Tara has an insatiable curiosity about the world of wine in its entirety, which is probably why she has experienced several facets of the wine industry over the last 15 years, including food & beverage management, retail, importing, winemaking (with a sliver of time on the crush pad and several months in a tasting room), as well as working with restaurants and stores to develop their wine lists and inventories. Perhaps most importantly, she has traveled to several wine regions and obtained the WSET Level 3 Advanced, with distinction.
Tara is both a classically trained Red Seal cook and a sommelier. Having been awakened to the importance of a great wine program to showcase great food, and vice versa, while working at the popular Italian restaurant il Portico (now-closed), her passion for finely chosen pairings continues to delight her today.
She has a desire to demystify the wine world and a drive to debunk the myth that wine is ‘pretentious and bourgeois’. All this and more is what keeps her engaged in the industry.