Our People

MATTHEW LASORSA - Matthew, the owner of Heights Chateau, was truly "to the business born": the family store, located in Sheepshead Bay, was named "The Five L's" (for dad and his four sons). After graduating in business from St. John's University in 1976, Matthew served his "apprenticeship" there. His first formal wine schooling was with the New York Wine Tasting School, directed by Judy Rundel and John Sheldon. Subsequently, he joined with other wine lovers in conducting tastings for the Great Neck School of Continuing Education. He spent the next decade attending tastings and developing his palate. By 1986 he was ready to set out on his own and he bought a small store on Atlantic Avenue, renaming it Heights Chateau. He subsequently doubled the store space and has built the business, establishing and maintaining strong personal and professional ties within the community. In March 2003 he moved the business down the block to a space where customers and staff enjoy more comfortable quarters and even customers who claim to miss the stacks of boxes shop with pleasure and ease.

Over the years Matthew has developed a strong interest and skill in matching wine and food. He works closely with several catering companies, selecting wines for many celebrations, and has orchestrated wine dinners and events for Heights Casino, local restaurants, and several neighborhood churches and synagogues. He has been interviewed on the subject several times for various radio stations and for the Bloomberg cable network . Matthew has a passion for wine; and, for providing great value for his customers. He tastes constantly, always looking for the highest quality at the best price.

JUDY RUNDEL - Judy arrived in New York from Ohio in the 1960s, in a blue VW, with $500. She spent 27 years in the publishing industry, first as Promotion Manager for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich's College Division, and then for the same division at St. Martin's Press. She says she learned about wine in self-defense after meeting her husband John Sheldon, who has been in the wine business for many years - at Morrell's, Sherry-Lehman, and Park Avenue  wine shops, Tavern on the Green, and then into the supplier side at C. Daniele, Domaine Select, and now Artisan & Pas Mal Imports.

Judy is in her twelfth year with the store as the area's noted "first lady of wine." Judy conducts wine tasting classes at A Cook's Companion up the avenue from us and for the wine and food club of Brooklyn Law School; she has also hosted several wine tasting evenings at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park. For several years Judy served as both executive editor and wine editor of the on-line web magazine, Consumer Chef, and was formerly a columnist for A Taste of Brooklyn. Judy's other credits include doing the wine recommendations for the first three of Rozanne Gold's cookbooks, Cooking 1-2-3, Menus 1-2-3, and Entertaining 1-2-3. She holds the rank of Assistant Professor at Hofstra University, where she teaches the spring semester course on Book Promotion, a required course for those in the (pre-professional) publishing concentration. Judy is the weekly voice of our Heights Chateau e-mail. You can reach Judy at htschateau@aol.com