Kathy Bechtel
After a 20 year career as an engineer, long time Newburyport resident Kathy Bechtel switched to culinary and wine pursuits. She graduated at the top of her class from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and also earned her WSET Level 1 wine certification. Following her graduation, she worked for James Beard award-winning chef Jody Adams at her Rialto restaurant, which is where she first met Gary Sullivan, who was one of Jody’s partners at Rialto. After traveling to Italy several times with Jody, Kathy started her own tour company, Italiaoutdoors Food and Wine, which creates unique private travel experiences in Italy, with a focus on regional foods and wines. She has visited numerous Italian wine producers in her years of travel, you can read about her visits on her blog, www.chefbikeski.com. In 2017 she earned her certification as an Italian Wine Professional.
Kathy recently reconnected with Gary through Jody, and when she learned about his prospering wine club in Padanaram Harbor, proposed Newburyport as his next port of call. Gary didn’t need any convincing.
“there is more to a wine than its nose and its palate: it is the living memory of the culture and place which produced it” — Sandro Boscaini, Masi