Hi, I’m Brandon!

My love for wine started at my first serious fine dining restaurant position. My trainer talked about wine so elegantly and I wanted to impress her, despite my lack of any knowledge. During sales trainings I was inspired by a local sales representative who would reference maps and geography. Who knew wine from different areas of the world could taste so unique? From that moment on, I was hooked.

My education started with WSET Level 2 and over the next 5 years I successfully completed Level 4 Diploma in 2014. Neal Ewing at Phillywine.com is one of the best mentors and supporters one could ask for. I highly recommend his classes even if you are a distant learner. After completing Level 4 I wanted to give back to the wine community. I completed the WSET Wine Educator course in 2016 with the certification to teach any WSET classes including the Diploma. Before moving to the Finger Lakes in 2018, I taught Diploma tasting for two years and was the Italian instructor for Neal’s Diploma classes.

Professionally, my love for hospitality started when I was 18. A quiet kid all throughout school, I somehow found the restaurant business to be natural. Over the following 12 years, I jumped from restaurant to restaurant always looking myself. Most notably I worked with Iron Chef Jose Garces for 3 years as their Beverage Manager, curating beverage programs for many of his locations including Garces Trading Company, Village Whiskey, and Amada.

I met my future wife in 2013 and we instantly knew we would be together forever. As a professional ballet dancer for Pennsylvania Ballet, our schedules were completely different. I decided to move away from the restaurant business and I secured a sales position with importer Regal Wine Imports. I rose through the ranks ultimately becoming their Director of Product Development. I answered to and promoted close to 300 wineries as well as led all tastings for new prospective wineries.

35 years of city living in Philadelphia wears on you and in 2018 we decided to make the move to the wine region of the Finger Lakes. In 2014 my wife and I traveled to the region as a curiosity, as we never had the wines before. We instantly fell in love with the beauty of the lakes, the friendliness of everyone, and the wonderful cool climate wines. We knew then our dream was to live in the Finger Lakes. I met Meaghan Frank, 4th generation owner of Dr. Konstantin Frank, in 2015 while working harvest and we kept in contact during her WSET Diploma studies. She actually used my grids to pass! A position opened up that seemed too perfect to pass up, so we sold our Philadelphian home and moved to Geneva, New York June 2018. My wife now works for Hermann J. Wiemer and I’m at Dr. Frank as their Digital Brand Manager.

Our next journey in wife is too be determined. Holly is starting her WSET education and I am planning on taking the Master of Wine entrance exam in the summer of 2019. We are even looking for a new home which has the potential to plant a few rows of vines… for fun!