Meet The Team
Deeply connected to the Napa Valley, our founders have more then 40 years combined experience working in the world of wine. Collectively we have visited and tasted at more then 1,000 Napa Valley based wineries and producers. As a result we have an extremely rare and diverse perspective of the valley, ranging from the smallest hidden gems to the larger producers.
Armen Vardanyan
Crafting wine is in Armen’s DNA -- His great-great-grandfather, Vartan Ayvazian, was a well-regarded Armenian winemaker and entrepreneur. Armen has over 30 years in the international wine and spirits industry and is well-recognized for his achievements – in September of 2002 he was recognized as nunc vini legatus est (wine ambassador) by the prestigious Le Compagne des Ambassadeurs du Vin (society of wine ambassadors) in the Burgundy region of France; and, in June of 2003, he was chosen as a Commandeur d'honneur (honorary commander) by the Commanderie du Bontemps de Medoc, Des Graves, de Sauternes et de Barsac, one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious wine brotherhoods in France. Armen has personally explored over 5000 wineries world wide, 750 in California.
David Thompson
One of the few individuals with such a complete perspective of the Napa Valley wine scene both from a macro and a micro level, Mr. Thompson operates the Napa Wine Project, a comprehensive and detailed directory of more then 1,000 Napa Valley based wineries and producers that he has personally visited and written about. He has his finger directly on the pulse of Napa Valley winery scene. Also an extensive world traveler, he has visited 175 countries and territories to date.
