Sommelier Bio, The WIne Press

Client: WineQuest, for The Ritz-Carlton Hotels

Project: Last year, the Ritz-Carlton began looking for a way to excite its staff of bartenders, sommeliers, servers and beverage directors, while keeping them up-to-date with the ever-evolving wine and beverage industry. Roughstock was called by The Ritz-Carlton's wine training company, WineQuest, to create a different type of educational tool. Breaking out of the typical handbook-type training so common to the hospitality industry, Roughstock developed the Wine Press, a quarterly newsletter focusing on new developments in the wine and beverage industry and The Ritz-Carlton's role within it.

From The Wine Press (Spring 2006):

A Renaissance Man at The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta
Silvio Garcia grew up amid the clattering of plates and laughter of restaurant goers. The child of a bar and restaurant owner, Mr. Garcia began serving guests at just fourteen. He was a quick study, turning to his older colleagues for guidance, and recalls meeting many “professional bartenders and waiters who taught me everything my father didn’t about wine.”

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With such an early start in hospitality, it shouldn’t be surprising that Mr. Garcia has made wine the focus of his career. But of equal influence was his family’s heritage. Mr. Garcia was born in Italy to a Milanese mother and a Spanish father. The family relocated to Argentina when Mr. Garcia was five years old, and it was there that he developed his taste for the red wines of the area. But although he enjoys the luscious, full wines of the region, he insists that “wine enjoyment is not about which grape is best; it’s all about your taste preference and finding a way to express that.”

After earning his business degree Mr. Garcia immigrated to the U.S., where he continued to build his resume at hotels from Los Angeles to Miami. In 1997, he settled in Atlanta and put his extensive knowledge to work at the Ritz-Carlton.

As a Ritz-Carlton Sommelier, Silvio Garcia relies on three things to do the job he has spent his whole life cultivating: his love for wine, his passion for satisfying his guests, and his Ritz-Carlton progressive wine list. It is Mr. Garcia’s thoughtful and sincere application of these elements that keep his guests returning to him time and again for wine advice.

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