Evan Goldstein calls himself “trilingual x 3.” He speaks three languages – wine, food, and wine-and-food pairings – and can do so in French, Portuguese, and English. An internationally recognized wine educator and author, Goldstein is a born communicator who has devoted much of his adult life to sharing with others his passion for wine.
Now largely free from the constraints of the corporate world, Goldstein is doubling down on what he loves best, advocating for wines of his native California and dedicating his time and talents to conducting presentations and speaking engagements for a growing array of entities. Among others, these include the Wine Institute, with Goldstein the chief architect and lead educator of its highly successful Capstone Certification initiative. Launched in 2021, this multi-lingual, multimedia program has made dramatic strides in raising awareness for the quality and diversity of California wines among industry professionals and enthusiasts worldwide.
Goldstein is also a founding board member of the Best USA Sommelier Association (BUSA), a contributing editor to the Oxford Companion to Wine, and has twice been named by IntoWine.com in its “Top 100 Most Influential People in the U.S. Wine Industry,” first in 2013, then again in 2018.
Add the San Francisco Giants to Goldstein’s legion of fans. In September 2022, San Francisco-born and -raised Goldstein, a lifelong fan, was recruited by his hometown team, becoming the first ever Master Sommelier for a professional sports organization. Each new season brings with it an expanded range of creative programming, including a soon-to-be launched Giants’ Wine Club, Orange Wine on Orange Fridays, and guided wine and food pairing experiences for players, sponsors, team executives and fans, among activations.
Away from the ballpark, Goldstein spends several months a year on the road, bringing his unique brand of wine education and entertainment (“edutainment,” as he puts it) to conventions, festivals, and events at home and abroad, and audiences in countries as far-flung as Vietnam and South Korea.
Yet somehow, amid all this, Goldstein has also found time to author four books and co-author several more – and says he likely has at least one more book left in him.
Goldstein first came to national attention in 1987 after passing the prestigious Master Sommelier examination at the age of 26, becoming just the eighth American to do so and the world’s youngest at the time. One of 279 Master Sommeliers worldwide, and a founding board member of the U.S. Court of Master Sommeliers, Goldstein, has been training and examining candidates ever since.
Goldstein’s formal wine and food education began at age 19, working in the kitchens of Restaurant Le Saintongeais and the Hotel Lancaster in Paris, the Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, and Chez Panisse Café in Berkeley, California, before returning to San Francisco in 1984 to join his mother, chef and author Joyce Goldstein, in opening the celebrated Square One. As sommelier, Goldstein’s wine lists earned numerous awards.
From there, Goldstein moved on to set up education programs, wine training and service hospitality schools for Seagram Chateau & Estates, Diageo, Allied Domecq, and Beam Wine Estates, before opting to go it alone. In 2008, armed with a prolific network of industry contacts, he co-founded Full Circle Wine Solutions, heading up the highly successful California-based wine events and marketing company for the next 17 years as President and Chief Education Officer before stepping down in 2024. Concurrently, in 2020, Goldstein co-founded Master the World™, based on his innovative concept for a wine education platform targeted at consumers and trade, combining curated blind tasting kits with a companion online evaluation experience.
This very active people-person is blessed a warm sense of humor that has won him friends and fans throughout the global wine industry while spreading the gospel of food, wine, and food-and-wine-pairings. Afterall, says Goldstein, you should be able to “laugh while you are learning.”
