Charm City Wine School

MEET TIM

Tim O’Hare,CWE, CSW, CSS, Bordeaux CertifiedCertified Sommelier-Court of Master SommeliersWSET Level 3 Wines & Spirits Certified and Cicerone Certified Beer Server

Tim O’Hare was born in Washington, D.C. and now resides in Towson, Maryland. He is married with two children and enjoys spending his off hours cooking, reading, gardening, and is passionate about baseball and classic automobiles.

A graduate the Baltimore International Culinary College and was a former Salesman of the Year with Breakthru Beverage Group, which he’s been employed with for over 29 years. Has completed and passed the Certified Specialist of Wine exam, Certified Specialist of Spirits exam, and the Certified Wine Educators exam through the internationally recognized Society of Wine Educators. In October 2009 Tim became a Bordeaux Wine Trade Educator through the prestigious Bordeaux L’Ecole Du Vin. In 2022 Tim became a Certified TiPS Trainer.

In 2013 Tim completed the 3rd level of the Advance Program of the Wine & Spirits Education Trust with Merit. Also, Tim has previously been a judge in the Virginia’s Governors Cup Tasting that is associated with Jay Youmans, MW and the Capitol Wine School. Recently Tim attained the first and seconor the WSET and willd levels of the Court of the Master Sommelier to become a Certified Sommelier and achieved his certification with the Cicerone Level 1 Beer Servers Program in 2018. This year Tim passed the WSET L3 Spirits program. Currently he’s studying for the Diploma Level f complete this program in 2022.

In 1989 Tim was hired by Churchill Distributors as a wine sales rep for Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Harford County. Later in his career he became a high end wine & spirt specialist for Reliable Liquors.. In 2000 Tim returned to Reliable Churchill where he later became the Director of Learning, Leadership & Sales Solutions for the Breakthru Beverage Group. In this role he assisted in the development of multi level, multimedia, wine, spirit, and beer educational programs that are utilized in the 17 markets the Breakthru Beverage Group distributes alcohol beverages. In addition to these duties, Tim directed the sales education department for the Mid-Atlantic region. The Breakthru Beverage Group is the third largest wine and spirit wholesaler in the United States and Canada with over 7,000 employees.

In 2020 Tim opened the Charm City Wine School which had been a dream of his for many years.

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