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About Notable Wine

Hi, I’m Sean Antoniello. I founded Notable Wine to educate people about wine in a fun and unpretentious way.

Notable Wine has been a passion of mine since I first began to learn about wine. I put a name to it around 2006. It has followed me through all of my life and wine adventures since then. In 2020 I decided to put a more concrete face to the name through Notable Wine, Edutainment, Events, and Consulting. The picture of me feeding grapes to my wife represents how I feel about life and the pursuit of passion.

Learning about wine is an experience that brings friends, coworkers, and even strangers together on a common ground that is fun and relaxing, and can even create lifelong bonds.

My goal is to help my clients create entertaining, informative wine-tasting experiences that soar above and beyond their expectations.

My focus is on quality and value, and bringing more excitement, joy, information, and a little history to the world of wine!

 

Yours truly and Shaquille O'Neal's mom!

I am constantly learning and teaching about wine. On top of tasting as many different wines as possible (which is the best education in my opinion), I read articles, blogs, books, winery websites, and talk to other wine professionals to learn as much as I can about grape varieties, regions, winemakers, wine pricing, and more. I have been writing “wine rhymes/raps” as a fun way to teach a little about wine while being entertaining on social media. I aim to incorporate these and other entertaining elements along with music in my wine tasting events. My events are either held online or at your home or event location of your choice. I work directly with local quality focused retailers and suppliers to find unique quality wine selections. I also work with local chefs for food pairing and catering options. The difference in quality of both service and wine selections is what I hope my clients will notice most of all after each event.

My Background

I was introduced to fine wine in the late 1990’s by my first wine mentor and friend, Anthony Caristi. He was the wine manager at the Wine Cellar in Bernardsville, NJ, and later partnered in his own store, Artisan Fine Wine, Bread, and Cheese in Chester, NJ. Both of these stores have since been sold, however, they are worth noting, because I will never forget a few nuggets of wisdom I learned that have stayed with me all these years.

  1. You can’t sell from an empty cart.
  2. Life is too short to drink bad wine.
  3. Every day above ground is a good day.

 

Tony introduced me to amazing Burgundian Pinot Noir and great Brunello di Montalcino at around the same time I was drinking natural light at fraternity parties and practicing my DJ craft, a passion I was determined to make my career. As a teen I was very into 90’s hip hop, and loved to write hip hop lyrics, and perform them over any random instrumental in front of any crowd no matter how big or small. That love of music and performance morphed into a career as a mobile disc jockey and master of ceremonies.

DJ Sean in action.

While I was honing my DJ craft I left the retail wine world, but was far from leaving wine behind. I took classes at the Wine & Spirits Education Trust in NYC. I earned my Level 3 Advanced Certificate (with distinction)  and was halfway through my Diploma when I first created the concept of Notable Wine to bring my love of music and wine together. It began as blog where I was sharing wine and wine knowledge with friends. I taught Wine Appreciation classes, and met a few distributors through my blog, which led to the beginning of my calling to make a career in wine as well.

I sold wine for a few small distributors and really enjoyed being able to taste and teach people about wine for a living every day. I can’t lie and say it was an easy seamless road to get there, but without realizing it, I was living out my passions for both music and wine full-time… and then some.

For several years I was selling wine all day (and some nights) Monday-Friday, and DJing Friday-Sunday. Yes, they overlapped sometimes, and yes, I was burning the candle at both ends. Sixty-hour work weeks were rare and restful, but I didn’t mind at all. I really loved everything I was doing…

…until my oldest son turned two and then soon after I found out his little brother was on the way, and my thoughts about “work” began to change. I became conflicted with doing what I love and being around for my new family. Both my wife and I were (and still are) very career focused, so starting a family (which was probably more of my idea if we had to point a finger) meant big change, at least for one of us. I became more selective with the DJ gigs I was taking so I could spend more time with family, and in 2017 a drastic change was coming.

At what I believed to be just about the height of my wine sales career, my wife was offered an opportunity to move to Fort Worth, TX to advance her career. Being the team player, I said, “Sure, why not? What do we have to lose?” While it wasn’t easy, I said good-bye to everything I had built over the last 15-18 years as a DJ and wine professional in order to focus completely on my family. It was the only way I think I ever would have really been able to make that change, looking back on it. Anyone who knew me knew it was too hard for me to turn down any DJ gig or wine tasting event, but it has given me great perspective.

Exhausted from spending almost six amazing months just hanging out with my kids, I realized I wasn’t the stay-at-home-dad type, and started booking a few weddings and got right back to working with a wine distributor. While my intention was to get back to doing what I loved back in New Jersey, and I was able to get halfway there relatively quickly, I realized things weren’t quite the same. Even though some of what I was doing still brought me joy and satisfaction, there was something missing.

To shorten this already long story, I finally decided it was time to go way back to my roots… why I started Notable Wine in the first place: to combine my hobby and passion of learning about and teaching wine with my love for entertaining and bringing happiness and joy to people’s lives and special events.

Outside of Wine...

My two hobbies are basically just music and wine and everything involved with them!

I love to write rhymes/raps, poems, and parodies of songs. I like to play the djembe with my musical friends. I’m big into old-school hip hop.

If I was forced to choose (thankfully I’m not), my favorite wines are still Pinot Noir and Italian wines based from Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. I love blind tasting and learning about new and exciting varietals, blends, and regions as well as revisiting wines with some age on them.

I spend my free time thinking of business ideas or spending time with my family.  I love to travel and see new places. I have visited several wine regions including Texas (Fredericksburg), New York (Long Island & Finger Lakes), California (Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lodi), South Africa (Stellenbosch & Franchoek), Germany (Mosel and Pfalz), and France (Nuits St. George), Maui, Hawaii (yes they have a vineyard and make wine!). I need to get to more wine places, and plan to organize some amazing wine trips with my clients over the next few years. Next up are Greece, Italy, Oregon, and Washington, not necessarily in that order.

My wife and I grew up in the same small town in New Jersey and now we are enjoying quite a different lifestyle in northern Texas! My wife is on the board at the Boys and Girls Club of Tarrant County, so I try to help with that any way I can, and I look forward to providing the local community some awesome events as I continue to build Notable Wine Events & Consulting!

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Whether you’re interested in booking an event or have questions, I’d love to hear from you!

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