Meet the Sommelier: BRIAN P. SMITH of Club W

Brian P. Smith is an Advanced Sommelier and winemaker who hung up his snowboarding career to pursue his passion for wine. He has developed beverage programs for Jackson Hole Wine Company, Aureole, Las Vegas and Clo Wine Bar, New York.

Smith's mission is to share his passion for the world of wine by making it easy and engaging at all levels. He has developed and launched several award-winning hospitality projects leveraging technology to enhance a consumer's drinking experience. At Aureole his team launched the world's first interactive wine list, which was later developed into a virtual tabletop experience featuring 100 wines by the glass at New York's, Clo Wine Bar.

In 2008, Smith fulfilled his life long dream of making wine after a trip to Mendoza, Argentina starting with a few hundred cases of the Loca Linda Malbec. Today the Crazy Beautiful Wine Co. carries multiple varietals and makes and imports wines from around the world.

As the Chief Wine Officer of Club W, Smith's goal is to develop a community of top food and wine talent to create wines that offer great value and diversity while leveraging new technologies to build a deeper connection between the wine maker and the consumer. Ultimately, to create a better way to buy, share and enjoy wine. Smith has participated as a guest lecturer in various events such as Taste of Vail, Aspen Food and Wine, Newport Food and Wine, and Nantucket Wine Festival.

Smith has been featured in various media outlets including: the Travel Channel, USA Today, Vogue, Today, LXTV, NBC, FOX News, Martha Stewart, Mashable, MSNBC, Fortune, Details, WSJ and Wine Spectator.

Broadwayworld.com had the opportunity to interview Brian P. Smith about his career and Club W.

Why do you enjoy your position at Club W?

Today, I have an amazing, dream position; working closely with many of my favorite winemakers to create some incredible wines with Club W. But ultimately, I love to turn people on to wine. I want to make Club W a company that people trust and admire both for the quality of our product and our dedication to making it easy to simply drink better wine.

What special qualities do you feel Club W offers the wine connoisseur?

Club W was developed out of need for people to have a better way to drink great wines from around the world. Wine is complicated, but that's also part of the beauty. By tailoring wines to people's personal tastes and delivering small lot wines directly to their door, we're able to offer something that just hasn't existed to date for most Americans. And by operating as a direct-to-consumer winery, it's an incredibly smart, efficient and sustainable way to turn people on to new wines in the modern age.

Tell us a little about Club W's distribution and why it is unique.

Club W produces all of the wine we sell as a direct-to-consumer winery. We made the decision to go this route because we realized that to deliver great value in wines at the sub-$20 market, we had to move up the supply chain and put more focus into the important stuff... the juice.

Over 30% of our wine program is grape to glass. We source grapes from all over California and the West Coast to provide a great, diverse selection of domestic wines and we make them in styles that we believe will please the palates of our members.

The other part of our program is designed to bring our members a variety of international and domestic wines that they wouldn't normally be able to get at our price point. By cutting out the middlemen, the distributors and the retailers, we're able to find great winemakers from around the world and bring their craft projects and stories to Club W members in an affordable and accessible way.

By creating the most sustainable and direct route between craft winemakers and customers, we give winemakers access to new consumers and are also able to turn customers on to great wines. It's very rewarding getting to work with the most important people in the equation - the winemakers and the wine drinkers - both really benefit from it this way.

Can you suggest a few perfect pairings for Club W selections?

We work with some wonderful recipe partners, but also like to have a little fun with our suggested food pairings. Some of my favorites are Ruza & strawberry shortcake or jalapeno cheddar corn dogs with a rose.

What are some of the plans for the future of Club W?

While the wine club model is great, but we think of ourselves as a multi-channel wine company. Currently our wines are available on Club W, Amazon, and through limited on-premise accounts with our direct-to-business program in CA & CO. We will continue to expand into these kinds of channels as they fit.

Club W specializes in quality wine products with no middleman and insures savings for their customers. For more information on their service, visit their web site at https://clubw.com/.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Brian P. Smith

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