FANNY D°ONOFRIO, Sommelier / Wine Scout
Fanny D’Onofrio, an advanced sommelier under Keith Wallace, is an economic ambassador for the city of Nantes, her place of birth, where her great-grandfather was both a cooper and a strongman, renown for his ability to lift a full barrel of Gros-Plant with his teeth. But although equally strong, Fanny was too short to lift a wine barrel off the ground with her teeth, so she instead became a junior national gymnast and later worked as a seasonal grape picker during her legal studies at the University of Nantes, after which she worked for numerous prominent human rights organizations, as well as earned advanced degrees in international public law, immigration law, and business from Essex University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Villanova University, respectively. But the vineyards beckoned, the mineral flavors, the seasonal harvest smells, the complicated land-use laws and AOC terroir classifications, so she decided to return to her roots, to the Loire Valley, to the historic source of Muscadet, each summer to conduct research for her wine consultancy, to prepare for her master sommelier examination, and to explore provincial wineries.
MARK D°ONOFRIO, Architectural Historian / Urban Guide
Mark D’Onofrio is a materials conservator, an architectural historian, and a preservation technologist. Educated in archaeology at the University of Vermont, and later in architectural history and urban design at PennDesign, where he received both a Master of Science in Historic Preservation and a Master of City Planning, Mark manages daily operations for Michael D’Onofrio Historical Restoration, the premier restoration contracting firm in the Philadelphia Main Line. He has personally directed the conservation or rehabilitation of hundreds of residential estates, historic townhouses, objects, vernacular structures, and archaeological sites in the Philadelphia Main Line; as well as co-founded Passenger Pigeon X, a modernist-inspired international branding / graphic design collective in Philadelphia, Nantes, and Genoa; and Main Line Francophone for which he serves as an urban guide and programming director during the summer months. A member of several international organizations dedicated to the preservation of twentieth-century heritage, he is currently interested in the post-industrial maritime landscapes of Alexandre Chemetoff and Gilles Clément.
JULIEN MOINEL, Musicologist / Events Programmer
After obtaining a BA in musicology at the University of Rennes, Julien has overseen the logistics and fundraising operations of hundreds of concerts, theatre performances, and film exhibitions in France and neighboring countries. Some of his prominent projects include le Festival du Roulement de Tambour, a cutting-edge rock music festival in Rennes; the popular summer open-air movie festival in Frankfurt, Germany; Ciné Ligue, an itinerant movie organization in Reims and the surrounding Champagne area; le Mékano, a co-working / maker space in Nantes; and le Festival de Villeneuvette, an urban art festival, in the Occitane region of southern France. Recently, he co-founded le Festival du Film à Roulettes, an outdoor movie festival located at the foot of the massive medieval castle of Montreuil-Bellay, a historic riverine town in the Saumur wine region. Julien is also a professional projectionist, experimental DJ musician, and gentle punk who operates under the call sign MST. A music buff, he is known for his collection of rare vinyl records and his encyclopedic knowledge of classical music (even hosting his own NPR-like radio programs).
FRANCOISE BRILLOUET, Local Guide / Chef
Following a 20-year career as a regional director of engineering and biometrics for a prominent telecommunications firm, Françoise began the next phase of her life as successful B&B host and local personality, appearing in such popular French cooking and travel programs as Les Carnets de Julie and Météo à la carte, where she prepared her family recipes (such as Gâteau Nantais or Choux de Bruxelles au jambon de Vendée) on live television, as well as discussed the unique maritime history of the surrounding fisherman and artist village of Trentemoult, where she herself is also a prominent reclaimed mosaic artist and driftwood sculptor. If that weren’t enough, she is also the regional director of Emmaüs (Loire Atlantique), an international non-profit dedicated to the fight against poverty and homelessness.
