testimonials
Dear Mark,
Never, never have I had an experience like the wine seminar and tour you led us through last week. The entire day was like living a fairy tale, with incredible wines and getting invited to personally view those off the beaten path wineries you recommended.
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed meeting David Cohn, Kaz and Chris Loxton. Each is an exceptional winemaker with their own unique style. Being a wine connoisseur I was excited to add new prizes to my wine collection. Your suggestions were right on target, and I couldn’t believe the discounts you were able to afford on our purchases.
Both of us had a terrific time. Your incredible knowledge of wines and winemaking made the day magical for us. And that incredible Italian feast in the vineyards…WOW! Bravo Chef Russo! The absolute highlight of the day was hands down the cave tour and barrel tasting at Del Dotto Vineyards. This is the best wine experience I’ve ever had, period. Given what we were able to see and do it was an incredible bargain. We’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new wines which will grace the cellar.
Mark, I’d be happy to recommend your wine seminar and tour to anyone who wants a unique, fabulous, unforgettable experience in the California wine country.
Sincerely,
Dean Crane
El Paso, Texas
Dear Mark,
Thank you so much for the outstanding wine experience in the Napa Valley. It was a one of a kind day, something we’ll never forget.
The cave tour and luncheon with the winery owner was exceptional. We look forward to returning and having you guide us through more of the wine country.
I’d be pleased to recommend you to anyone who is thinking of engaging your services.
Best Wishes,
George and Noel Miller
Kirkland, Washington
Dear Sharona,
I just had to write and tell you again how thrilled we were with your sake seminar. As a Canadian who has lived in Japan for many years I have of course tasted sake many times in restaurants, but your seminar was so thorough and so entertaining! We had a great time learning about the history of sake, and the sake we tasted were superb! I never knew sake could taste that good!!
I would highly recommend your Angel’s Share courses to anyone interested in exploring the world of sake. You offer a high-quality, FUN experience, and you had so much patience to answer all our questions.
Thanks again and I look forward to holding a follow up tasting the next time you are in Tokyo.
Kanpai!
Jennifer Spanbauer
Tokyo, Japan
Dear Mark,
I wanted to thank you for the fabulous time Jim and I recently had in California. We truly appreciate the informative approach you took while guiding us through the overwhelming wine country. Jim and I have both felt intimidated by wine in the past, so our experience with you was quite liberating! We can now make informed decisions on wine, more correctly select wine to complement different cuisines, understand the fundamentals of wine production and have a new appreciation for wine in general.
From your courteous manner, to your extensive knowledge on the manufacturing side of wine production, plus your mastery of coupling wine with food, we were both fascinated and educated during our two trips to Napa and Sonoma. We really appreciate your “over and beyond” assistance in setting up our wine tastings, and taking the time to understand our desires in planning our two trips. We also thoroughly enjoyed the incredible lunch served to us while surrounded by a breathtaking view. We feel we created a lasting friendship with you as well!!
Mark, Jim and I have already given rave reviews about you to our family, friends and neighbors. We will recommend you to anyone we hear is planning a trip to wine country.
Again, thanks for being so great to us. We fee we’ve increased our knowledge base to encompass the fabulous, magical world of wine! Feel free to have anyone contact us on your behalf.
Sincerely,
Krysti Piel
1508 Blue Fire Court
Dallas, Texas 75248
Dear Mark,
My very sincere thanks to you and Sharona for our very SPECIAL and UNIQUE wine tour—it exceeded all our expectations!
Your choice of wineries was excellent and our trip to Noah was the perfect Grand Finale!
You are both so enthusiastic and knowledgeable that we all felt we had fun and learned a lot. I greatly appreciated your help in obtaining the restaurant reservations at Domaine Chandon and the French Laundry, which I know are extremely hard to come by on such short notice.
It was definitely a BIG surprise for David, and he was blown away by his trip, the incredible Birthday Cake you arranged and the large format bottle of wine signed by the winemaker himself.
I really appreciated all your help with the organization of our trip. I received a lot of credit for details that you deserve all the credit for! Again, my sincere thanks.
Evelyn MacKenzie Gryson,
6171 GolfSide Court
Grand Blanc, Michigan 48439
Dear Tracy,
I am certain you would be interested in the experience I and my friend James had during our trip to Napa with the tour guide company you suggested, Angel’s Share and Mark Russo.
I have to say that we were both extremely delighted with the services we received.
Prior to our arrival, Mark contacted me to really clarify what our expectations were for this visit. I informed Mark I recently built a wine cellar and purchased a 30 bottle chiller as well and needed to fill both of them. I explained I was quite the novice when it came to wines. I simply understood that some wines I really like, while others just gave me that pucker bitter face and not much enjoyment. I told Mark I would really like to understand why I like some wines over others, why there is such a disparate cost variation between some wines, and identify what wines I truly enjoy so I can begin to fill out my cellar and enjoy.
Mark, with information in hand, put together what I have to say was simply the high point of our trip. Understand, we did several other activities in the Bay Area, including a hot air balloon ride, and the day with Mark still exceeded our expectations and our total experience in San Francisco during our 5 day trip.
Mark had us picked up promptly at the Palace Hotel at 9:00am in a large black stretch limousine. After exchanging pleasantries he took us to our first stop, Sebastiani winery in Sonoma. Mark introduced us to a wonderful young man that works at the winery to help us with some of our selections. We tasted several different varietals and ended up purchasing three cases from Sebastiani alone. We also enjoyed a tour of the old tasting room and Mark personally guided us through the barrel room where many old hand carved barrels remained.
Our next stop was Diamond Oaks Cellars for a white linen gourmet lunch of roasted duck, as I had requested. We enjoyed the Chardonnays with our meal overlooking an outstanding vineyard.
Third on the list was Niebaum Coppella Winery. As nice experience, not as intimate as Sebastiani, but this was one winery I specifically requested to visit.
The last winery we enjoyed for the day was Noah. I have to say even though I thoroughly enjoyed Sebastiani, I equally enjoyed Noah, but for different reasons. We had the great opportunity to meet directly with the wine makers themselves. They had just finished a crush and they allowed us to sample some of the fresh juice. We enjoyed a first hand experience with the winemakers as they were gracious enough to impart their knowledge to us. We were allowed a walk through their vineyards during a sunset to enjoy the beauty of the fields whilst tasting a little of their finished aged elixir. Needless to say we did purchase several bottles from them! Even a rather large 3 litre bottle of Zinfandel, that is about the size of three or four bottles of wine and they were quite gracious to sign it for us!
Mark brought us back to the hotel in time for us to catch a little rest prior to embarking on our dinner plans at the House of Prime Rib. Mark was kind enough to set up dinner reservations for us so we could get in to this fabulous restaurant. I am glad he did, as the line to get in was simply unreal. Mark knew that I enjoyed beef and a nice wine to compliment it, which is why he recommended this restaurant.
I have to say Mark is now someone I consider a dear friend, as does James.
Even though we have just met Mark he made us so comfortable that we felt we’d known him forever. We both truly enjoyed our experiences as a direct result of his background and in depth knowledge of wine. Truly we enjoyed ourselves most of all because Mark had the foresight to listen to what his clients wanted, and helped them to realize that experience. For that we are truly grateful.
Mark knows we greatly appreciated the time he shared with us and the experience he provided, but I wanted to make sure you are also aware of what a true asset your company has with Mark and Angel’s Share. He has gone beyond being just a guide and has evoked the passion for what he does. Anyone would only have to spend five minutes with Mark to realize his passion for wine, the Wine Industry, and his involvement in it.
Please feel free to share this letter in any manner you see fit, including publishing it on your website.
Kind Regards,
Chris Andrews
Saturday, June 7, 2025
