President
First Crush Wines
Greater Seattle Area
Importer and distributor of cooperative and family produced artisanal wines featuring those produced using organic, bio-dynamic, and sustainable practices. Created in-house proprietary brands using personally selected varietals and blends from France, Spain, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. Brands included The Mutts Nuts, Chanteuse, Goldenhour, Madhouse, and Flutter. Sold by Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Metropolitan Markets, Central Markets and distributed widely in the United States and Canada with similarly minded partners. Chanteuse was a project with Les Vignerons de Benovie in the Languedoc in Southern France. This cooperative launched in 1981 was committed to using traditional methods that respected the terroir and sought to change the mindset of targeting maximum yield to one of achieving maximum quality. As many of the Languedoc's vineyards are being ripped up to meet EU production regulations, they have figured out a way to adapt and thrive.