Brenda brings over 20 years of wine experience to the wine education arena ranging from retail experience as the corporate wine manager and education director for a large retail chain to managing distribution channels and building brands for small boutique wineries.

I was taking a Wine Appreciation Class in Oregon and after visiting the wineries and talking with the winemakers I realized that’s what I want to do. It then took six years before I started working my dream job in wine.

I enjoy traveling anywhere, but especially in wine regions around the world. I have had the pleasure of traveling to the wine regions of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Australia as well as most of the major wine producing areas in the United States. I also enjoy hiking, biking, cooking and reading.

WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits (DipWSET), Certified Wine Educator (CWE), Certified Specialist in Wine (CSW), International Sommelier Guild -Sommelier Diploma (SGD), Italian Wine Professional (IWP)

WSET Level 3 Award in Wines

My appreciation of wine started in my young 20’s. I fell in love with the entire experience of wine. My then boyfriend and now husband and I would explore up and down the coast of California. It wasn’t until a move abroad to London, England that my wine journey truly began and my previous career in Sports Medicine would make a radical shift to working in the wine industry full time. I was introduced to an amazing woman who owned her own wine business in the UK called Wine = Friends. She took me under her wing, and together we helped host a plethora of wine events. With no formal wine education, she encouraged me to take WSET 1 and 2. She herself holds the WSET Diploma. We returned home to California, and I never looked back. First working as a sommelier, then a wine buyer, and later as a wine educator.

A few important bottles of wine for sure a 1997 Brunello di Montalcino and a 2001 Condrieu. But it was realizing that the entire experience of wine tasting at different tasting rooms, in various countries, that set my senses on fire. The smells, wine, food, and mostly the people we encountered. It’s everything that truly makes me happy.

Traveling anywhere and everywhere, spending time with family, friends, and our chocolate Lab Bubba, hiking, reading, wine tasting, and writing about wine.

Wine and Spirit Education Trust WSET Diploma (DipWSET), Certified Sommelier (CS), Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW), Certified D.O. Cava Educator, American Wine Expert (AWE), Italian Wine Scholar (IWS).

My interest in wine was spurred by my father. He always enjoyed drinking and searching out good wine. I started my education in wine at Las Positas College in Livermore, California, entering their viticulture and enology program. Who wouldn’t love tasting wine for 3 hours and getting college credit? I changed careers in 2015 and jumped feet first into the wine business. I have had the absolute pleasure of working for several prestigious wineries (Wente Family Estates, Robert Mondavi, and House of Smith.) I started the WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) courses in 2015 and after passing Level 2 and 3, began the journey into the Level 4 Diploma studies, passing Diploma in 2023. Whew!

I’ll narrow it down to 3. First, I clearly remember my first bottle of corked wine. I was still a novice wine drinker and had splurged on an expensive David Lake wine from Washington state for a Thanksgiving dinner. Imagine my surprise when I presented this to my family and found ‘it tasted weird.’ I will never forget that.

Second, experiencing a Riedel glassware seminar and discovering that wines truly do taste better in varietal specific stemware. It’s magic.

Third, my first taste of Penfolds Grange. I tasted this outstanding Syrah in my college class. We had all chipped in $5 for a small taste of this intoxicating wine. Twenty minutes after the tasting, I still had the flavor of the wine in my mouth. Now THAT’S a long finish!

Other than grapes, my time is spent gardening (vegetables, herbs, berries, flowers.) I am a pretty good home cook and love to create food and wine pairing menus, and beautiful tablescapes to entertain my family and friends. Photography is a particular passion. I have had the opportunity to travel the world in my first career in the floral business, but that continues today. Now, when I travel, instead of looking at greenhouses filled with flowers, I’m looking at vineyards filled with grapes. Cheers to that!

My college degree is in music. I’m a pianist, violinist, and vocalist. But I’m also a perennial student and avid gardener, having pursued studies in Environmental Horticulture. After a trip to France, I realized that I must learn the language and returned to college again. As a volunteer for San Francisco City Guides, I led walking tours for visitors throughout the city, chaired the marketing committee and was editor and contributor to their newsletter. After 3 years of WSET Diploma studies, I passed the theory and tasting exams and proudly use the DipWSET post-nominal to my signature.

I have traveled extensively throughout the world and enjoyed the wine, spirits and beer which is made locally in each country. Although, no image is more universal than a good beer at the end of a day or week. Whether it is at the Hofbräuhaus München in Münich, Germany, the Minoh Beer Warehouse in Osaka, Japan or The Bavarian York St. Bar in Sydney, Australia; a good beer helps people relax and unwind.

It is hard to say when was the aha moment for me with beer; I think is was after I moved to Seattle and was introduced to my first craft brewery; Redhook Brewery in the Fremont/Ballard neighborhoods of Seattle. From that first taste of their ESB, I decided to exclusively drink beer produced by craft breweries. It took awhile to achieve although I have not had a US mass-produced beer in over 25 years.

Unfortunately, Redhook Brewery, as I knew it, is no longer.

I enjoy traveling, hiking, backpacking and riding my bike. I enjoy drinking beer, wine and spirits.

Bachelor of Science; Biology, Master of Business Administration; International Business, Certified Beer Server Candidate, Certified Cicerone Candidate, WSET Beer Educator Candidate

I've been in and around the Washington craft beer community for almost 25 years now. My journey started in an Everett brewery called The Flying Pig and, even though it no longer exists as a brewery, it still has some influence if you know where to look. While working for North Sound Brewing in Mount Vernon in 2013, I became certified through the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and passed the Certified Cicerone® exam. Recently, I owned a bar/bottle shop in Enumclaw called Plateau Wine and Beer. Now, I live in Tacoma and am incredibly impressed with their community's passion for beer. You'll usually find me watching my friends record the weekly Grit and Grain podcast, coordinating Tacoma Beer Week events alongside the rest of that committee, at my bi-monthly Brown's Point homebrew club meeting, and/or bellied up to some geeky beer bar SOMEWHERE in Washington.

I had a pint of the Flying Pig's brown ale shortly after I turned 21. That beer, and Newcastle, were the ones to catapult me into "good beer". I drink every kind of beer now, but browns are where I started.

I really love building websites for people and small businesses using Squarespace. I'm also a knitter, and a good, long walk on a nice day makes my soul happy.

Certified Cicerone® , Certified level BJCP judge