Michelle Jaenke graduated in 1996 with a Pastry Arts and Food Service Management degree from Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina and started her career as a restaurant manager and wine buyer, spending 5 ½ years with Tim Mallett’s independent restaurant group in St. Louis. A group that included such restaurant brands as Blue Water Grill, Big Sky Café, Ellie Forcella, and Remy’s Kitchen and Wine Bar.

In 2001, while working at Remy’s, Michelle completed Level One of the Court of Master Sommeliers (back when there were only 3 levels). Michelle went on to spend 12 years with Missouri Beverage Company (which later became Major Brands), advancing to the role of lead sales rep where she created many deep and lasting relationships with many of the area’s finest wine shops and independent restaurants.

Throughout her lasting career in the wine and spirits industry, Michelle has had the opportunity to travel throughout many of the major wine and spirit regions of the world including Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone Valley in France, the wine regions of Germany, Australia and Scotland, as well as top U.S. vineyards including many in Oregon and California. Michelle also earned the Certified Specialist of Wine designation from the Society of Wine Educators in 2009.

Michelle joined the Vintegrity Wine and Spirits team in 2015 and enjoys sharing her passion for fine wine and craft spirits with St. Louis area restaurateurs, proprietors of wine and spirit shops and, of course, all of the wonderful growers, vintners and distillers Vintegrity represents.

In her spare time, she enjoys golf and fishing with her husband Kevin, a middle school industrial arts teacher. Michelle and her husband love to travel and one of their favorite spots is Hilton Head, South Carolina. When they’re not strolling the beach, they’ve been known to compete in barbeque competitions around the country.

Shannon Behnen is a Certified Sommelier from St. Louis, Missouri. She proudly received the Walter Clore Scholarship in 2021, obtaining the top score on the Certified Sommelier Examination in Chicago, Illinois. Shannon has been in the wine industry now for 8 years & absolutely loves working for Vintegrity.

Previously, she spent 10 years in the restaurant industry working at great restaurants building wine & cocktail programs. In 2015, Shannon acquired a Sales Representative position at A. Bommarito wines. After 4 years of hard work, doubling her territory revenue, she became one of the top sales representatives at the company.

In 2019, JP Gilmore reached out to Shannon and offered her a position at Vintegrity Wine & Spirits. Shannon works closely with some of the top restaurants & retailers in St. Louis, Rolla, Washington & Hermann, Missouri. She loves working hard for her customers & helping them create unique wine & cocktail programs. She also loves doing weekly events where she gets to teach consumers more about Wine & Spirits.

Shannon is planning on going for the Advanced Sommelier Certification. There is nothing she loves more than setting goals & then exceeding them. When she is not working, she studies wine books, watches SOMMTV, travels, listens to records on vinyl, hiking, playing golf, or spending time with her fur babies & her partner Jaimie. Shannon also loves to cook and is a total wine nerd who loves sharing her knowledge and passion for food & wine pairings.

Steve Wood graduated from Illinois State University and served for several years as a graphic designer and art director for publishing companies, consulting firms, and government agencies. Then Steve made a decision to pursue his true passion, never looking back as he happily embarked on a second career in the wine and spirits industry. Steve’s love of wine occupied his spare time as he studied and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and Certified Spanish Wine Educator before accepting a sales position at Lukas Wine & Spirits in St. Louis. Moving on from Lukas, Steve accepted the role of Party Center Manager at Dierbergs Marketplace, and maintained the #1 Party Center ranking in the 24-store chain. An Illinois distributor, Marketplace Selections, recruited Steve as their first wine representative for the Metro-East region. Working with Marketplace Selections sizable craft beer portfolio led Steve to a third certification as a Certified Beer Server and he quickly advanced to become one of the company’s top-performing sales representatives. Steve’s now back on the Missouri side of the river with Vintegrity and says, “The team at Vintegrity is amazing – and it’s been great representing such a wide array of high-quality products and working with equally high quality accounts.”

In his spare time, Steve likes to run, listen to the latest music from indie bands, and cheer the St. Louis Cardinals and Blues on to victory. He also enjoys exploring new restaurants and films with his wife, Caren, a teacher at Maryville University. Their son Alex keeps the two busy with music performances and cross-country training and the whole family enjoys traveling around the country to visit their many friends and family.

Favorite Breakfast Cocktail?
Death in the Afternoon

Favorite local restaurants and why?
Noto, Stone Turtle, Indo. Great food and friendly staff!

Favorite Hole-in-the-wall bar (or best kept secret bar) and why?
Crows Nest- Great Neighborhood Bar!

Top 3 Bars and why?
Yellowbelly, Lucky Accomplice, Blood and Sand- Super creative cocktails.

Favorite liquor store and why?
Primo Vino- Awesome selection and staff.

Favorite meal+wine combos at home?
Burger and Beaujolais.

Favorite bottle in my cellar:
99 Chateau Musar

Must haves on my home bar:
Agave, Rum and Bitters.

Go-to drink to make for friends
Daiquiri

How I got into the liquor distributor business:
Bartender and server who loved wines and spirits but wanted a career with bettter hours and benefits.

My previous job was:
Sales with a different distributor, Classique

People think that as a liquor rep I do...
Drink booze all day. They don’t realize it can be stressful like all other jobs. It is a great job though!

What I actually do is…
Drive a lot and try to answer phone calls and emails when not on road

What I love about this job is:
Meet with awesome people all day to talk about wine, spirits and cocktails.

Hometown:
Grain Valley, MO- Answers both questions I guess. Lived in Westport in College.

Neighborhood:
Grain Valley, MO

I like to drink with:
Friends and family.

Nobody knows that I:
Spend all my free time biking, fishing and camping.

Favorite guilty pleasure movie/TV show:
Rick and Morty

I like to enjoy (favorite drink for this pastime) while enjoying (name pastime).
I like to drink cognac while camping.

"Thomas graduated from Wright State University in Fairborn Ohio with a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Language. Shortly after that he moved to St. Louis and began a lifelong career in the fine wine and food industry. Those first years involved serving at 3 of St. Louis finest restaurants at the time. Cardwell's, Cafe Zoe and Harvest. After some time in retail at Parker's Table, The Wine Merchant and Lukas Liquor, Thomas found a 10-year home at Major Brands St. Louis. During that time Thomas greatly enjoyed educational trips to France, Italy, Spain, and California. Thomas’s last career move was Liquor Manager at the Schnucks Ladue location, where he consistently hit all department related sales goals. He is very happy to be currently working at Vintegrity with a great team in. St. Louis. When not working Thomas enjoys spending time with his wife of 25 years, Susan, a Washington University employee and his two daughters Cate and Lily. Growing up in Ohio Thomas passionately roots the Ohio State Buckeyes in college football and roots for the hometown Blues as well. Road biking, reading, travel, cooking fine food and vegetable gardening round out his hobbies."

Aaron Enskat grew up in O’Fallon IL where he was a decorated high school athlete until he quit sports his senior year to participate in drama. After graduating he matriculated to Illinois State University where he majored in English with a Creative Writing focus, minoring in Political Science. While also at Illinois State, he joined their nationally ranked Individual Events Speech Team, where he was a State Champion in Dramatic Duet Acting and was part of winning a National Championship in 2001.

After graduating, he attended graduate school for Creative Writing for a year, then dropped out and became a bartender before relocating to Oakland, California where he spent time as a wandering bohemian performance poet and was a member of a highly ranked Slam Poetry team which finished in the top ten at a national tournament in New Mexico.

Eventually he journeyed back to Illinois and got his M.S. in Communication and spent six years as a college professor, teaching Public Speaking, Small Group Communication, and American Popular Culture while continuing to coach speech teams. After missing out on several tenure track positions to candidates with Doctorates, he planned to go back to school after taking a gap year. That was in 2015. He ended up getting hired as a retail associate for a high velocity liquor store and fell in love with wine. Over eight years, he studied wine and spirits intensely for his job, getting sent on educational trips to Napa, Sonoma, France, Spain, and Italy. By the end of his tenure he was a store team trainer and the national face of their internal training programs.

In 2023, he was recruited by Steve Wood and Shannon Behnen to apply to an open position with Vintegrity. The timing was perfect as he had an 18 month old and was looking to move to a new career in the industry that allowed for more structured time with his wife and daughter. Less than two weeks after applying he was hired and joined the team two weeks later. It is far and away his favorite job of anything he has ever done.

When not being a cork dork, Aaron does other extremely nerdy things including playing extremely dense board games, collecting old role playing game books, listening to Philip Glass operas, writing conceptual poetry, eating weird cheese, studying history, and watching YouTube playlists of old Sierra point and click games. Above all else, his most treasured time is that spent with his daughter, Clara.

Courtney Weaver is a native Kansan who worked in the restaurant industry for over 15 years before joining the Vintegrity team. A passion for spirits and craft cocktails led her to complete the industry-leading bartender certification program, BarSmarts. Courtney also served as Secretary of the Kansas City Chapter of the United States Bartender’s Guild and volunteered with the nationally recognized Paris of the Plains Cocktail Competition in Kansas City. Courtney has also competed in many cocktail competitions, created cocktail programs, and provided spirits training for bar staff where she worked. In 2015, Courtney was the first Sales Representative hired at Vintegrity Kansas, allowing her to expand and share her knowledge of craft spirits and fine wine.
Courtney is married to her wonderful husband, and together they have two sons she absolutely adores. She loves being outside in nature and having trees over her head. She also has a love of cooking and likes to spend time growing veggies in their community garden, and loves to read, do yoga, and see live music.

Favorite Breakfast Cocktail?
Michelada with a splash of mezcal

Favorite local restaurants and why?
ABC Cafe for the best dim sum in town (and no corkage fee), Jarocho for the camarones cucarachas and mezcal, Kitty’s Cafe for the tenderloin and a cold can of orange soda, Seva for the most delicious Indian food, Earl’s Premier for seafood and frozen g&t’s, and Corvino for when I’m feelin' fancy!

Favorite Hole-in-the-wall bar (or best kept secret bar) and why?
VFW Post 9997… it’s open to the public, in my neighborhood, and FULL of characters

Top 3 Bars and why?
MiniBar has great highballs and fun shows/DJs, the bar at the Golden Ox is beautiful and makes the best gin martini in town, and Harry’s Bar and Tables because she’s always there when you need her…until 3AM

Favorite liquor store and why?
All of my accounts are favorites, of course! Outside of those, Big Mood.

Favorite meal+wine combos at home?
Crab and txakoli in the summer, zin and ribeyes au poivre in the winter

Favorite bottle in my cellar:
Unlabeled tepeztate mezcal definitely *not* smuggled in from my last trip to Oaxaca 😉

Must haves on my home bar:
Sparkling wine because you never know when you might have an excuse to celebrate!

Go-to drink to make for friends
Last Word sub mezcal

How I got into the liquor distributor business:
To learn something new and see what working in the daylight hours was like!

My previous job was:
Restaurant manager / server / bartender / you name it!

People think that as a liquor rep I do...
Get drunk all day.

What I actually do is…
plan and study and route and count and highlight and make bad jokes.

What I love about this job is:
getting to know and share the stories of interesting people making interesting wine and booze!

Hometown:
Lee’s Summit, MO

Neighborhood:
Historic Northeast Kansas City

I like to drink with:
Anybody that’s in a good mood

Nobody knows that I:
Have a pretty spot-on Bjork impression at karaoke!

Favorite guilty pleasure movie/TV show:
The 1996 absolute masterpiece, Twister

I like to enjoy (favorite drink for this pastime) while enjoying (name pastime).
I like to have gigantic G&T—filled to the brim with ice, St George Terroir, homemade tonic, and lots of lemon wheels—outside somewhere enjoying the first sunny, warm day of spring.

Kiana brings over six years of diverse experience in the restaurant industry, having worked in establishments ranging from casual dining to high-end fine dining. Throughout her career, she has cultivated a deep passion for wines, driven by her exposure to varied cuisines and beverage pairings. This enthusiasm has inspired her to pursue a broader understanding of the complexities and artistry behind winemaking. Kiana is dedicated to continually expanding her knowledge and expertise in the world of wine, aiming to enrich both her professional journey and the experiences of those she serves.

Tina Block has experienced a wide variety of interesting occupations over the last two decades – allowing her to travel the country from California to Portland and even Hawaii. Early on in her career, Tina was able to put her graphic design degree to work while working at the Kohler company as a mosaic artist.

While working for Kohler, Tina had the opportunity to experience a multitude of different cultures. According to Tina, “That was probably one of my most deeply rewarding jobs. I had the chance to work with so many nationalities – Russian people, Bosnian women, Vietnamese men. It was just a very good early-on job for cultural initiation.”

Tina is originally from the West Coast – California to be specific. After California Tina lived in Portland for over 10 years before moving to Kansas City. In Kansas City, Tina worked at Café Sebastien for nearly a decade, before working for a private caterer for another 10 years.

Tina first met JP Gilmore when she was a manager at Café Sebastien when he came in for a wine tasting event during the early years of Vintegrity. Tina also had worked with another future Vintegrity team member at Café Sebastien, Courtney Foster. Flash-forward a few years, when Courtney Foster reconnected JP and Tina – which led to her joining Vintegrity.

Tina says her favorite part about working for Vintegrity is her relationship with proprietors JP Gilmore and Sean Ball, saying, “I have so much respect and admiration for JP and Sean. They are so nice, and they're just very smart businessmen. They take extremely good care of their employees – I just really feel like I'm home at Vintegrity. It makes me want to work even harder, helping the business and making our customers happy.”

In her personal life, Tina has a 14-year-old son that she’s extremely proud of, “He’s great – really smart, and really sweet.” In her free time Tina likes to road trip to visit her best friend in Montana as often as she can – “I just love adventure!” She also says she enjoys shorter mini-road trips to Lawrence and Arkansas, saying, “It’s fun to just escape and explore!”

Chase Bruggeman began his career in the service industry 15 years ago as a food runner and busser. During this time, he was trying to find his niche and came across Georges French Bistro in Wichita. It was a good match – in fact Chase became a fine dining server at Georges Bistro for over five 5 years. A media highlight for Chase during his time at Georges was a Chicago Tribune article featuring the Bistro – illustrated with a photo of Chase serving and, carrying numerous glasses of wine.
While working in Wichita at the Bistro, Chase developed a sincere passion for wine. Chase learned of the job opportunity at Vintegrity when his stepfather saw an advertisement in the Wichita Eagle Beacon. The timing was right for a career move, so Chase applied for the job. One thing led to another and Chase joined Vintegrity. Today Chase serves as a Kansas sales representative for Vintegrity.
Chase is a graduate of Wichita State University where he studied business with an emphasis in marketing. His business and marketing education combined with his years in fine dining provided Chase with the tools he would need to service and grow Vintegrity’s book of business in southeast Kansas. Chase says his favorite part of working at Vintegrity has been expanding and sharing his ever-growing knowledge of wine and spirits with his clientele.
Chase is the third of four children and says his mother serves as a major inspiration to him. Chase also shares his father’s love of sports and his dad taught him the fine points of the game of baseball. Chase said he has fond memories of his family traveling to and from Manhattan for Kansas State football and basketball games while growing up. Today Chase considers himself an avid sports fan and enjoys live sporting events, golfing, and playing pickleball.