About Us

Customers and people in the wine business will tell you, Paul Marcus Wines is arguably the finest wine shop in the Bay Area, especially for its size. As the first retailer to open in Rockridge Market Hall over 30 years ago Paul and Market Hall Foods (Pasta Shop) are the only continuous owners. The focus has always been wines from Europe. You will not find a better selection of Italian wines anywhere and the Burgundy section is a knockout. Exciting grower Champagnes, wines from the Loire, the Jura, the Rhone, Austria, Germany and Spain abound along with older wines from our cellar. We are proud of representing a new wave of wine makers from California and Oregon who are making lower alcohol food friendly wines.

The service is real, it is knowledgable and it is good. There is no pretense; we want our customers to enjoy wine the way we enjoy wine. Professors, teachers, actors, artists and a fencing manager make for an entertaining staff. Italian Buyer Joel Mullennix has been there from day one and Manager and Head Buyer Chad Arnold has taken the store to a new height of excellence.

So whatever your needs are: expensive, inexpensive, pairing for your dinner, cellaring or discovering new wines, you can count on Paul Marcus Wines to provide excellence and consistency. So discover. Explore your palate. And drink the wine you love.

The Team

Paul Marcus

Paul Marcus

Founder / Owner

A Bay area resident since 1968, Paul was the buyer at the Berkeley institution, Leopold Records,
during the 1970’s. He graduated from music to wine and started Paul Marcus Wines in 1987.
We are all drinking better for it.

Chad Arnold

Chad Arnold

General Manager / Head Buyer

When not at Paul Marcus Wines, Chad can be found at Saint Mary’s College where he teaches philosophy, literature, and art. He has also taught wine appreciation classes at UC Berkeley Extension, Saint Mary’s College, as well as privately. Chad has also written numerous wine articles as well as a book of poems and has recently had a play produced in Philadelphia. He loves sharing great wines with friends and he especially enjoys opening an occasional older bottle…or nine… Chad was, for an undisclosed (and unknown) length of time, in a very exclusive Sherry Club with Mark Middlebrook and has recently founded a company that will make Got Chenin? tee-shirts…

Joel Mullennix

Joel Mullennix

Italian Buyer

Joel has been working with Paul since late 1986, preparing for the store’s opening in ‘87. And he has been at it ever since. Though he loves the wines of many different regions, Joel has a special interest in Italian wines and is the primary Italian buyer for the store.
Joel enjoys an active parallel career as a professional theatre artist, in recent years most often with Word for Word Performing Arts Company.

Jason Seely

Jason Seely

Spanish / Portuguese Buyer

Jason has been at Paul Marcus Wines since 2012 when he started working part time to help him explore the intricacies of the world of wine. He’s worked in the cellar at Arnot-Roberts, as well as a handful of great restaurants in the Bay Area, and beyond..... Five years at Dopo brought a deeper understanding of Sicilian food & wine culture.

Outside of gastronomy, Jason would probably be most happy laying down a deep heelside carve on his snowboard or a big, sweeping turn on his bike.....or chasing his two year old daughter around.

David Gibson

David Gibson

Domestic Buyer

David has extensive experience in the wine and food industry, including 17 years at Bay Wolf. David spends whatever time he can hiking in the Sierra.

Mark Middlebrook

Mark Middlebrook

German / Austrian / Central & Eastern European Buyer

Mark was a Paul Marcus Wines customer for 12 years and then an employee for 10 years before being lured away from us to pursue the glamorous life of a wine importer (first Spanish and now Italian). He is now officially a pinch-hitter for the PMW team. He has a very good average.

Marc Greilsamer

Marc Greilsamer

Southern Hemisphere / Sherry / Sake Buyer

After more than 25 years in music journalism, Marc joined the PMW staff in July of 2018. Although he’s enjoyed the honor of interviewing B.B. King, Etta James, Merle Haggard, and other titans of the music universe, few things sing to him quite like the beauty of Brunello, the elegance of Barbaresco, the finesse of Burgundy, or the nuance of a fine sherry. That said, you’re still likely to find him haunting live-music venues across the Bay Area.

Hayden Dawkins

Hayden Dawkins

Web / Technology

Coming to us from a background in website design and development, Hayden manages our online presence and social media accounts as well as helping out around the shop. Hayden gained an appreciation for wine and the alcohol industry while working with Beverages and More where he assisted the Wine Specialist and handled weekly tastings. His favorite wines are Beaujolais and specifically ones that are open.

Layla Khabiri

Layla Khabiri

Layla came to Paul Marcus after spending three years working in fine and rare wine auctions in New York. She holds a level 3 certificate from The Wine Spirit Education Trust (WSET). Her interests include sherry, champagne, and anything grown on volcanic soil.