John Kochis is the president and founder of Gemini Consulting with offices in both Santa Barbara, California and Portland, Oregon. Where he focuses on achieving the financial goals of privately owned wineries. He currently consults on multiple winery projects throughout the west coast that range from those that have yet to break ground to wineries with over 30 years of history. John’s unique background and experience has allowed his clients to achieve success in much more rapid fashion than other traditional models.
Before starting his own firm, John spent over 18 years with the E&J Gallo Winery and was the National Sales Director for their on premise channel managing 6MM cases and a $250MM budget. Prior to this role, he spent four years as the General Manager of Gallo’s Central Coast wineries – Bridlewood Estate Winery and Edna Valley Vineyard. In this role, he was responsible for the day-to-day business of both wineries, including the tasting room, wine club, operations and winemaking. He was also intricate in the actual acquisition of Edna Valley Vineyards and the first out of state acquisition for E&J Gallo, Columbia Winery, located in Woodinville, Washington. Additionally, John has been a national brand spokesperson for the wineries and worked very closely with marketing on national brand and strategy concepts. John served as President of the Board for the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association and also sat on the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau board. He is also sits on the board for Aspira Corporation, a California based company focused on launching wine brands in China. John is also the owner of Ground Effect Wine Co. a Cabernet focused wine brand with distribution across the United States.
After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1995, John began his career in sales at Gallo in Portland, Oregon, eventually rising to become the State Manager of Nevada in 1998. Returning to Portland two years later, John worked as the Retail Sales Manager for Valley Wine Company for three years before making the move to international business and relocating to Canada in 2003 to run the 4 western provinces. John repatriated back to the U.S. in 2006 as the Director of On-Premise for the Mountain West Region based in Seattle, Washington managing 11 states. John made the move to Southern California in 2009, where he began his role as the General Manager for Bridlewood Estate Winery.
John is a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) and splits time between California and Oregon. He is an avid snowboarder and golfer with daughter Ava (19) at University of Oregon and son Chase (17) proudly attending local public schools.