Our Mission

We provide small and family-owned wine producers with a seamless avenue to reach the U.S. Consumer. In doing so, we are able to support these producers and their surrounding communities by increasing their sales and bringing exposure and visibility to their world-class, yet relatively unknown wine-producing regions. By working directly with the producers, we’re able to remove multiple steps in the supply chain – and the costs that come with those steps – to provide our consumers with incredible value.

Carmine Berardi
Co-Founder

Brendan Papariello
Co-Founder / CEO

Chris Papariello
Co-Founder / Advisor

Nicole Braun
Director of Growth & Strategy

Jack Frantz
Director of Operations

Carmine Berardi

Co-Founder

Born into a true Italian-American family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Carmine has always had a love for the wine. Due to his father’s position in Italian Parliament, Carmine would frequently visit Italy, allowing him to attain dual-citizenship and the gift of being bi-lingual. Through these visits, he was introduced to many families whom owned Italian wineries across various regions in Italy. This lead to the creation of his first company at the age of 22, importing and marketing premium Italian wines into the Pennsylvania state system.

Today, Carmine can be found enjoying great food, wine, and espresso (4-8 per day) at authentic Italian eateries while catching up with family or friends.

Carmine Berardi can be contacted at [email protected].

Brendan Papariello

Co-Founder

Brendan graduated from Saint Joseph’s University in 2017 with a double major in Food Marketing and Family Business & Entrepreneurship. He added the second major because it only required two extra classes, and saying “double major” sounded much better to friends and family.

He’s not passionate about much, but wine is something that he’s always had a passion for. Having spent most of his professional career in the industry, he says, “it’s what I love to do”, “working with wine is all encompassing, it spans industries from agriculture to logistics to sales, and everything in-between”.

He enjoys playing golf with friends and family, listening to music by @walkabout (maybe his brother), and absolutely loves a $13 pinot noir.

Brendan Papariello can be contacted at [email protected].

Chris Papariello

Co-Founder, Advisor

Having started his career with the E & J Gallo Winery, Chris Papariello has held various senior executive level roles with industry leaders including Southern Glazer W&S and Pernod Ricard. At Pernod Ricard Chris was National Sales Manager of Wild Turkey in addition to leading the first On Premise National Accounts Division. Later Chris served as Vice President of Sales at Southern Glazer W & S in PA.

From 2001 to 2022, Chris was employed by the Allied Beverage Group. He led Allied’s subsidiary, Majestic Wine & Spirits, a leading distributor of wines and spirits in the State of Pennsylvania. Chris grew the annual sales revenue of this multi-million dollar business by 5X during his tenure. Majestic was sold to National industry leader Breakthru Beverage in 2018. Chris recently completed his time at Allied where he had been serving as Vice President of Business Development.

Chris developed an early appreciation for fine wine and enjoyed finding great brands in Europe and importing them to the US through various distribution channels. At Majestic Chris built a large Italian wine business representing importers such as Empson Imports, OPICI & Santa Margherita. Chris has owned his own winery and continues to learn the business he loves.

Chris is an active volunteer in his community and is proud of his board memberships for the Boys & Girls Club of Philadelphia and the Youth Mentoring Project (YMP). In 2003, he served as Board Chair for the Upper Main Line YMCA.

In Chris’s home state of Pennsylvania, he served as a board member of the Pennsylvania Wine and Spirit Association (PWSA) for many years and was voted to and served as President of the Board in 2008 – 2010. Chris’ leadership skills and team building expertise will contribute to the strategic growth of the Viniamo Business.

Nicole Braun

Director of Growth & Strategy

Nicole graduated with a Business Management degree from Philadelphia University in 2017.

Nicole’s interest in wine started at a young age while watching her family discuss and try different wines during their Sunday family dinners. Her curiosity and passion for its origins has grown stronger with time and she is thrilled to bring her knowledge to Viniamo.

Previously, Nicole worked as a buyer in the retail industry, where she gained an understanding of the product life cycle and insight into consumer behavior.

You can find Nicole at our retail location in the Wayne Lancaster County Farmer’s Market and contact her at [email protected].

Jack Frantz

Director of Operations

Jack graduated from Penn State University - Smeal College of Business in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance.

Prior to Viniamo, he gained valuable experience in a corporate finance analyst role in the pharmaceutical industry and as a sales development representative at a tech start up.

Jack has developed a growing passion for wine both as a beverage and as a business. He is very enthusiastic about growing a start-up company in an industry where he sees a lot of potential.

Jack Frantz can be contacted at [email protected].

The Viniamo Team