- PERSONALITIES
- Todd English
- Bobby Flay
- Jasper White
- Govind Armstrong
- Donatella Arpaia
- Neil Bernardi
- Jim Bernau
- Aurélie Botton
- Nicoletta Canella
- Kim Canteenwalla
- Mary Ann Esposito
- Elizabeth Falkner
- Ben Ford
- Bryan Forgione
- Larry Forgione
- Marc Forgione
- Betty Fraser
- Michael Aeyal Ginor
- Ihsan Gurdal
- John Hazak
- Andy Husbands
- Bob Iantosca
- Robert Irvine
- Susur Lee
- Bernie Lubbers
- Emily Luchetti
- Kate MacMurray
- Lynn Mansel
- Daisy Martinez
- Fergal Murray
- Douglas Rodriguez
- Derek Rohlffs
- Jason Santos
- Hugh Sisson
- Jacques Torres
- Marcela Valladolid
- Greg Winter
About Derek Rohlffs
Derek A. Rohlffs is Bravium's Proprietor & Winemaker. Derek graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with the high GPA in its trailblazing Environmental Studies program. When he realized that wine was his true passion, he took winemaking coursework at UC Davis, including its Wine Executive Program, which he recently completed. Derek pursued his love for wine by making his own small lots in 2001. His travels to notable winemaking regions in Europe, including France and Italy, as well as Australia, helped Derek hone his winemaking approach, a blend of Old and New World winemaking.
Bravium translates from Latin as "reward, prize, or gift" and the winery produces red and white wines. Bravium was created with the intention to give back to charitable organizations by way of its Sip & Give donation platform. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of all Bravium and Artisan brand wines support Sip & Give, the patent-pending social madie charitable giving tool. Sip & Give features a wide variety of worthy charities that are funded based upon your wine purchases and votes.
Bravium is a California winery, producing single vineyard wines from multiple appellations under its flagship Bravium brand. With extremely limited production (24 to 672 cases per wine), Derek's winemaking philosophy is an extension of his Environmental Studies background and belief that great wine begins in the vineyard. Bravium ensures that vineyards are farmed in a manner of encouraging optimal ripening, i.e. balanced flavors and acidity, seeking relatively lox Brix and resultant alcohol levels. Year-to-year experience guides the harvest decision. Derek employs simple, traditional winemaking techniques - gravity-moving the wine whenever possible, for example, and bottling red wines unfined and unfiltered - allowing the source fruit to remain at the forefront, vine to bottle. One of Derek's music heroes, Jack White, has said: "technology is the disease you have to fight in any creative field...ease of use is the enemy." And while winemaking is part art and part science, Bravium emphasizes traditional methods whenever possible.
In addition to Bravium wines, Derek has developed a roster of distinctive varietal bottlings utilizing a more "hands-on" practical approach, from Proprietary White and Red Blends - White Wedding and Lucky - to Bordeaux Blends from Napa's Diamond Mountain District.
Derek is an experienced businessman and entrepreneur with expertise in incentive and loyalty marketing. Prior to founding Bravium, he served in an executive and ownership capacity at a number of marketing and gaming companies, including Mohegan Sun and Cascade Promotion Corporation, among others.
He has served on the Mystic, CT Chamber of Commerce and is a regular fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Derek is an active triathlete who has completed over 25 triathlons, many while fundraising for charities, including Ironman Coeur d'Alene.
