Wine Bio

Wine education and marketing for smaller importer tastings. Wine coordinator for the annual WPSU Wine Celebration. The second Annual Penn State WPSU Wine Celebration will take place Sunday, September 19th, 2010 at Penn State's Penn Stater Conference Center. Last year we had over 300+ premium wines from around the world represented. The Annual Penn State WPSU Wine Celebration benefits Penn State public broadcasting - www.wpsu.edu If you're an importer, winery or distributor interested in reaching a highly desirable wine and income demographic on a home football weekend in Happy Valley with lots of Penn State alumni, please contact me at wpsuwine at psu.edu to discuss showcasing your wines and brands.

In spring 2010, I will be taking my WSET advanced certificate as a first step towards an MW. I enjoy wines from around the world, but my specialty and focus is wines from France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Germany, Hungary/Slovenia/Croatia, CA, OR and WA.

Within France, I focus on Rhône, Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence, Loire, Alsace, Burgundy and Bordeaux wines. I continue to enjoy discovering the up and coming Spanish regions of Jumilla, Yecla, Rueda and Penedes. I have done a fair amount of Italian tastings covering almost all regions from: Lombardy, Mt. Etna (Sicily), Piedmont, Lazio, Veneto, Liguria and quite enjoy the southern Italian/Sicilian whites and reds: Aglianico, Mascalese Capuccio and Mascalese Nerello.

My initial training was in French/Italian and economics/business that led to a banking post with JP Morgan Paris in 1989. Later at graduate school at Penn State and the University of Delaware, I specialized in strategy, entrepreneurship and technology. By day, I work in business development, market research and entrepreneurship with start-up and early stage companies with Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

My love affair with great wines started during summers in the 1980s in London and working outside Philadelphia at Jean Pierre's Restaurant with Jean Pierre Tardy, the former Le Bec Fin executive chef who trained in Les Baux de Provence at L'Oustau de Baumanière.

My wine love affair continued after university in Paris, France with friends and colleagues from JP Morgan Paris where I learned about the wines of France. We often tasted French regional wines over lunch or after hours at the le bar Rubis behind Place Vendôme's Place du Marché St-Honoré.

In 2006, my wife and I toured Italian wine and food country in Lombardy, Tuscany and Lazio. In fall 2009, we toured the Rhône/Provence/Languedoc wine regions.

In Spring 2010, we will be touring Bordeaux wineries. I also plan to attend different Salons des Vins des Vignerons indépendants in 2010. Stateside, I look forward to attending VinItaly in NYC in 2010.

Tentative plans to tour Spanish wine country are set for fall 2010.

I welcome wine and food colleagues to contact me here or via LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/liberti