About Robert

Robert leads Grand Cru Selections as a 20 plus year veteran in the New York City hospitality business. He entered the restaurant business at 13, but it wasn’t until college, working his way through New York University at Gramercy Tavern, that he decided that a career in wine was more interesting than becoming a lawyer. He went on to play an integral part of the incubation of several new wine programs including Babbo, Nick & Toni’s and CRU Restaurant. During these years, he found his passion for Burgundy while perfecting his fine-dining skills. Robert expanded his Old World palate with work as a wine buyer at Zachys, where he oversaw acquisitions from Burgundy, Germany, and Champagne. Following the successful launch of three popular New York City restaurants: Charlie Bird, Pasquale Jones and Legacy Records, Robert teamed up with his long-time industry wine partner, Ned Benedict, to launch Grand Cru Selections with the goal of growing a meaningful and sustainable business for their clients and family of growers.

Robert serves on the board of No Kid Hungry’s The Monday Fund, an organization with a goal of ending childhood hunger in the United States. He lives in Paris with his wife, Jordan, and their two boys Henry and Ronan.

About Elise

Elise was born and raised in Kansas City, Mo, an only child and avid reader she made her way to Grinnell College in Iowa to study literature. After college she moved to New York City and began working as a server and bartender in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. After meeting Robert Bohr in 2002 and following his advice, she began working at Washington Park and soon after opened Cru which began a whirlwind education in fine wine. After a two year hiatus in Westhampton Beach, Elise returned to NYC, only to work once again with Robert. In 2009 she helped form Grand Cru Selections. As one of the founding members, she is proud to have been part of the journey and progression of the company from day one and is excited to see what the future holds.

About Heather

As the Chief of Staff for Grand Cru Selections, Heather supports Robert and the team with special projects. Prior to joining GCS, Heather's career spanned more than two decades with New York City's Union Square Hospitality Group. Her most recent role was Director of Special Events and Partnerships at The Modern, in association with The Museum of Modern Art. During her tenure, Heather and her team were responsible for creating over 5000 memorable events. Outside of work, Heather enjoys gardening, cycling and paddle boarding.

About Thomas

Born & bred in New York, Thomas studied neurobiology and classical piano at Cornell University, and all the while worked in restaurants to pay-off his student loans. In January 2011, Thomas diverted from his path toward a medical career, and took on the role of Wine Director at Chef Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Colicchio & Sons in New York City, and would soon thereafter join the team behind world-renowned Eleven Madison Park to create The NoMad in Spring 2012. He opened The NoMad as its Wine Director & helped it achieve its 3-Star New York Times rating within a few months of its opening, later moving into the role of Executive Wine Director of all of the NoMad properties. In the years since, Thomas was chosen as a Best New Sommelier by Wine & Spirits Magazine, recognized as one of Forbes' 30 Under 30, and was named one of Food & Wine’s Sommeliers of the Year. Additionally, Thomas has gotten into the world of winemaking, launching three exciting new wine labels: Terrassen in 2013, Empire Estate in 2014, and VINNY in 2018, all with a focus on New York's rising upstate wine region, the Finger Lakes. Thomas joined Grand Cru Selections in the Summer of 2021 as its VP of Sales & Hospitality, excited to bring his passion & experience in the wine & restaurant industry over to the world of imports & distribution, through the lens of the exciting portfolio that Grand Cru Selections has grown & curated over its years in business.

About Jay

Jay grew up in Natchez, Mississippi where the import section at the local store was a choice between Grolsch and Molson beer. A regular childhood highlight was crossing the Mississippi River over to Louisiana for frog legs at a local creole joint and frequent family trips to New Orleans for its restaurants. Fast forward a few years to college in Tennessee where Jay joined the restaurant tribe working at a small bistro owned by a couple that would become life long mentors and friends. Armed with their encouragement, a liberal arts degree, and some old wine books, Jay moved to San Francisco twenty years ago and started working in a wine shop where he immediately fell down the rabbit holes of Piedmont, the Rhone, and most importantly Burgundy. He soon met Martine Saunier who brought him over to the side of imports and into the cellars of France. Jay joined Grand Cru Selections in 2015 and could not be more proud to work with this talented team for these exceptional growers.

About Rocky

Four decades ago Rocky was born in Korea to a non-wine drinking household. Her parents still do not understand what she does for a living. After partying out of Vassar, she found herself like many a young folk waiting tables in NYC. She has worked at Cru, Gotham Bar & Grill, L’impero and Le Bernardin (as well as a brief mid-life crisis stint working in International Tax at Ernst & Young). Rocky sold all of her bitcoins too early and will be at GCS for the foreseeable future. She is enormously grateful to be working with the best team and growers, and drinking the finest wines in all the land.

About Gianina

When looking at how this all started, a career in wine was not something Gianina ever predicted. Originally born and raised in Alaska, she received her BS in Finance from Penn State University with a minor in Economics and then started her Wall Street career. After spending 12 years on the street, she was undergoing a realization that her passion was outside of her day to day profession. Her passion for wine and desire to spend her days working in a field she loves led to a full commitment of a career in the wine industry. She’s worked every position from intern, retail sales, and store management to direct winery sales in Sonoma California. She joined the team in Fall of 2019 and enjoys her work as the woman responsible for the state of New Jersey on behalf of Grand Cru Selections.

About Kyle

Kyle grew up in Denver, CO. When it was time for college he enrolled at Colorado State where he began his study of fermented beverages starting with beer. Occasionally he attended class. To pay for his new hobby, he got a job bussing tables at an Italian restaurant. To this day, he will tell you that the best two jobs in restaurants are bussing tables and serving fancy wine. He eventually graduated. Little is known about the five years following college, but eventually he turned up in New York City. Soon after arriving, he took a job at a new restaurant called Charlie Bird. The combination of hip hop and fine wine suited him well, and after two years, he went on to open its sister restaurants -- Pasquale Jones and Legacy Records, during which the focus shifted fully to wine. Over the course of these years he became friendly with the Grand Cru Selections people and wine, so after three restaurant openings in a row, taking a job at GCS seemed like the perfect next step.

About Remy

Born in Santa Barbara, California and brought up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Remy grew up in a nomadic family of professional polo players. He was raised by a loving and supporting mother and a hard-working immigrant father who was taught by the land rather than books. Upon moving back from an eternally corrupt South American country, he found his way resorting to a job in the wine business working with Fred Brander in Santa Ynez, California - a trailblazing, pioneer winemaker of the region. It was here that he gained an appreciation for fine wine. Drawing upon similarities that he encountered between a vigneron’s passion for their cultivation and craft and his father’s relentless work ethic in raising and training horses, Remy realized an essential purpose in his role to communicate this rare quality.

At every opportunity he travels to the great wine regions of the world on his own efforts. After working at the Brander Vineyard, Remy continued on to study geography and cartography in college while working in sales by day and sommelier by night. His appreciation for terroir dug deeper and deeper and felt rooted to a greater meaning for what sense of place is to the embodiment of wine. Food and wine are at Remy’s heart and soul. He loves making pasta, handed down by his grandmother of Catalan origins, using rare and distant ingredients introduced to him by his mother, and grilling whole animals once shown to him by gauchos and his father on the flat land pampas. Remy takes pleasure in cooking and in pairing wine, reflecting on this humble ingredient we so deeply appreciate and remembering/insisting that its ultimate purpose is to be shared with wonderful meals amongst great friends at infinitely long tables.

About Rachel

Born and raised on the west coast of Canada, the countryside was simply second nature to me. It wasn’t until I relocated to Montreal at seventeen that I fell into service and hospitality. A passion derived from language, travel, culture, food and wine. I began my wine career in 2010 when I was hired to run the beverage program at a quaint but fast-paced restaurant called L’Orignal. After a couple wonderful years, I decided to leave the winter behind and move to Southern California. Throughout the next few years I would move on to work as a sommelier at some of Los Angeles’ and New York City’s top Beverage Programs; including Osteria Mozza, République and The NoMad Hotel.

Though restaurants were a way of life, an opportunity impossible to pass up in imports and distribution was introduced to me in 2015. Since then I haven’t looked back.

About Yumiko

Yumiko was born and grew up in Japan. When she was 15 years old, she became a foreign exchange student and spent a year in California. She was amazed to see the U.S. culture and promised herself to come back. After she graduated from college in Tokyo, she joined Goldman Sachs to work on a trading floor and that brought her to New York in 2011 and she worked for Nomura Securities till 2015. She launched a sake importing company, Sake Suki in 2013. There were not many craft sake found in NY back then. She missed drinking her local craft sake so much and that became the motivation of importing. The first container arrived in 2016 and joined GCS right after. Her passion is to introduce small but beautiful craft sake producers to you!

About Laura

Born and raised in Sancerre, Loire Valley, Laura grew up surrounded by vineyards and talented wine producers. While her family was not directly in the wine business, her father was a chef and wine was always a big part of family gatherings - she cut her teeth on Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux even if today the grown "kids" insist on drinking Champagne and Burgundy. Realizing there was more to discover, she took her studies to Burgundy, where she completed her Master’s Degree in Wine Business at the Burgundy School of Business in Dijon. During her studies, she sought several long-term internships, which led her to work in China for about two years. Shortly after her graduation in 2012, a renowned Sancerre winery approached her to represent their wines in the United States and while she didn’t know much about America, she was confident she could sell her hometown wines anywhere. Over the next few years, she met her future husband in wine, improved her ‘Merican English drastically, and fell in love with NYC's incredible energy. In 2014, Diva USA introduced her to the top professionals in the wine industry and she gained experience in managing distributors. So, by 2016, when a friend from T. Edward Wines encouraged her to pursue a brand manager position for Champagne Billecart-Salmon, she jumped at the opportunity. Naturally, her overall expertise of the Champagne region grew alongside her Billecart post. Selling Champagne is an art on its own, it comes with passion and perseverance. Fine dining allowed her further exploration into the world of grower Champagne and she became especially fond of drinking many within Grand Cru Selection's portfolio. This growing aspiration to one day represent these growers has finally become a reality. 

About Rachel

Born in California and raised in North Carolina, food and hospitality was an early passion for Rachel. While kitchens were always a familiar place she discovered her interest in wine while studying at the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating she worked in the dining room at The Modern for 3 years before leaving to open Restaurant Gabriel Kreuther in 2015 as the Service Director. She joined the GCS team in the summer of 2021 and is enjoying the process of adding a whole new set of tools and tricks to her hospitality repertoire. When not sipping wine or cooking with friends she likes to spend time in her garden or taking trips to local farms where she fantasizes about raising chickens and goats.

About Michael

One might say Michael came from humble roots, and not necessarily indigenous ones at that, born of Long Island baby-boomers who fled to the frozen shore of Lake Ontario. Nothing wine related grew there then. Food was mostly sustenance, nothing to stimulate a passion. In fact, there was very little of any cultivation that could fuel artistic exploration. Being naturally curious, he set off to study painting and sculpture, supported financially by a dip into the restaurant world. That whirlpool drew him in, centered in New York City at the height of the 90s celebrity chef explosion and flung him to all corners of the wine world as a Wine Director at Gotham Bar & Grill. A dozen years later, Michael transitioned to wine imports and sales where he developed a capacity to share all he had learned along the way, to anyone that will listen. With the wide breadth of ideas and cultures offered by the growers, friends and family here at GCS, he thinks he's found plenty in which to keep a questioning mind richly nourished….and, in the end, a stellar place to root-down.

About Amanda

Amanda spent her childhood shuttling back and forth between Chicago and a small village in Provence. Bilingual and bicultural, she got her start in the wine business and developed her passion for Burgundy while working for Daniel Johnnes and La Paulée in New York. She moved to France in 2010 to gain experience in winemaking working for Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon in Meursault, fell in love with a Frenchman and decided to make the move permanent. Since then, she has spent countless hours in cellars throughout France, tasting with and learning from some of the best winemakers in the world. She has collaborated with Robert since 2017 on various special projects including direct to consumer sales. Today, Amanda serves as a liaison with our French growers and helps manage relationships on the ground in France. She is honored to be part of the team and is excited to see what the future holds!

About Angela

Angela was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. While studying Journalism and Italian at the University of Colorado she wanted to further her education in old world wine and sought out a position with local italophile and hospitalian Bobby Stuckey at Frasca Food&Wine. Not long after graduating, Angela took off to work harvest in Napa Valley and set her sights on Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, working through the ranks to become a Captain. Years later, she was offered a position at Keller's Per Se in NYC in 2013. One winter, Angela booked a solo voyage to Europe where she trampled through cellars in Burgundy and serendipitously met her now-husband, a winemaker. She moved to Italy in 2015, first to work at a historic restaurant in Turin in Piedmont before landing a position for a Strategic Communications Agency in Florence. In her 6 year tenure, she worked with some of the most important names in Italian wine and hospitality, honing skills in bilingual but also bi-cultural communication. She’s well practiced in the art of Italian complications and has mastered the language (with a slightly Tuscan accent!), which tends to help when navigating the beautiful and complex world of Italian wine! Today, Angela is the GCS liaison in support of the Italian growers to help manage things on the ground from her home in Florence.

About Patricia

Patricia grew up in Meursault, where one has a virtual obligation in adolescence to harvest the grapes every year for pocket money. Despite this natural upbringing, she was not initially attracted to work in the wine trade. However, her appreciation for gastronomy and the opportunities to taste beautiful bottles made her change her mind. Her life path and professional experiences have allowed her to see many different facets of the wine world - from the wine estate where everything begins, to the wine merchant, to the wine broker,etc... After she was introduced to Robert in 2011 by two Meursault producers, she enthusiastically accepted he and Ned’s proposal to join the Grand Cru Sélections team in 2013. The first producer she worked directly with was Fred Savart and the rest is history.

Pat currently lives in Paris and is the loving mother of two young adults, Mathilde and Jean. She is very happy of being a part of Grand Cru Selections and its amazing growing team!

About Clare

Clare grew up in Rochester, New York, where there was often a bottle of Finger Lakes riesling on the dinner table. After completing her studies at Boston University, she relocated to Washington DC to pursue a communications position at an urban planning firm. Disillusioned by office life, she found a restaurant gig in the evenings and quickly felt more at home in it's faster pace. She spent days researching the wine list and nights challenging herself to use this knowledge to increase her check average. When an opportunity to work the wine harvest in northern California presented, she enlisted her sister to drive cross-country to Carneros and get their hands dirty. That was it - loving everything about wine country, she stayed on after harvest, working the tasting room and devouring all their wine books. She moved back East for an Assistant Sommelier position at New York's Tribeca Grill - whose deep Rhone cellar led her to working her first French harvest in Châteauneuf-du-Pape at Le Vieux Donjon. Upon returning to NYC, she spent several happy years working the floor as a sommelier at Gotham Bar & Grill. In 2012, she was tapped by Liz Willette to join GCS as one of the company's first sales reps. With no experience, she soaked up everything she could from the incredibly different sales approaches of both Liz and Ned Benedict. After 8 rewarding years in sales, the pandemic hit & turned priorities upside down. This long-time urbanite packed her carry-on & decamped to Normandy until things "went back to normal" which turned into a permanent relocation to France. And now after a short hiatus, Clare is thrilled to rejoin the GCS family, wearing a slightly different hat - having the privilege of closer proximity to our European growers to help tell their unique stories. Today she splits her time between Paris and Normandy with her partner & petit sidekick, Émile.

About Christian

A SoCal native, Christian unknowingly began his career at age 15 working part-time for a local restaurant to learn a little responsibility earn some spending money in high school. As happens, work experience followed a pattern of similar gigs while studying cognitive science at UC San Diego. Wine tastings here and there didn’t quite spark an interest until a year after moving to NYC when he discovered a passion for something that had been so close for so long. Once the revelation occurred Christian quickly sought an opportunity in the wholesale realm where he began processing orders for Grand Cru Selections. Since 2012 he has grown with the company from its fledgling startup days to its present state. With a curious mind and desire for personal growth, Christian strives to improve his surroundings and cherishes a rich environment at GCS and the collection of tremendous people involved.

About Alexandra

Raised in Long Island, Alex is perhaps the only one on the team to come from a non-restaurant background--unless you count frequently dining at them. Alex’s true background is in health and social sciences, coupled with a long-term basketball career that ended with her collegiate studies. Prior to Grand Cru, Alex worked administrative roles at The Rohatyn Group, and MLB Advanced Media. After joining the team in early 2019, she has been able to apply her technical abilities while working in operations. She has since then become invested in learning more about wine and the industry, and takes pride in supporting the team.

About Megan

After majoring in Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design, Megan found herself where many makers do, supplementing multiple jobs in the arts by working in restaurants. She started falling for wine while working at Tria and Vedge in Philly, before making the move to NYC. Megan joined the team at Grand Cru after working as a sommelier for Rezdôra and a Dreamweaver for Eleven Madison Park. She is always finding ways to intersect art and wine, from designing wine labels to teaching people how to blow glass and enjoy wine out of handmade vessels.

About Kelsie

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Kelsie is a brand new resident of NYC. She originally wanted to go to medical school but quickly changed her mind when she started in the hospitality industry at the age of 20. Very early on, she decided food and beverage were “her thing.” She was slinging drinks at a high paced restaurant in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale for years while using her hard earned money to travel to places like Japan and Thailand (her favorite place) and NYC too many times to count. When the pandemic hit, she was forced out of the restaurant and landed in the mortgage business. She enjoyed working in operations but not for loans, her heart belongs in wine! Kelsie is beyond excited to learn the business and ready to eat and drink her way through New York City!

About Laurie

About Michele

Michele started her career working in customer service, ramp and cargo for 3 major airlines at Newark International Airport. She studied and received FAA certification as an airline flight dispatcher. Michele’s employers often wanted to use her organization and detail skills more for the various regulatory reports including payroll, accounting reports, cargo manifests for airway shipments etc...She then came to realization that the airline industry took too much time away from her new husband and daughter.

In 2003, Michele decided to change career path. Due to her multitasking skills in addition to her the skills she mastered in the airline industry she was given the opportunity to work with Robert Bohr in NYC for Washington Park Restaurant, Cru Restaurant and various wine consulting businesses responsible for finances, permits, compliance and all office related duties.

At the inception of Grand Cru Selections in 2009. Michele was a founding employee at Grand Cru Selections and since the beginning has been handling administrative and financial responsibilities plus anything else that has been needed to make the company stronger.

Michele is a devoted mother of 3. Michele and husband Troy keep active in their children’s school activities as well as supporting their extra-curricular sports and drama programs.

About Alan

Born and raised in New York City, Alan grew up in an environment that was much like many Asian households - kids in school and parents working long hours. His dad used to work in a restaurant and his mom worked in a hospital. Ever since he was young, Alan had a passion for computers and building robots. When he chose Mechatronics and Robotics as his major in High School, he quickly realized that he did not have the patience for coding. Entering college, he changed his major to Business Management and specifically, Accounting. He graduated in 2022 with a Masters in Accounting from Stony Brook University (additionally attaining a Bachelors in Business Management and Psychology). His family owns a small liquor store in Nanuet NY, which is where he developed an interest in the wine and liquor industry. He's worked there to learn about wine and liquor since 2016. Alan loves playing basketball (not so good) and badminton (decent). He enjoys traveling and trying new things, especially food. In his free time, he would either be in the movie theater watching the latest releases or at the park shooting hoops.