Women in Wine Members

Staci Dempsey

LUTCF, FFC, Chair of the Women in Wine Committee

Staci graduated from Padua Academy in 2001, where her 4 year focus was on Women’s History and Womens Studies. Staci is a part of a second generation family owned insurance agency, called Dempsey Weiss & Associates. For the past 20 years, she has been serving and working with the agricultural community. Alongside with her brother Joel, for the past 5 years, they have engulfed themselves in learning and understanding the needs of Vineyards and Wineries.

Staci and Joel have been named the Winery Specialist for the entire state of NJ, by American National Insurance “Our business model is to first serve the people you wish to work with” which has led to her role in the Women in Wine Caucus. Being a part of the GSWGA is an opportunity for her to serve the clients that she gets to work with. She gains a better understanding of the challenges the winery industry has, and when possible, she helps. Staci currently lives in Logan Township with her husband of 10 years. John and their two children Monroe and Bishop. .

Julianne Marth Donnini

Co-owner and Winemaker at Auburn Road Vineyards.

Julianne Donnini is a co-owner and winemaker at Auburn Road Vineyards, founded in 2004. Her winemaking career began like many – a crooked path that started with a degree in literature from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a law degree from Villanova Law School in Pennsylvania. She practiced law for ten years in Philadelphia, specializing in commercial litigation – living and working in the city. The segue to winemaking came as Julianne started her family and questioned a future in the legal and corporate world. So she started researching wineries in the south Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania area. A desire to get out of office culture, build something tangible and be closer to her young, growing family helped her leap into buying a farm in Salem County. A long way from life in the city, she is now the mother of sons in college, an entrepreneur, and a self-taught winemaker with a passion for creating the high-quality wine which is the centerpiece of the agri-tourism experience at Auburn Road. She also manages 23 acres of grapes over two distinct lots, within 10 miles of the Delaware River to the west and 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. The two bodies of water help maintain a temperate, consistent environment for grape growing. She creates what she would describe as an old-world winemaking style – small batch fermentation, gentle use of oak, and a keen sense of balance as a frame to present the beauty of the fruit.

Devon Perry

Executive Director of Garden State Wine Growers Association

Representing the Garden State Wine Growers Association is a dream job as a lover of the State of New Jersey and the wine industry. The background that led Devon to become Executive Director of the Garden State Wine Growers Association began from her experience of being Chief Executive Officer of WineLovers LLC. She managed staff and projects to maintain an online restaurant database serving ten metro centers through this role. She continuously managed restaurant relations to update 53,000 restaurants and maintained relationships and data exchange with OpenTable, Yelp, and AllMenus. In addition, her interest in wine took off at a young age from personal experience. Her grandfather would visit local restaurants every Sunday night, rating wine options with a homemade excel spreadsheet.

Over time, her grandfather would rate wine pairings from his experience and blossomed this pastime into GoBYO.com, an online restaurant database focusing on wine-friendly ratings. Beyond this experience within WineLovers LLC, Devon has maintained leadership roles and positions within the New Jersey tourism industry, like being the Executive Director of Visit South Jersey, a board member of the New Jersey Tourism Industry Association, and served on the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Destination Marketing Organization Association. Moreover, working with exceptionally supportive and talented people behind the vines and in the classrooms continues to grow her love for keeping the “garden” in the Garden State. Cheers to New Jersey wine!

Julia-Marie Cassidy

Events and Interim Marketing Chair of Garden State Wine Growers Association

Julia-Marie Cassidy is the viticulturist and winemaker for her family run farm, Salem Oak Vineyards. As a second generation farmer, she helped her family build the business from the ground up; planting every vine by hand! Throughout her childhood she was an active member of the Salem County 4H and FFA winning numerous awards and placing at nationals for public speaking. In 2014, She graduated from the Academy of Biological Sciences hosted by the Salem County Vocational Technical High School. Shortly after, she graduated with her degree in biochemistry from Salem Community College. While in school, Julia-Marie also graduated with her NJ Emergency Medical Technician license serving her community for the past decade. As an active member in the Garden State Wine Growers Association, her mission has been to help educate the public on the rapidly growing NJ wine regions; she’s passionate about her literal fruits of labor. Aside from the winery, she is the owner of a local chocolate company, Sweet Mary’s Exceptional Chocolates, and she is the head baker at her twin brother’s company, P City bakery. In her free time, Julia can be found traveling, hiking, fishing, or heering on the Philadelphia Union soccer team!

Robin Halpern

Engine One Vineyards has grown grapes for New Jersey wineries for over twenty years. It started as a family project for her husband, herself, and their three school-age sons, a nice diversion from their professional careers. Robin learned on the job and continues to learn. She focuses on canopy management – pruning, training, etc., or as she likes to refer to it: plant design, an art, and a science. In their “retirement,” Robin and her husband have a vineyard in Cumberland County and one in Cape May County and are working towards opening a winery. More to learn!

Dana Ronyack-Davis

Finance Chair of the Garden State Wine Growers Association

Dana Ronyack-Davis works at at Stony Hill Farms in Chester, NJ; a family run farm that grows fruits and vegetables, hosts agritourism events, and is a full-service floral shop with greenhouses housing orchids, annuals, and house plants. After graduating Delaware Valley University with a degree in Agronomy and Environmental Science Dana worked for one year for North Jersey Resource Conservation and Development Council as the Agricultural Outreach Specialist until her future husband’s farm offered her a position as manager of their home farm market where she has been since 2007. Besides work Dana spends her time chasing after her three small children.