Jesse Becker

A native Nebraskan, Jesse Becker M.S. began his wine career at 21 when he took a position as a clerk with a small wine shop in Lincoln. Jesse moved to California’s Napa Valley in 2001 where he worked in the cellars of both Robert Sinskey and Miner Family wineries. During this time, he also poured some of Napa’s top wines for Michael Chiarello's Tra Vigne Cantinetta. Jesse moved to San Francisco in 2002 and worked for retailer K&L Wine Merchants. He then took the opportunity to work the harvest for Burgundy producer Maison Camille Giroud in 2004 and returned to the US and settled in Chicago. There he shifted his career focus from retail to hospitality, working as a sommelier with restaurants Charlie Trotter's and NoMI at the Park Hyatt. He committed to education and professional development and passed the Certified Wine Educator (CWE) exam in 2006. He spent two years alongside Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey at the James Beard Award winning restaurant Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado, during which time he passed the rigorous Master Sommelier exam, making him one of 173 people in the world to achieve this distinction. Jesse worked the 2008 harvest in Sancerre with Alphonse Mellot before joining chef Paul Kulik at The Boiler Room in Omaha, Nebraska. The Boiler Room is an ingredient-driven Omaha restaurant, inspired by the “chalk-board menus” of Europe where dishes vary constantly with a preference for local, seasonal, and organic produce and meats. The wine list focuses on French country wines. Jesse also contributes to several publications including Sommelier Journal (http://www.sommelierjournal.com), Vintrust SOMMselections (http://www.vintrust.com/vintrust/index.aspx), Food & Spirits Magazine (http://www.fsmomaha.com), and Gastronomic Fight Club (http://www.gastronomicfightclub.com).