TricorBraun WinePak, North America's leading wine bottle distributor, has hired Mario Carofanello as a Packaging Consultant, according to Andrew Bottene, Senior Vice President at TricorBraun WinePak.

"We've recently hired a number of fantastic new packaging consultants," said Bottene. "Mario will be an incredible addition to our growing team."

Carofanello earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Utah in Recreation and Leisure and then gained a Certificate in Hospitality Management from the same university.

After successful careers in both hospitality management and software sales, Carofanello decided to pursue his love of wine as a business pursuit, attending the UC Davis Extension program in OIV, Viticulture and Enology.

"I've garnered 20 years of experience and knowledge through the tasting room, during harvest, in the vineyard, at retail, and in packaging, design, software development, barrel production, stave management, closure development and even, RFID for tracking inventory," said Carofanello.

"As our industry's leading wine bottle distributor, we continue to find new ways to provide value to our customers," said Bottene. "Mario's deep and well-rounded experience will allow us to continue our growth."

TricorBraun WinePak has sales of more than $150 million and its Fairfield, California, facility features more than 360,000 square feet of warehouse space and a $2-million auto repacking system.

The company has additional warehousing space throughout the major wine growing regions in America and Canada.