About
Hi, I’m Rapha.
I help wine enthusiasts develop taste that’s genuinely their own.
10 yrs
in wine
Sommelier
certified
WSET 3
merit, level 3
CSW
specialist of wine
The short version.
I spent 15 years in architecture and corporate marketing before a wine class changed everything. A decade later, I’ve guided casual drinkers and industry professionals through thousands of bottles, taught countless students, and worked the floor as a Somm at a Daniel Boulud restaurant in D.C.
Here’s what I learned: the key to understanding wine isn’t memorizing facts. It’s training your palate through structured, comparative tasting.
That’s what I teach through The Polished Palate.
Why This Moment Matters
The wine world is in the middle of a quiet revolution.
For years, we’ve been told to chase prestige-high scores, famous labels, whatever the critics approve of. But something’s shifting. A new generation of wine drinkers is asking a different question:
What do I actually like?
Millennials now make up 31% of wine consumers. Gen Z is the fastest-growing segment. And they’re not interested in borrowed taste. They want to develop their own.
That’s exactly what The Resonance Method is built for.
My Path Here
I didn’t start in wine. I spent 15 years in architecture and corporate marketing before taking my first wine class on a whim.
That class changed everything.
I earned the Certified Sommelier pin. WSET Level 3. Certified Specialist of Wine. I worked the floor as a Somm at a Daniel Boulud restaurant in D.C. I tasted thousands of bottles and taught hundreds of students.
Then I took the WSET Diploma in London. Unit 6, the sparkling wine paper, I passed with merit. Unit 1, the one on business and viticulture and what the industry wanted me to memorize about the industry itself, I failed.
That’s when it clicked. The Diploma wasn’t asking me to be a better taster. It was asking me to be a better student of the wine business.Those are two different things. I walked away in 2019.
And I started building what I actually wanted: an education in perception. Not what to think about wine. How to perceive it, in your own mouth, on your own terms.
That’s what The Polished Palate is. And it’s what The Resonance Method teaches, stage by stage.
What I Believe
Taste is personal
There’s no objectively “correct” palate. The goal isn’t to agree with critics. It’s to know yourself.
Comparison beats memorization
You learn more from tasting two wines side by side than from reading a hundred tasting notes.
Confidence comes from practice
Not from credentials, not from expensive bottles. From doing the reps.
Wine is the vehicle, not the destination
The skills you build here (noticing, articulating, trusting yourself) transfer to everything.
What You’ll Get
One insight and three focused tasting exercises each week. Just practical guidance to build and refine your palate.