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Rittenhouse Hotel's wine guy really knows his stuff

Justin Timsit has made the rank of advanced sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Flash back to the 1990s, when the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was everywhere.

A boy from L.A. named Justin Timsit played Young Billy, the Blue Ranger and pretty much the brains of the operation.

His child-acting career far behind him, Timsit - now the Rittenhouse Hotel's wine director - has been awarded the rank of advanced sommelier by the Court of Master Sommeliers. The organization says he's only the third advanced sommelier working within Pennsylvania and among only 292 sommeliers nationwide to pass the exam. (The other two fellows do not work in this area.)

Timsit, 30, who joined the hotel and its posh Lacroix at the Rittenhouse restaurant in early 2014, is the son of a wine enthusiast. He followed his father into the fashion industry, but after seven years, he decided to take an introductory sommelier exam and nailed a perfect score. Shortly after, he passed the second level of the exam.

Timsit says, with considerable pride, that he enjoys studying and taking tests. And wine. (He's partial to dry Rieslings.)

That was only about a year and a half ago. He became a manager at a restaurant in Beverly Hills. While shuttling east to visit his girlfriend, he happened upon a help-wanted ad for the Rittenhouse's wine director.

Of the 1,250 wines stocked in the Rittenhouse's cellar, about 40 percent to 50 percent are not found anywhere else in Pennsylvania. Timsit's efforts have paid off, as the hotel recently was given Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence for 2015.