Affiliation : Southern Wine and Spirits, Nevada
Location : Las Vegas, NV

 

Master Sommelier
Vice President of Fine Wine, Southern Wine & Spirits, NV
Las Vegas, Nevada

 

As alumnus of Georgia Tech, Jay was distracted from his academic pursuits twice, first by a two-year tour with the rock band, Borneo, in which he played lead guitar, and second, and irrevocably, by the allure of the Master Sommelier title.

In 1989, while working as a part-time employee of the 400-seat Ray’s on the River in North Atlanta, Georgia, Jay was charged with creating a new wine program. In wine he found a synergistic tool for combining all his passions into a single field. Never comfortable bearing down on any one subject to the exclusion of others, Jay found himself completely at home in the study of wine, a field that embraces: chemistry, biology, history, art, literature, geography and geology, among others.

Master Sommeliers Fred Dame and Evan Goldstein urged Jay to prepare for the Master Sommelier exam, which he did in 1997 becoming the 32nd American to successfully complete it.

Jay worked as Wine Director for the Peasant Restaurant Group in their flagship restaurant, the City Grill Atlanta, as Sommelier and Assistant Manager at Nikolai’s Roof at the Atlanta Hilton and Fine Wine Sales Representative for Atlanta Wholesale Wine.

From January 2005 through January 2008, Jay held the post of General Sales Manager for On Premise Wine with Southern Wine & Spirits in Las Vegas, a remarkable company that provides top-tier wines to the finest restaurants in the city that has become one of the handful great restaurant destination cities in the world.

In April 2004 Jay was named President of Vintrust, L.L.C, a San Francisco-based venture committed to marrying the convenience and innovation of technology with the old world traditions of wine. Jay originally joined Vintrust in 2003 as a member of the Board of Directors responsible for guiding fundraising, investor relations and defining Vintrust’s seminal priorities.

Prior to joining Vintrust, Jay was the Director of Wine at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas where he developed new systems for the management and delivery of 120,000 bottles of wine inventory cellared in 20 separate locations. Jay supervised 15 sommeliers and provided wine education for 2,000 service staff serving 26 restaurants under one roof at the resort. He joined the opening team of the Bellagio in 1998 and was generating $30 million in annual wine revenues when he departed.

In the spring of 2008 Jay launched his own firm, Brix Logistics, consulting on management and logistics within the beverage distribution and hospitality industries, as well as hospitality concept development and other related areas. Jay has been a featured speaker at numerous wine and food events and has appeared in a long list of national publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Wine Spectator and other wine and beverage specific magazines. He has competed in the Grand Prix du Sopexa Sommelier Competition and the Concours Mondial 1994 United States Finals.

Jay is a member of the Court of Master Sommeliers and is actively involved in the organizations education and examination efforts. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for both The Court of Master Sommeliers and The Guild of Sommeliers Education Foundation.