Tim Fish

Location: Sonoma County, California

E-mail: timfish@comcast.net

His dad studied to be a priest and his mom was a poet, but instead of saving souls, his father saved Green Stamps and made gas caps in a factory, and instead of writing prose, his mother posed mannequins in a dress shop window. Understanding the ache and the longing in each of them was Tim Fish's first lesson as a writer.

With more than 20 years of experience as a writer and journalist, Fish has spent his life chronicling the lives of people, their triumphs and foibles. From his early days as a newspaper reporter to his current position as associate editor of Wine Spectator magazine, Fish estimates that he has interviewed 10,000 people or more, from politicians and school bus drivers to murders on death row and movie stars Gregory Peck and Nicholas Cage. His writing is distinguished by a unique, conversational voice and wry sense of humor.

Before joining Wine Spectator, Fish freelanced for such publications as Food & Wine and Cooking Light and was a consulting wine instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley.

Fish grew up in rural Indiana and has traveled extensively, including China, France and Japan. Today, lives in Santa Rosa, Calif. and has been married 25 years to Peg Melnik, who is co-author of "Explorer's Guide Napa & Sonoma," now in its ninth edition. They have two children, Sophie and Tucker.