooking with Infused Oils; Flavored Vinegars, 50 Recipes for Cooking with Infused Vinegar; and The Tra Vigne Cookbook, Seasons in the California Wine Country. She has written books for other San Francisco chefs including La Parilla for Reed Hearon, The Basque Kitchen for Gerald and Cameron Hirigoyen, Modern Asian Flavors: A Taste of Shanghai for Richard Wong, and two books for Hubert Keller: Burger Bar, Build Your Own Ultimate Burger, and Souvenirs, Stories and Recipes from My Life. Wisner wrote Summer Cocktails under her own name and it was published for Williams-Sonoma.