(Tiburon, California) First Growth Brands (FGB), a Tiburon-based premium brand builder and owner of Faire la Fête sparkling wine is proud to announce that Master Sommelier Peter Neptune has joined the company as Senior Wine Advisor. “When I first became acquainted with Faire la Fête a few years ago I was duly impressed,” says Mr. Neptune. “I particularly liked its quality/price ratio. This is a heck of a bottle of sparkling wine for under $20. Timing and circumstance have brought me to an opportunity to work with First Growth Brands in an advisory capacity and I could not be more pleased. As I taste through the wines I continue to be blown away by the quality of Faire la Fête, as well as the other offerings in the portfolio.”
Peter Neptune is a renowned wine expert, educator and consultant and a 31-year veteran of the wine industry. He achieved the title of Master Sommelier in 2005, becoming one of just 274 people worldwide to pass the Master Sommelier Diploma Exam since the Court of Master Sommeliers began testing in 1969.
In 2003, Mr. Neptune founded the Neptune School of Wine, the first school in Southern California dedicated to teaching the wine curriculum established by London-based Wine & Spirit Trust, the world’s foremost wine education group. He is also an instructor for the French Wine Society’s French Wine Scholar program and a teaching Master and examiner at the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Mr. Neptune provides wine program consulting for hotels, restaurants and retailers. He is a frequent guest speaker at private wine events and his enthusiasm for wine was featured in the 2013 documentary film SOMM.
Says First Growth Brands President, Peter Baedeker, “I’ve known and worked with Peter Neptune for nearly 20-years and he’s a first-rate wine expert and educator. In fact, it’s no overstatement to say that Peter helped change the landscape for wine education at the distributor level in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We couldn’t be prouder to have Peter on the team.”
Of the second fastest growing offering in FGB’s portfolio, Liesl Pinot Noir from Pfalz, Germany, Mr. Neptune states, “Liesl Pinot Noir is the best bottle of Pinot Noir available at $14.99 retail that I have tasted, period.” Mr. Neptune goes on to say, “I am proud to be associated with a company that clearly values top quality, authenticity, history and value. I look forward to working with First Growth Brands to grow its market presence and make these exceptional wines a part of every wine lover’s day.”
In addition to his Master Sommelier title, Mr. Neptune holds a Certified Wine Educator designation from the Society of Wine Educators, a diploma in Wine and Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Trust in London, a French Wine Scholar Credential with Highest Honors and is an Associate of the Institute of Wine and Spirits.
Master Neptune will be conducting multiple consumer as well as trade and press seminars and events focusing on the First Growth Brands portfolio. Mr. Neptune will also conduct targeted marketing and PR campaigns such as the “History of Bubbles” and Faire la Fête, which hails from the small region of Limoux in the South of France where sparkling wine was invented in 1531, pre-dating sparkling production in Champagne by at least 100-years. Additionally, Peter will be working closely with FGB’s sales management on high-level corporate sales campaigns for national and multinational retail, hotel, club and restaurant companies. Finally, Peter Neptune will work closely with world-renowned FGB winemaker Alex Cose and FGB’s European winery suppliers on assuring continued FGB portfolio quality.
About First Growth Brands
Founded in 2018 with the acquisition of Faire la Fête, Liesl and other leading European brands, First Growth Brands focuses exclusively on premium wine brand building in the U.S. market. The company’s portfolio is distributed in 36-states nationally. Faire la Fête continues to be one of the fastest growing French traditional method sparkling wines in the market. In addition to its proprietary brand portfolio of Faire la Fête, Liesl, Crème Sel Chardonnay, Mia Chiara Chianti and La Bella Siciliana, First Growth Brands also represents a world-class agency portfolio that includes such stalwarts as the 13th generation VDP Mosel producer Grans-Fassian; the 11th century Chateau Lagézette in Cahors; the premier Albariño producers in Galicia, Adegas Galegas; and one of the four original Rioja wineries from 1882, Rioja Vega. Additional information can be found on the company’s website at www.firstgrowthbrands.com, or by contacting the company’s Director of Operations at samantha@firstgrowthbrands.com.
