Ryan Tingle
Founder and Sommelier
For as long as I can remember, experiencing a culture has meant everything to me. I spent a good part of the last 10 years of my life living in multiple countries, working in different industries, exploring and learning about cultures and languages. From 2015-2020, I taught English as a foreign language. I worked aboard a cruise ship, then lived and taught in both Mexico and Poland. In any downtime I had, I would travel. Especially to Italy.
I took my camera along, created a travel blog and worked with small, local businesses in different destinations to help promote and share their stories. My goal was to create educational tours, so that students could experience a culture and learn first hand about our diverse world. 2020 came along, and my concept ended as quickly as it started. While it was a big setback, it was an even bigger step forward.
I quickly realized that what I missed most was spending time around a table, with good food and wine, learning about the stories of others. My passion for cooking and wine were becoming more serious, and I knew that I needed to do something about it. In 2022, I returned to Florence, Italy; this time to live, work, and study. I spent 2 years, studying wine, food, and culture to an extreme.
Any time I had off, I would use to explore and research Tuscany, as well as other wine regions to better understand the terroir, people, wines, food, and culture. I created incredible connections and friendships with so many lovely people as it is too easy to do so when there is a nice bottle of wine around. Combined with intensive studies, tasting everything in sight, and exploring different regions, it was the time spent with very skilled and knowledgeable producers that best helped me advance and pass my WSET3 exam at distinction, making me a highly certified sommelier.
I knew it was time to move forward with Grapestained. I am very proud of the incredible relationships I have made over the last few years, and I am beyond excited to share that with the world. Teaching has always been a big part of who I am, and to have the ability to share various cultures by experiencing food, wine, landscape, and local stories leaves me speechless. Tuscany is only the beginning of amazing things to come.
