Christy Frank is one of the leaders of the independent retail scene.
Her original wine shop, Frankly Wines (sold in 2017), was regularly recognized as one of the top small shops in the country.
During her 20+ year tenure in the industry, she has worked in all three tiers, including a seven-year stint at Moët Hennessy USA, the wine and spirits division of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and a three year stint with Wine Australia, serving as an education development manager focused in the NYC market.
She currently gets her retail jollies at Copake Wine Works, a shop in the Hudson Valley/Berkshires owned by her husband and managed by a team of brilliant NYC castaways. She writes for various industry publications, holds publishing and copy editing duties at Alice Feiring’s The Feiring Line newsletter, and takes on the occasional retail consulting gig. Most recently, she has launched Hamlet Hound, a canned cocktail company.
Christy has served regularly on the New York Times “Wine of the Times” Tasting Panel (the rare retailer to hold this distinction), Wine & Spirits tasting panels and was one of Food & Wine’s Top Wine Experts to follow on Twitter (a long, long time ago, when Twitter was still fun.) She has served as a judge at TexSom International Wine Awards and the Mead Crafters Competition. Her shops have been recognized by publications such as the Financial Times, the New York Times, Grub Street, and Food & Wine.
She is an Advanced Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, holds a WSET Diploma (with Merit), is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and serves as a mentor with the Bâtonnage Mentorship Program and The Roots Foundation.
She lives in NYC (no, she did not move upstate full time) with her husband and three children (who constantly remind her that they have approval rights on all social media posts featuring their likenesses.) In the before times, she traveled extensively to wine regions throughout the world and is looking forward to doing this again some day soon.