The core team consists of today’s most knowledgeable and experienced fine wine professionals: Robert Bohr, David Beckwith John Slover and Ned Benedict. We represent extensive experience in all aspects of the wine industry, from auctions to retail to consulting and fine dining services. What distinguishes Grand Cru is our hands-on approach to all aspects of your collection. The four of us will personally oversee and execute the processes involved to ensure our clients are constantly receiving the finest expertise available.

(917)232-6743 • robert@grandcruwc.com
After a decade of working in several of New York’s greatest wine programs, Robert Bohr has positioned himself as one of the finest Sommeliers in America. He began by receiving an informal wine education at Gramercy Tavern under the expert guidance of Paul Grieco. His passion for Italian wines led him to work at Babbo, the 3-star flagship restaurant of Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. In 2001, Robert became a Sommelier at Daniel where he continued his education on the great Domaines of France while perfecting his fine dining service skills. Robert’s next move was to become a wine buyer at Zachys where he oversaw the regions of Burgundy, Germany and Austria. In 2004, CRU was founded with Robert being the Wine Director, General Manager and a Partner. CRU’s wine program features 4,000 selections and 120,000 total bottles of the world’s finest and rarest wines, most of which were personally selected by Robert. In addition, he has spent the past eight summers in the Hamptons at Nick and Toni’s as their weekend Sommelier while managing their wine program on an on-going basis. For the last several years Robert has traveled extensively to France and Italy where he has forged close friendships with many of his favorite winemakers. He has also been featured in numerous articles in both Food and Wine and Wine Spectator.

(917)280-3790 • david@grandcruwc.com
David comes to Grand Cru Wine Consulting with expertise in all aspects of the fine wine industry. Soon after starting his career at Zachys Wine & Liquor, he joined the Zachys Wine Auctions team as a Specialist, personally overseeing more than $16 million worth of consignments. His responsibilities included appraisals, market research, bottle assessments, rare wine authenticity and inventory management. David’s passion then drove him to work as a Sommelier at Babbo, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich’s flagship restaurant where he further developed his knowledge of both fine wine service and Italian wines. Most recently, David held the position of East Coast Wine Director for California-based Vintrust where he was responsible for dozens of private clients utilizing Vintrust’s wine buying and cellar management services. David has assisted with wine events throughout the country such as La Paulee, Napa Valley Wine Auction, Naples Wine Festival plus numerous private dinners at homes and esteemed restaurants. He has also worked elite wine events with some of America's most respected wine critics, notably Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate, Allen Meadows of Burghound and John Gilman of View from the Cellar.

(917)821-8257 • john@grandcruwc.com
John joins Grand Cru Wine Consulting with twelve years experience in the restaurant industry, including seven as a Wine Director/Sommelier. While serving tables in Boston in 1996 John became passionately interested in wine which propelled him to move to New York City, the fine wine capital of the world. After four years of reading and tasting all the wines he could get his hands on and working in several Manhattan restaurants, John became the Wine Director at Blue Hill in March of 2000. He was responsible for all phases of the wine program including wine list purchases, design, staff education and service. He then moved on to become a Sommelier/Cellar Master at Washington Park where he remained until it closed at the end of 2003, staying on to re-open as Cru in 2004. At the end of 2005 John’s responsibilities grew to include the full administration of the 4000-selection wine list. John brings great experience conducting high end wine service, wine buying and inventory management. In addition, he has dealt with numerous private clients in the New York area assisting them in their wine acquisitions, cellar strategy and private events.

(917) 455-4180 • ned@grandcruwc.com
Ned joins Grand Cru Wine Consulting from Zachys Wine & Liquor, where he was the Head Wine Buyer and personally managed the Burgundy, Germany, Alsace, and Rhone departments for 7 years. Due to Ned's carefully curated selections, Zachys' Burgundy retail program tripled in size and became one of the most respected in the country. Ned's love of wine - specifically Burgundy - stems from over 15 years experience in New York City fine dining restaurants. During Ned's tenure at the original Bouley, he took his first trip to Burgundy for the 1991 vintage and helped select exclusive bottlings for the restaurant (and still has fond recollections of '87 Mugnier Musigny for $125!). Ned later applied his knowledge of wine and food matching to the Wine Director position at Aureole. He worked towards establishing Aureole's current wine program and, along the way, encountered many of the winemakers whom he still works with today - Jeremy Seysses, Wells Guthrie and Elena Pantaleoni among others. Ned was very excited to join his friends at Grand Cru Wine Consulting in April 2009 and is prepared to revolutionize the world of wine, one glass at a time!