ABOUT US

about

Our goal at Selection Massale is to import the best natural wines, period. We do not work in every region or try to fulfill every need, but rather bring what we believe to be the most exciting, precise, well-made natural wines available. Our selections come from small wineries. Our vignerons work the land organically for the most part, biodynamically for some. All the wines are fermented naturally and made without cellar trickery or makeup. We favor clean, highly drinkable wines.

We want our wines to be the first bottles emptied at the dinner table, but the longest remembered.

THE TEAM

Nadim Audi

Partner + National Sales

Nadim grew up between France and Lebanon and developed a taste for drinking Beaujolais at the cMairie in Paris instead of attending lectures at the nearby Sorbonne. He traded wine for journalism for a few years to cover the Middle East from Egypt, but it called him back when he moved to Chicago. He ran into Selection Massale in 2011 while trying to figure out a way to score some Lenoir Chinon in the U.S. After a few years of working retail in the city he is excited to share the wines with his fellow Chicagoans. He lives in Logan Square with his wife and three children.

reach out via email here

Carlos Camacho

Partner, S. Bay/Monterey/Santa Cruz Sales

Carlos is a wine drinker who lives in the beautiful Carmel Valley. Carlos started drinking the heavy Cabs back in the 90s, and after almost a 20 year journey, he is back drinking Cabs, although the ones in our portfolio aren't exactly kissing cousins of Napa Cabs. He discovered the existence of wine gurus Cory and Guilhaume through Cory’s blog, and later when they started Selection Massale, he bought everything they sold. After a while he was invited to become a partner in Selection Massale, and he is very happy about it. With Guilhaume, he is in the search of the best steak and when they get together they end up eating way to much of it. He travels to visit his family in Ecuador constantly and wishes he could also import Selection Massale’s wine there.

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BEN COLe

NYC + Brooklyn Sales

NYC + Brooklyn Sales
Born and raised in Worcester, MA, Ben Cole has been masquerading as a Real New Yorker for a dozen years. An early taste for racy wines from the Loire—a great many of which bore the Selection Massale secateur on the rear label—led to a stint at Elizabeth Street's venerable Wine Therapy. After a brief hiatus working with American cast iron cookware, Ben is thrilled to be back poring over tech sheets and pouring Chenin chilled just right and no further. On any given day, you can find him indulging his sweet tooth, despairing over his beloved Boston Celtics, or grilling out back, mosquitos be damned.

KATE CORNELIUS-SCHECTER

USA Portfolio MANAGER

Kate Cornelius-Schecter is a born and raised New Yorker who moved to Chicago for school in 2008. As an actor in Chicago, she worked at restaurants and through this work further developed her lifelong passion for wine. In early 2018, she found her home at Red and White Wines, followed by doing harvest at Clos du Tue Boeuf in the Loire. Shortly thereafter, Kate joined Nadim at Selection Massale Illinois in early 2019. She now manages the Domestic Portfolio.

reach out via email here.

Guilhaume Gerard

Partner, Producer Liaison

Guilhaume is Selection Massale's co-founder and co-owner. He grew up between Paris and the south of France before moving to the States. In 2007 he opened one of the first natural wine bar in San Francisco. He left to start Selection Massale in 2010. Guilhaume now resides in Paris with his wife Kimberly and their three kids, Louis, Georges and Pablo.

James Levens

General Manager

James joined the team at Selection Massale as a 15 plus year veteran in the hospitality business. Originally from Georgia, he worked his way through restaurants in Charleston, Birmingham, and New York City’s own Gramercy Tavern. Sharing and tasting wines with some of the most talented sommeliers in the southeast and NYC, sparked a very intentional career change. The wines of the Loire Valley have always resonated with James, so working with the portfolio at
Selection Massale felt like a dream come true. As a member of the team, he is proud to be part of this journey, to see the growth of the company and is excited to see what the future holds.

Jonathan Gray

National + Upstate NY Sales

Born and raised in a small town in Northeast Alabama, Jonathan got his start in restaurants at a local BBQ spot washing dishes. He grew up playing guitar in angry bands then majored in switching majors in college before dropping out to cook and serve in restaurants full time. At his first fine dining job, a tepid interest in wine turned obsessive after a taste of old Rioja. After moving to Birmingham, AL, Jonathan built displays of spoofy wine in grocery stores for a big distro by morning and waited tables at a restaurant with a deep list by night – it was there that he was lucky to taste many great wines from the Loire, Burgundy and Jura and really learned the ropes. Following a move to Louisiana in 2014 to help open a restaurant and build their wine program, Jonathan signed up for a New Orleans sales route in May 2015 with Selection Massale’s then brand-new distributor, Uncorked. Sales mingled with managing a few portfolios (of which SM was the first and personal favorite), and over the next few years he moved into portfolio management at Uncorked full time. In 2022, Jonathan happily joined the Selection Massale team and now lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Mandi and son Geordi. He loves cooking, reading philosophy, hillbilly activities, and is often jamming pre 9/11 country music. His DMs are open for regional fast-food recommendations.

Lennie newman

NYc + Brooklyn Sales

Originally from Ohio, raised in Maine, Lennie caught the wine bug while at university in Toronto, eating at fine-dining restaurants she couldn’t afford. A couple of barista jobs and freelance writing gigs later, she joined the team at acclaimed Portland restaurant Drifters Wife and retail shop Maine & Loire where she was first introduced to SM’s wines. After spending a combined 7 years waxing poetic about Loire chenin and pineau d’aunis - and a brief stint at Domaine les Serrals in Faugères - her love of great natural wines continues as she joins the Massale team in
NYC. In her spare time, you can find her eating omakase, cooking chicken noodle soup, or sitting in a corner of a bar reading a book on Soviet history.

Dan Perzan

Illinois portfolio manager

Born in Poland and raised in Chicago, Dan's journey in hospitality began in the kitchen where he spent eight years before being lured behind the bar. It was no small coincidence that around the time Dan started running a bar program, Nadim walked through his doors with a bag full of wine. This new friendship coupled with a taste of Guy Breton's Morgon set Dan off on a path of learning about wine. He eventually joined the opening team at All Together Now! and not long after that found himself selling wine and spirits with the now-defunct Tenzing. When not slinging flirty ferments, you'll find Dan slurping noodles, obsessing over F1, and wandering aimlessly through cemeteries.