Dan Rainey
A 30 year career in Hospitality with a Food & Beverage focus. A graduate from Cal Poly Pomona, my introduction to wine started there at 10 am to 12 noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with a Wine Studies course. This opened my eyes to the world of wine and created a life long passion. To this day if I want to taste new wines I try to do it in the morning when the palate is most receptive. My career included hotels, restaurants and for the last 25 years private clubs. My personal approach to understanding wine is two dimensional: First know what you like, understand why you like it and then seek out the best quality and value you can find. Second, it is my opinion that pairing wine with food is the most exciting part of the adventure and one without the other fails the overall objective which is the enjoyment of both. I've planned and organized hundreds of wine dinners and tasting events and I can attest that that's where the real fun begins. I do not believe that only good wines need to cost $100.00+ per bottle. The adventure and fun with wine is searching the world for the best wines at affordable prices.
Wine education is one aspect of the wine experience that I enjoy immensely. You can make it highly technical or simple and straight forward. Understanding what it is you like and developing a flavor profile are important aspects of developing your wine expertise.
Everyone has a favorite wine, mine happens to be Malbec and those from Argentina are some of the best. I have an Argentine connection in that my wife Carmen is from Argentina, and we have been making annual trips there for over twenty years. I've seen the evolution of their wine industry and really believe it's second to none. In my opinion Argentine wines in general are providing the highest quality to value in the current wine market today.
At IMBIBE my goal will be to assist our clientele in determining what they like, why they like it and then let the adventure begin.
