Joseph has been in hospitality for most of his life. He started off washing dishes in a coffee shop in southeastern Massachusetts when he was 15 years old and eventually moved up to short-order cook, making burgers, fries, and other types of coffee shop fare. A new hotel opened in Taunton, MA, and he got a job there working as a bus boy in the café, then worked room service and service bar, and eventually got a job waiting tables in the fine dining restaurant. This is where he started to learn about wine and bought my first case of wine with the intent to drink a bottle every six months or so to see how it developed. In 1996 he moved to Las Vegas and worked at Tre Visi, Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, both at the MGM Grand, and Drai’s Restaurant at the Barbary Coast (now the Cromwell).

 

Joseph was an opening team member at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas in 1998, working as a waiter at Jasmine, the Cantonese gourmet room. He joined the Bellagio sommelier team in 2001 and worked as a sommelier for the Maccioni Family’s Circo, Michael Mina’s Aqua, Sensi, and eventually Michael Mina at Bellagio. He left Bellagio to take the Director of Wine position at the MGM Grand Las Vegas and oversaw the wine programs for Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak, Fiamma, Shibuya, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, and Joël Robuchon at the Mansion. In 2014 he accepted my current position as Director of Product Education for Southern Glazer’s Wine, Spirits, & Beer of Nevada, where we offer a full curriculum of wine, spirits, sake, and beer education.