After working many years in Niagara Falls Tourism of Attractions, I found myself wanting a new direction. I always loved tasting and drink wines, but I never visioned I would have gone this far into the wine industry if it wasn't for my first boss at Pillitteri Estate Winery as Mr. C. Pillitteri's personal assistant. I found an entire new beginning in my career.

I went to work everyday wanting to learn more and more about the wines. Being the customer service people person I am, I found working upstairs at a desk frustrating and little boring. I wanted to be at the tasting bar, mingling with people and educating them about VQA Ontario Wines, things could only get better from here.

In 2013 I work to assist building the new Hornblower Niagara Cruises marketing profile. As social media was still growing at the time, my boss told me I should come up with a jazzy wine name and start talking about all these wines that I kept purchasing. We spent the next few hours coming up with names and The Wine Boys was born! I thought it had to be a sign as each handle was available! I enjoyed my time working for Hornblower, but with September passing, the tourist in Niagara Falls was cut at least to 75%. But the Wineries were still busy with their Food & Wine pairing, Icewine Festival and more! I left Niagara Falls tourism for the Hospitality Industry and I never looked back.

It took a few years to establish The Wine Boys, but at least now my husband and Co-Founder of The Wine Boys can still visit local events and wineries and still get recognized. We never set out to create The Wine Boys for free products, we just simply both worked in the industry and wanted to contribute the best we could.

Currently I am the Hospitality Manager for Calamus Estate Winery. I handle the daily operations of the retail store, merchandising, product ordering, inventory, quarterly wine clubs, networking, recruiting, wine tours/sales, off-site pouring/events, and every little incoming email or booking that arrives daily.

I still go into work at the winery daily and love my job, the guests I serve daily. I know I must love my job as my last 2 VQA Secret Shoppers tests I scored 100%. It's not very hard, when you love your job and your place of work, life is just the best.

Cheers!
Denny