Brian Freedman is a wine, spirits, food, and travel writer, restaurant and beverage consultant, drinks educator, and event host and speaker. He writes a regular wine and spirits column at Forbes.com, is a contributing writer for John Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet and Philadelphia Style Magazine, and is restaurant critic for Suburban Life Magazine and Philadelphia Life Magazine. In addition, Brian contributes to JancisRobinson.com and has served as Editor-at-Large for Drink Me Magazine online. He has also contributed pieces to Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Fodors.com, and Sommelier India, the largest wine magazine in India, and writes the blog The Food, Drink & Travel Report. In 2013, 2014, and 2015, he was recognized by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Keystone Awards for his ongoing food and drink coverage for Philadelphia Weekly, for which he was restaurant critic and beverage columnist for over five years.
Previously, he worked as wine columnist for Affluent Magazine and The Good Life Report; drinks columnist on CityEats.com, the restaurant site by the Food Network; director of education at the Wine School of Philadelphia; food and wine editor and restaurant critic for LifeStyle Magazine; restaurant critic for AroundPhilly.com, AroundAC.com, and The Evening Bulletin; editorial director for ClassicWines.com; and host of Classic Wines TV, a popular online wine show. Brian also hosted the Philadelphia episode of “Hungry In…Philadelphia” on the Hungry Channel online. For several years, he wrote the UncorkLife blog for Wine Chateau, one of the largest online wine retailers in the United States. He regularly hosts wine dinners and tastings at corporate offices, restaurants, clubs, and private residences, and co-hosted a series of wine tastings at The Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia in 2011. In 2013, he ran a seminar for the hotel’s banquet staff on wine trends and sales. Brian also has worked with Wine Chateau to run their wine tastings at the GBK gift lounge in Los Angeles for invitees to the Emmy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the George Lopez Celebrity Golf Classic. He also spoke about Italian wines in 2013, 2014, and 2015 at the National Italian American Foundation’s gala weekend in Washington, DC.
Brian’s writing has been published internationally, nationally, and locally, and he has appeared on television on Fox 29’s “Good Day Philadelphia,” Comcast’s “Your Morning on CN8,” ABC7’s “View From The Bay” in San Francisco, NBC4’s “Weekend Today in New York,” CBS2’s “The Couch” in New York, and the nationally syndicated “Better Show.” He also discussed Albariño wines live on-air for Spanish television in Galicia. He has emceed the Chefs Panel at the National Association for Catering and Events conference, worked as host and moderator for the culinary demonstrations at the Catersource and Event Solutions Conference and Tradeshow in Las Vegas, lectured on wine and beer at the International Association of Conference Centres conventions in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Texas, and New York, was a speaker at the Society of Wine Educators conference in Orlando, and has discussed wines live on-air on “Cooking Today” on Martha Stewart Living Radio, SiriusXM, and on “Food Talk with Mike Colameco” on the Heritage Radio Network.
Brian has been interviewed for articles in a number of publications, including The Washington Post Magazine, Worth Magazine, USAirways Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Grape Magazine, and syndicated Associated Press pieces, among others domestically, as well as publications in Israel and Uruguay that have coincided with his visits to those countries to taste their wines and food. He has worked as a consulting sommelier for various restaurant projects and wine dinners, and has consulted on the wine lists for three meals at New York’s prestigious James Beard House. He also has had relationships with private collectors as a personal wine consultant, and consulted on the wine list at, among others, Top Chef Season Seven winner Kevin Sbraga’s flagship Philadelphia restaurant Sbraga, Talula’s Daily, and Talula’s Garden, which was named one of the 10 best new restaurants in America 2011 by Bon Appetit Magazine and one of “America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In addition, Brian has conducted wine-cellar assessments for clients looking to both purchase and sell their collections, and for an insurance adjuster in order to assess potentially damaged bottles. He has consulted for Stephen STARR Events and STARR Restaurant Catering Group for wine and other beverages, has hosted several wine dinners at the Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, and hosts wine dinners around the country for the officers and high-level clients of PNC Wealth Management. Brian also has hosted several wine-education dinners for Reed Smith LLP, focused on teaching their summer associates how to feel more comfortable with a restaurant’s wine list during dinners with clients and colleagues.
Brian has traveled to more than two dozen countries around the world and extensively throughout the United States to experience the food, drink, and culture for his work. He hosted occasional beverage and food classes at COOK Philadelphia (some based on his international and domestic travels), hosted travel and wine seminars at the Lodge at Woodloch in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016, eats hundreds of restaurant meals a year, serves as Membership Chair of the Wine Media Guild of New York, and in 2012 completed his term as the Philadelphia Ambassador for Port and Champagne for the Center for Wine Origins. (He hosted several seminars for Champagne Bureau USA in 2014 and 2015 in addition around Philadelphia.) Later that year, Brian was named the first American Ambassador for the Albariño Explorers Club from Rías Baixas, Spain, for 2013 and 2014.
