Tom Finigan, CSW

Tom Finigan has been in the wine business for 10 years in the Washington DC Metro Area, the Boston Metro Area and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He currently works as a wine distributor in Washington, representing small family wineries. Before that he was the Wine Director and General Manager of Buttterfield 9 downtown.

He moved to Washington two years ago leaving his position as Sommelier and Manager of Blue Ginger Restaurant, owned by James Beard award winning Chef and Food Network and PBS host, Ming Tsai. During his tenure at Blue Ginger, the restaurant won two Wine Spectator Awards and the wine list was noted as "Standout" by Boston Magazine. Also at this time, Tom served as the wine and beverage consultant on Ming Tsai's PBS cooking program "Simply Ming" and the companion cookbook "Ming's Master Recipes".

Tom holds the Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and currently teaches the Intermediate Certificate - Level 2 courses for the Washington Wine Academy. Tom is a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) with the Society of Wine Educators and just recently passed his "Wine Century", a recognition for having tasted over 100 different grape varietals.

More instructors - coming soon.

We are seeking WSET students and graduates of the WSET - Level 3 (Advanced) and Level 4 - Diploma to join the WWA team. Also looking for WSET tutors. Please contact us if you live in the Washington DC Metro Region.

For more information about the WSET Program or the Washington Wine Academy, please contact Jim Barker at JimBarker@WashingtonWineAcademy.org or by phone at 703-971-1525.