Our Wine

Sommelier Profiles

Our wine team is experienced, knowledgeable and passionate about wine. They watch over a temperature-controlled cellar of more than 30,000 bottles from wine-producing areas all over the world.  Your sommelier is ready to recommend everything from a fresh young Moscato d'Asti to a 50-year-old first growth Bordeaux.
Cortney Lease

Cortney Lease
Company Wine Director:
Wild Ginger + The Triple Door

Cortney graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Chemistry and a minor in Dance. Cortney began her wine career upon moving to Cambridge, England in 2005, with a job as a Wine Advisor at Odd Bins.  Cortney took the Wine Spirit Education Trust’s intermediate and advanced exams in London, passing both with Distinction.

Cortney made her way back to Seattle and pursued a job at the company for which she had worked in college, Wild Ginger and The Triple Door.  She accepted the position of Cellar Master in 2007; company Cellar Master in 2009 with the opening of Wild Ginger at the Bravern, then Wine Director for Wild Ginger Seattle and The Triple Door in 2010.  In that time, Wild Ginger Seattle was awarded the Grand Award by Wine Spectator in 2009, 2010, and 2011, along with Wine Enthusiast’s Award of Ultimate Distinction and the Washington Wine Commission’s Grand Award for all three restaurants.  With 2012 came yet another opportunity, as Cortney took over the reins of the entire company wine program from Director of Operations Jake Kosseff.

Cortney has been studying for the Court of Master Sommeliers examinations.  Passing both the Introductory and Certified exams, she was selected for a tour of Australia through the Court and Wines of Australia in 2011.  Currently Cortney is planning to sit for the Advanced exam in 2012, and desires to one day combine her love for wine and her degree in Chemistry to make her own wine.
David Morris

David Morris
Lead Sommelier

After spending long days at work with no weekends, David found solace in his evening meals and the complimentary wine and conversation that went with them. He soon came to the realization that the culture surrounding the experience of wine focuses on enjoying things to the fullest. “There is nothing like cooking a meal and sitting down with a friend and talking for hours, that's the good stuff,” says David.

Wanting to be an integral part of the culture of wine, while pursuing a career in acting, David moved back to the states and began working in the restaurant industry at Ocean Grill in New York City. While working at Ocean Grill he meet Master Sommelier Laura Maniec, then the Wine and Beverage Director of BR Guest Restaurant Group. “Her passion and thoroughness inspired me to really begin taking my wine study seriously and not just something I would do when I discovered a bottle that I really liked,” says David.

With dedication in his pocket, and the desire for fresh air and mountains, David moved to Washington and began taking classes for his sommelier certification at South Seattle Community College, through an organization called the International Sommelier Guild. After a year and half of intensive sommelier curriculum, David passed the sommelier certification exam and upon doing so, was offered a position at Wild Ginger in the winter of 2009. Within a year, David was promoted to Lead Sommelier.
David jumped on the opportunity to take his first intensive trip throughout two the world’s largest wine regions in Germany and France in February, and again in April, of 2011. With a newfound appreciation for all things wine, both trips helped bring more clarity to his vast theoretical knowledge he consumed in school.

With service at Wild Ginger being on the more intricate side of things, and The Triple Door giving David the environment to exercise his theatrical side, David says, “Wild Ginger and The Triple Door are amazing places to work, they offer me two very different environments in which to hone my skill as a sommelier."

David is looking at his uncertain future with bright eyes and a sense of reassuring youthful optimism. "What I do know is that I really love working for this company and I look forward to the many challenges that lie ahead."
Seattle

1401 Third Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
206.623.4450

Bellevue

11020 NE 6th St. Ste 90
Bellevue, WA 98004
425.495.8889

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