Joe Kotnik was born in Wisconsin, and it was there as a teenager, with a part of the family passionate about eating and drinking well, that he first discovered, and nurtured, his interest in food and wine. Joe graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Biology. Six months after graduation, he started a marketing and promotions company called CW Marketing. In 1996, looking to join together his entrepreneurial spirit, marketing and sales skills, and love for food, wine and travel, he became a founding partner in Fine Wines from Europe, an importer and distributor of European wines. In 1999, Joe resigned from the company to start WorldWide Cellars.
The selection process and motivating philosophy can be summed up in Joe’s words:
"For me, a wine’s greatest accomplishment is to say something eloquent, to ‘sing’ about a place. Place, to me, means not only soil type, exposition, climate and micro-climate — all the physical aspects of a place — but also the cultural, culinary, artistic, architectural, and other human elements of that place. Beauty, balance, integrity - those aspects of a wine are critical but there must be depth and complexity and richness and life, a sense of of belonging to a specific, individual, and indigenous, place.
As a lifelong wine lover, with years of experience in the importation, sales, and distribution of fine wines, I understand what it takes to move wines from producer to consumer. Most importantly, I have great passion for the product and the people who spend their lives working with it."
Joe currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife Khanh Tran and his 3 children Aili, Jack Henry, and Wil.