Elizabeth Smith

About

Dr. Elizabeth Smith is a former community college professor and Napa Valley wine club manager turned award-winning writer, copywriter, marketer, and brand ambassador.Elizabeth’s writing awards include the 2017 Born Digital Wine Award for Best Tourism Content with a Focus on Wine for her story, “Lodi: Beyond the Zinfandel.” She was the Koch Winery category winner in the 2022 Hungarian Web Wine Writing Competition for "2018 Wetzer Furmint, Tokaj, Hungary." She was also a finalist in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 Wine Travel Awards "The Brightest Journey" category.It was Elizabeth’s Hungarian Wines Web Wine Writing win in August 2022 that led her to Hungary for the first time, where her passion for Central European wines was born. This fortuitous turn of events has led her to Hungary eight times – as well as other Central European and Balkan countries – Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Serbia – to discover and share untold stories about the special people and places that make Central European wines unlike no others in the world. In October 2024, Elizabeth moved to Zagreb, Croatia to immerse herself in the region that she loves. She continues to serve as a brand ambassador for Croatian Premium Wine Imports in the U.S.Elizabeth holds a doctoral degree in community college education, master's and bachelor's degrees in French, a graduate minor in Spanish, and Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s Level 3 Advanced designation. She is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and Les Dames d’Escoffier International Sacramento and Sonoma chapters.