Seattle area native John Schultz attended the University of Washington Business School and in 1986 earned a BA in Business Administration with concentrations in Marketing and Finance.

After graduation, John joined the Gallo Wine Company as a “Wine Sales Representative” and spent a year in Gallo’s management training program. In 1987 John joined Alaska Distributors Company (formerly Western Washington Beverage), a leading Seattle Wine, Beer and Spirits importer/wholesaler/broker.

During his 22 year tenure in the wine business, he’s managed or sold to almost every sales channel, from top Wine retailers, to white tablecloth restaurants, to major grocery chain headquarter calls, to Military sales, John has worn many hats and has had a diverse sales career. He has visited many domestic wineries and has made trips to France, Italy and Spain, touring fine wineries in Champagne, the Rhone valley, Tuscany and Penedés.

“Learning the distribution side of the business has allowed me to work with a wide variety of suppliers, importers and winery management, and has helped me to understand how a wholesaler best delivers the winery’s sales and marketing message to retailers and restaurants. Knowing how to properly translate the winery goals and sales strategy to the retailer, and thus maximize sales, are some of the keys to a wholesalers success. I’ve done my best to understand how every facet of a wholesaler works from administration to operations, so that I can operate in a way that creates efficiency for the entire organization and solves problems before they occur. As they say at ADCo, everyone’s goal is to “Make it Better”. Working with virtually every type of customer, watching the winners and the losers, seeing the successful strategies, and the fruitless efforts, I’ve gained an understanding to what makes a successful wine retailer. This has helped me to better advise my customers and anticipate their needs.”

After founding WineSquire.com, Seattle’s Online Wine Guide, with Psi Upsilon fraternity brothers Scott Miller and Andrew Campbell in 1998, John further developed his online business acumen by completing an eight-month Graduate Level Executive Certificate Program through the University of Washington called “E-Commerce and Internet Marketing” in 1999.

WineSquire is a Seattle area community website that provides information, recommendations and resources for wine consumers and industry professionals. WineSquire also produces an invaluable industry publication called the Squire Guide. The Squire Guide is a brand/distributor index that allows retailers to source many of the thousands of brands available in the Seattle market. The Squire Guide is the guide of choice for Seattle’s elite wine shops and retailers.