Emmanuel Kemiji, master sommelier, was born in the United States and raised in Spain and England by Greek Cypriot and Spanish parents. He is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, where he earned degrees in economics and Spanish literature, along with studies in viticulture and oenology.
After graduation, Kemiji worked under the guidance of renowned wine merchant Darrell Corti at Corti Brothers in Sacramento, California, and former White House wine consultant David Berkley. From 1988 to 1999, he served as director of wine and spirits for The Ritz-Carlton, first in Laguna Niguel and later in San Francisco. In 1989, he became the 12th American to pass the master sommelier exam on his first attempt. That same year, the California Restaurant Writers Association named him “Sommelier of the Year.” He was later recognized as “Wine Director of the Year” in the Critics Choice Awards and featured in the August 1999 issue of San Francisco Magazine.
In 1995, Kemiji founded Miura Vineyards, becoming the first sommelier to establish a winery in the United States. He later expanded his ventures to Spain with Clos Pissarra, a project in the Montsant and Priorat regions, in 2003. The San Francisco Chronicle named him one of the “10 Winemakers to Watch” in 2000. In 2006, he received the Wine Industry Achievement Award from the Anti-Defamation League. Kemiji has also served as a wine judge for the Los Angeles County Fair and the San Francisco International Wine Competition.
In July 2020, he launched two new ventures: L+i, the first California wine in a can crafted by a master sommelier, and Miura Beer Works, a collaboration between a master sommelier and a master brewer. That same year, he published The Miura Affair, a novel exploring the complex relationship between two men during the Spanish Civil War.
In 2023, Kemiji introduced café Islero, a nitro cold brew coffee project centered on a single estate and single variety coffee. He also launched Estaca 1627, an agave project based in Sonora, Mexico.