Jonny grew up in Britain, and managed a wine store in Fulham, London. While there he passed his WSET intermediate and advanced level certificates and gained great experience buying wines and craft beers for this busy location. His Grandparents lived in Chianti in Italy and that is where his love affair with wine began. After being one of the first winegrowers at the rebirth of the wine industry in England in the 1950s his Grandfather grew Sangiovese in Tuscany, and on annual visits Jonny learned to appreciate wine and Mediterranean food with his family.
Having travelled widely and visited vineyards in Italy, France, US, Canada, England, Portugal and Spain Jonny settled in BC and continued his wine education becoming a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers and is in the final semester of the WSET Diploma, being awarded the Wine Campus Scholarship Fund by the BC Hospitality Foundation.
Jonny, a keen home-brewer also has a great love of craft beer, being raised in a country where cask ales are the norm in the local pub; he co-founded CAMRA Fraser Valley where he is Vice-President. He has planned and hosted numerous beer and wine tasting events and also runs a beer blog and website at www.beerwrangler.com Jonny has had a number of articles on beer and wine published in Alive magazine and brings his enthusiasm for both the grape and grain to Firefly in Maple Ridge.