Charlie Leary writes about wine and wine history from his base in Panama City, Panama. A member of the Circle of Wine Writers and Phi Beta Kappa, he earned his AB in history with high honors & distinction from Kenyon College, magna cum laude, and PhD & MA degrees in history from Cornell University, where he won Mellon and American Council of Learned Societies fellowships. He also studied at University of Oregon, Indiana University, Nanjing University, Peking University, and the Harbin Institute of Technology. He more recently completed an online certificate in real estate economics and finance through the London School of Economics and Political Science and ThePowerMBA online program in Spanish. 

Charlie developed and taught the first class on modern Chinese history for Tulane University before becoming an organic farmer and artisan cheesemaker in Louisiana’s Florida Parishes in the early 1990s. The Guilde internationale de fromagers inducted him as a member in 1994. He then turned to hospitality and operated small hotels and restaurants in the United States, Costa Rica, France, and Canada, also serving as an award-winning wine director. His businesses won various accolades owing to his efforts, including being a finalist in the National Geographic Society’s worldwide Geotourism competition and winning the first annual Tibbetts Award from the US Small Business Administration as well as the Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award. Five Star Alliance twice named his tiny Nova Scotia resort among the World’s Best Restaurant Hotels.

In 2016–17, he helped train ITHQ sommelier students during work placements and around the same time started an IGP vineyard in Andalusia. He developed and taught culinary and wine classes for tourists in Canada, Costa Rica, and Spain over seventeen years. Random House released his Creole cookbook in 2004. His recipes have also been published in Food & Wine and numerous other magazines and newspapers.

Charlie has written on the wine industry, wine education, and wine history for Sommelier Business, Sommelier Choice Awards, TimAtkin.com, Jane Anson’s Inside Bordeaux, and the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, among others. He also works as a freelance editor in the business and finance center of a major academic editing service. 

He has taken dozens of wine classes with the Napa Valley Wine Academy, Washington State University, EuroInnova Business School, Wine Scholar Guild, ICEX, Rioja Wine Academy, California Wine Institute, the Cava Academy, and various other online programs. He is a certified Cava Educator and Expert, Sherry Wine Specialist, and Spanish Wine Specialist.