Emmanuel Kemiji

Born in the United States and raised in Spain and England of Greek Cypriot and Spanish parents, Kemiji is a graduate of the University of California at Davis. In addition to his Economics and Spanish Literature degrees, he studied Viticulture and Oenology.

After graduation, he worked for the famed wine merchant, Corti Brothers in Sacramento, California, under the direction of Darrell Corti and former White House wine consultant, David Berkley. Subsequently Kemiji acted as Ritz-Carlton Director of Wine & Spirits from 1988 to 1999, first at Laguna Niguel and then in San Francisco. In 1989 Kemiji became the 12th American and 58th person overall to pass the Master Sommelier exam in London, England and one of the very few to pass on his first attempt. In the same year, he received the “Sommelier of the Year” award by the California Restaurant Writers Association. Kemiji was also chosen “Wine Director of the Year” in the Critics Choice Awards, and was honored in the August 1999 issue of San Francisco Magazine.

Seeking further challenges led Kemiji to form Miura Vineyards in 1995. He thus became the first sommelier to establish a commercial winery in the United States. Soon to follow was a project in Montsant and Priorat, Spain – Clos Pissarra in 2003. The San Francisco Chronicle named Kemiji as one of the “10 Winemakers to Watch for 2000.”

In 2006, Kemiji received the Wine Industry Achievement Award from the Anti-Defamation League for exemplary commitment to community and charity. In the past he has also been a wine judge at the Los Angeles County Fair and the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

In 2015, in conjunction with the famous bull-breeding Miura family of Seville, Spain, Kemiji created the 1842 Miura brand whose first wine, a 2015 Rioja, was released in 2018.

In July of 2020 he launched two new projects: L+i, the first California wine in a can crafted by a Master Sommelier, and Miura Beer Works in partnership with the Red Clay Brewing Company, the first craft beers made by a Master Sommelier and a Master Brewer. That same year he completed ‘The Miura Affair’, a novel about the complex relationship formed between two men during the Spanish Civil War.

In 2021, Kemiji along with Carlos Montalvo, the proprietor of Fine Wine Imports in Puerto Rico, and winemaker Curt Schalchlin, of Sans Liege and Fableist fame, created ACE 1542 - a project focusing on producing stellar wines primarily from the Central Coast of California. That same year he launched Lunisa- a restaurant and hotel beverage consulting service.

2023 saw Kemiji begin a nitro cold brew coffee project, café Islero, based around a single estate and single variety coffee, and start an agave project in Sonora, Mexico- ESTACA 1627