Club W Announces Brian Smith as New Chief Wine Officer

Founder of Loca Linda Wines to Join Team to Select Wines and Educate Members on Monthly Offerings

El Segundo, California (I-Newswire) March 13, 2013 - Fresh off a $3.1 million round of Series A funding, online wine ecommerce leader Club W announced the hiring of Brian Smith as its Chief Wine Officer. Smith, formerly a professional snowboarder, brings with him more than a decade of wine experience. Smith is recognized by the Court of Master Sommeliers as an Advanced Sommelier and by Food and Wine magazine as one of America’s Best Sommeliers.

“If you want to learn about wine there is no better way than Club W,” says Smith of his decision to join Club W. “Instead of reading about Müller-Thurgau and going on the hunt for a quality example, we reverse engineer it. The wine shows up and you learn about it in the glass.”

“We only have so many positions in our program so we want to give our members a perspective on the beautiful diversity in the wine world through our selections,” says Smith. “So much of what is interesting about a wine is the story and history behind it.”

“As the founder of the Brooklyn-based Loca Linda wine label Brian has been telling his own wine story for years now,” offers Club CEO Xander Oxman, “and we think his experience as both a sommelier and winemaker makes him uniquely suited to being our Chief Wine Officer.”

As Chief Wine Officer, Smith will work closely with Club W’s team of curators to carefully select the wines offered through the website and to educate the site’s members while maintaining Club W’s strict “no snobbery or wine jargon” policy.

“Brian is the most approachable wine genius you’ve ever met,” says Club W Chief Marketing Officer Mark Lynn. “Having Brian join our team translates into an incredible opportunity for our Monthly Experience Holders to learn wine from one of the most progressive, forward-thinking wine minds in the country, if not the world.”

Lynn and Smith are planning a media tour in both New York City and Los Angeles in mid-March to promote Smith in his new role.