David Flaherty

Background

About David Flaherty

David Flaherty is the Marketing Director for the Washington State Wine Commission, whose mission is to grow awareness and demand for the nation's 2nd largest wine-producing region, and one which carries an in-state economic impact of more than $8 billion. He moved to Seattle in 2014 after living in NYC for 14 years. David was the Operations Manager and Beer & Spirits Director for Hearth Restaurant and the Terroir Wine Bars in New York City for 6.5 years, where he worked with James Beard Award winners, Paul Grieco (Outstanding Wine, Beer or Spirits Professional 2012) and Marco Canora (Best Chef NYC 2017). He worked with the primary team to open four new Terroir wine bar locations around NYC, helping to oversee the process from business plan, to build out, to hiring, to training, and to continued operational support including marketing, communications and events at all locations. He holds an MFA in Acting from NYU's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. David has appeared as a guest on CBS Sunday Morning News, and is an experienced beverage and travel writer. Since 2013, he has written a monthly column for Nation's Restaurant News entitled 'Raising the Bar' that explores beverage trends and restaurant operations. He has written for PUNCH, Serious Eats, Edible Manhattan, Edible Brooklyn, Edible Queens, Men’s Health, NY Cork Report, ArchetypeMe, Palate Press, Hop Talk and personal blog, Grapes & Grains. As a former consultant and wine educator, he worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He is a Certified Specialist of Wine, a Certified Cicerone, holds a Level 3 Advanced Certificate with Distinction from the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust, and has traveled extensively to explore the vineyards and brewhouses of Western Europe, the U.K. and the East and West Coasts of America. An enthusiastic homebrewer, he is a member of the American Homebrewers Association and can be found filling his garage with various bottles, carboys and brewing gizmos.