Our Story
One night at Ruth Lake CC in Hinsdale, IL John Saccomanno, Founder of Wine Pulls, happened to be at a Fundraiser for a Middle School that held a Wine Pull. He noticed how interested people were in the concept and how much money it was raising for the Fundraiser! Having many years in the Wine and Hospitality industry, John saw an opportunity to use his expertise and connections in his field to enhance fundraisers, weddings, and corporate events, and founded Wine Pulls in 2011. Since then, he has had great success in helping businesses, organizations, and people enhance their events, big or small.
John Saccomanno
Founder of Wine Pulls
Accomplishments
John has an accomplished career. He attended Triton College in River Grove IL, studied Restaurant Training, then proceeded to Florida and FIU (Florida International University) in Miami to receive a Bachelors Degree in the School of Hospitality Management. His first job after College was for Marriott Lincolnshire Resort where he fell in love with the game of Golf. Then to Des Moines Marriott as part of the opening team before returning to Chicago where he became Director of Catering at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel. A short stint to Grand Rapids MI found John working at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and meeting what was to become one of the more influential men of his life Mr. Richard DeVos.
As John’s love for the game of Golf grew, he desired to turn to his passion and make it his career and that’s when he became Assistant Manager of Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago in the early 90’s, a premier Private Club that has hosted many PGA Tournaments over the years along with the 2012 Ryder Cup and 2018 BMW Championship, followed by General Manager of Short Hills Country Club in the Quad Cities.
John entered the Wine Industry in the late 90’s after meeting Mr. Tony Terlato of Terlato Wine Group, the man responsible for bringing the very first Pinot Grigio to America – Santa Margherita, and worked for Mr. Terlato at Pacific Wine Co. calling on Chicago area Restaurants, Hotels and Country Clubs. John then went on to work for a man he became most fond of - Mr. Buddy Romano at Romano Bros. Beverage Co.
After near 20 years in the Wine Industry John retired in 2011 from SWS, the world’s largest Wine Distributor who came into the IL Market by purchasing Romano Bros. and a few IL Wine Distributors.