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WHO WE ARE...
Dean Gamanos co-founded Grape Getaways with long-time friend Ned Towle. You'll meet Dean if you join us on one of our trips since he is the tour guide and trip coordinator. Ned and Dean have known each other for years and were neighbors in Park Slope, Brooklyn where they lived in brownstones right across the street from one another. In addition to playing touch football together in Prospect Park they also fondly remember summer evening barbecues in their backyards which were always accompanied by a good bottle of wine and a drinking song (their neighbors didn’t seem to mind !).
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| Ned and Dean The "Grape Getaway Guys" |
Dean serves as President of Grape Getaways and is a wine aficionado who hasn't found a style of wine he doesn't like. He has organized dozens of wine tastings for his fellow Columbia alumni as well as for his restaurant clients (in his day job Dean develops advertising and communications programs for retailers and restaurants). Dean also edits a wine newsletter for one of his clients (Wine Time) which he collaborates on with Ned. He first developed a love for wine when as a summer student in Dijon, France he visited the great vineyards of Burgundy. Dean is a big fan of Long Island's East End and its vineyards which he tries to visit frequently.
Ned is Grape Getaway's "Grape Guru" and has a great tasting palate for wine, as well as extensive knowledge about things oenological. He is Certified as a Specialist of Wine and has worked in the Manhattan retail wine business. He is a member of the American Wine Society, the Society of Wine Educators, and the American Sommelier Association. Ned worked in all aspects of wine growing and wine making at Chateau de Mayragues in southwestern France, as well as two other French vineyards. Whereas Ned may occasionally participate in a Grape Getaways' tour and serves as wine advisor, in recent years he has had to devote more time to his primary endeavor, The Westchester Wine School (www.WestchesterWineSchool.com).
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