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Mondovino Founder and Wine Educator Mark Gmur, has twenty years domestic and international experience in the wine and hospitality industries gained during his tenure at internationally recognized hotels and restaurants from Australia, Switzerland and Hong Kong to New York and Hawai’i. In addition to his days as a wine buyer for restaurants and hotels, he served as Vice President of one Hawaii’s largest wine wholesalers for five years – and was given a unique industry perspective, having worked and succeeded in several key wine industry roles – as wine buyer, wine distributor and now, as wine consultant and educator.
Raised in Sydney, Australia, Mark was surrounded by the world of restaurants and hotels from a tender age, growing up around the business; eating in fine restaurants as soon as he could walk and living in hotels throughout his childhood and teen years. Mark’s father, Silvio, worked as either Food & Beverage Director or General Manager of restaurants and hotels in Sydney and Brisbane until he acquired his own two restaurants in Sydney during the nineties.
After finishing high school in Brisbane, and working in one his father’s restaurants for several years, Silvio offered his son the chance of a lifetime: go to a Hotel Management School in Switzerland, much the same as Silvio had completed himself, thirty years earlier. Mark completed his Hotel Management School Les Roches degree in 1996, graduating with many honors at the top of his class and was then recruited to the AAA Five Diamond and Mobil Five Star New York Four Seasons.
Following this great experience, a new opportunity arose, at the famed Waldorf=Astoria hotel. Mark completed four years of service at the hotel, first as Beverage Manager and then as Asst. Director of Banquet Services. In New York, Mark learned of his passion for wine, studying and becoming a Certified Sommelier with the American Sommelier Association, and eventually served briefly as their Education Chair before his next opportunity arose and moved him cross country to Hawaii. Mark was promoted to Beverage Director of the 62 acre luxury resort Hilton Waikoloa Village, on the Big Island in Hawai’i. There he was responsible for the beverage operations at 11 bars and lounges throughout the resort, as well as banquet beverage operations.
Mark’s eager passion of the beverage business led him to make contacts with one of Hawaii’s largest distributors, Better Brands, (the Hawai’i branch of Young’s market). During his five year tenure as Vice President of On-Premise Sales for the entire state, Mark developed a comprehensive sales program that took Hawaii’s beverage industry by storm.
Continuing wine studies in Hawai’i, he then became a CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine) through the Society of Wine Educators, and then completed the first two levels of the Court of Master Sommeliers, becoming one of their recognized Certified Sommeliers.
National Accounts became steadily more important and a larger channel of business in Hawai’i during his time there, and as such, became a focal point of daily business, due to the large number of suppliers he was interacting with. In June of 2007, Mondovino was established out of Mark’s vision to facilitate a much wider variety of quality wines to the National Account arena.
In 2008, Mark successfully passed the (CWE) Certified Wine Educator examination, and strives to share the knowledge gained to National Accounts through the Mondovino portfolio of wines to Mondovino’s customers.
Today based in Novato, California, Mondovino represents the best quality portfolio of independent, family-owned and boutique wineries to National Accounts across the country, working with On Premise multi unit operations of all sizes and dynamics.
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