About – Tim Gaiser, Master Sommelier

Tim Gaiser is an internationally renowned wine expert and lecturer. He is one of 269 individuals worldwide to ever attain the elite Master Sommelier wine title and is the former Director of Education and Education chair for the Court of Master Sommeliers, Americas. He is also a former adjunct professor for the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley, and a current lecturer at the Napa Valley Wine Academy. 
 
Over his 30-plus year career Tim has taught thousands of students in wines and spirits classes at every level as well as developing wine education programs for restaurants, winery schools and wine distributors.  He has experience in all phases of the wine industry: online, wholesale, retail, winery, and restaurant including stints at Heitz Wine Cellars in the Napa Valley and Bix and Cypress Club restaurants in San Francisco, and Virtual Vineyards/the original wine.com. His client list includes Fosters Global Wines, Diageo, American Express, Evian, Pepsico International, Fiduciary Trust, Franklin-Templeton, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo.
 
Tim has written for a number of publications including Fine Cooking Magazine and the Sommelier Journal. He also writes for numerous wine and spirits clients including Champagne Perrier Jöuet, Wines of Germany, Portuguese Cork Quality Association. Gaiser has served as the author and lead judge for the Best Young Sommelier Competition and the TopSomm Competition, the two major American sommelier competitions. 
 
In addition to his various consulting, writing and teaching projects, Tim is now focused on a long-term project involving the mapping of best practices for olfactory (and palate) memory that can be applied to wine as well as other sensory-based industries. He is using this new information to change and improve how people teach wine tasting and other disciplines that involve the use of sensory evaluation.
 
Prior to developing his wine expertise, Tim received an M.A. in Classical Music. He played classical trumpet as a freelance professional and as an extra with the San Francisco Opera until 1988.

Tim travels the world for his work and lives with his family in New Mexico.