How did I get here?
Hi, my name is Andrew, and I hail from a small town in Ohio. After high school, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend culinary school at Johnson & Wales University, where I aspired to be a Chef. However, life has a funny way of pushing you in different directions. Towards the end of the curriculum, an opportunity to earn a wine certification arose, and my competitive nature and obsession with building my resume led me to pursue it. So, after passing my WSET 2, I had to take it a step further. With a plane ticket in hand, I studied abroad in Germany for a month and traveled through several wine regions, soaking up as much knowledge as I could, and ended the trip with the WSET 3 on my resume. I graduated in 2014, sufficiently infatuated with wine and looking to become a sommelier.
The journey started by staying in Charlotte. I had taken a job at Total Wine & More. Whatever your feelings about Total Wine, it is undeniable that they have made wine approachable to a wide audience, which is always our goal as professionals. Working there, of course, had its highs and lows. I had the pleasure of working with very kind people. The standout being Kira. An educator turned wine professional, full of knowledge, passion, and drive. Her sheer amount of expertise baffled me, without any certifications, besides Total Wine’s tiered training. It let me realize that 1. certifications are not everything, and 2. take your time, there is no substitute for time, and you need a lot of it to learn the world of wine. As far as critiques for Total Wine, I will leave it at this: being incentivized to sell only the ‘Winery Direct’ items makes learning difficult, and closes you off to appreciating all wine.
After eight months, I decided to move on. I was also losing my friends/roommates who were moving on to bigger and better things. So, I decided to take a big leap and move to East Tennessee to work at Blackberry Farm. I wanted to be a Sommelier! I started in June 2015 as a food runner because when you step into a property of that caliber, you start at the bottom and work your way up. Luckily, I took to this new challenge, and made my way through backwaiting, frontwaiting, and bartending. And before my two-year mark, I had reached the Sommelier Team and obtained my Certified Sommelier Certification. Now what? Well, I kept going. I was asked to become an Assistant Manager of the Barn Restaurant and later the Manager. In just 4 years, I had gone from bumbling hospitality graduate to managing one of the greatest restaurants in the country. Oh, and I got married! Needless to say, I had career whiplash, and without any time to recover, my wife and I packed up and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, so she could pursue a graduate degree at the University of Virginia.
With a pedigree bolstered by a name like Blackberry Farm, it should have been easy to find a meaningful and appropriate career move in a new place, right? Well, after being wined, dined, and promised great things at a growing, young, luxury property, I took a new job. I endured three months. Those months deserve their post, so stay tuned. For now, know that they broke me.
Thankfully, I was able to pick up the pieces in a more controlled environment and focus on where my passion lay, beverage. Farmington Country Club, ranked in the top 150 platinum clubs of America, brought me on board as their Beverage Manager. I took the opportunity to develop a beverage program at a quality location, and I loved it! I may not have said it every day, but I did get to do some pretty cool stuff. From designing and managing the installation of a new cellar to developing a dedicated group of oenophiles to host tastings and dinners for, and even studying through and achieving the WSET Diploma. There was plenty to sink my teeth into. Charlottesville will always have a special place in my heart, along with the many lifelong friends I made. After the better part of 5 years, my wife and I decided to be closer to family and moved back to East Tennessee, settling in Knoxville.
We arrived in June of 2024! I had intended to find my next career move in beverage distribution. I was hoping to focus more on the pieces of the industry I love the most. Programming and working with people while avoiding late nights and weekends. Well, come to find out, the distribution world in Tennessee is an odd one and rather difficult to penetrate, but I had to find work. While I could have gone back to Blackberry, the opportunities there did not align with what I hoped to achieve, and the hour commute was also too much to commit to. Thankfully, with some local connections, I landed at a fine dining restaurant and Downtown Wine and Spirits, both part-time, giving me ample time to continue to explore career opportunities.
After several months of networking and meeting with professionals in the area, I stopped my search for a distribution gig. Instead, I decided to leap into something I had always thought about and finally had an excuse to make the jump. I started my own business. Globe to Glass LLC. The express goal of which is to create programming opportunities through beverage. I started and continue to host pop-up tastings and educational classes with local businesses, specifically at Zero/Zero Wine Bar. I am looking to continue the growth by offering event hosting, planning, and consultation. While the whole experience is nerve-wracking, I am enjoying this new challenge. I neglected to mention that I am not doing this alone. Thank God for my business partner, Dan! He keeps my head on straight!
We have officially been back for a year! It has been great being back, near family and old friends, but also making new friends, and getting to integrate into the Knoxville community. We are looking forward to another year and seeing where this crazy journey takes us.
Cheers!