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Evan Goldstein
President & Chief Education Officer
Full Circle Wine Solutions
Evan Goldstein is a food and wine industry veteran. Since 1990 Evan has created education programs, wine training and service hospitality schools with Seagram Chateau & Estates Wines Company, Diageo, Allied Domecq, and was the VP of Global Wine & Brand Education at Beam Wine Estates. In addition, Evan continues to train and examine candidates for the Court of Master Sommeliers as a Founding Board member.
I met him when he was working for Allied Domecq just before the company was split up between Pernod Ricard, Beam Global and Diageo. He was giving a seminar at a F and B convention in Hong Kong. From day one, I have found Evan to be generous with his knowledge and time.
I saw Evan next in Sonoma County, CA, where he took me through lunch and a lesson on growing practices of California viticulture. In Taipei, we met when we were both working with Jim Beam. He gave me an informative CD on wine history he had published. Evan is the author of Five Star Service: Your Guide to Hospitality Excellence (On Premise Communications Inc.) and the critically-acclaimed book, Perfect Pairings: A Master Sommelier’s Practical Advice for Partnering Wine with Food (University of California Press). In addition, Evan co-authored with his mother Joyce Goldstein (a celebrated chef author), Wine and Food Pairing.
His sequel wine and food book for the University of California Press, titled Daring Pairings, is planned for release in Spring 2010. Evan is a regular editorial contributor to America’s Santé magazine, a contributing editor for Wine & Dine and Indulgence magazines in Singapore, is the American correspondent for Wine Review, South Korea’s leading wine magazine, and is a recurring guest wine expert on NBC’s syndicated television show “In Wine Country.”
CC: What got you started in the food and beverage industry?
To be brutally frank I wanted to be a rock and roll drummer, but food became a passion and a more realistic way to express my creativity. After a lot of traveling to places like Sao Paulo, Brazil and France, I realized I wanted to stay in the San Francisco Bay Area. My mother [Joyce Goldstein] was having great success with her culinary abilities and although I admired what she was accomplishing, I wanted to do something different, but stay in the culinary field. I realized wine would be more to my liking after I saw how wine and cuisine went hand in hand. So I chose to “follow the wine calling.” It’s worked out great as I’ve gotten to work with Mom and her food expertise while I’m doing the wine thing, so we’ve gotten to work together. It’s pretty cool.
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About four years ago in Nanjing, I remember watching a bottle of Chivas Regal being purchased by my host. We were a group of six, two Westerners and four Chinese. I had expected the usual setup of bottle, glasses, ice inside a bucket and maybe a little water. Bottle came with all the setup mentioned and six cans of Lemon Nestea, I was told this was how Scotch was consumed in China. Until that moment, I had never thought of using tea as a mixer.
