Upon arriving in San Francisco, in 2001, Mauro spent four years as lead sommelier at Aqua Restaurant before opening Perbacco as Wine Director in 2006. With the Perbacco team, he also opened barbacco eno trattoria in 2010, implementing the first interactive wine list on iPads on the west coast.

In 2011 he partnered on forming the North American Sommelier Association, affiliated with the Italian Sommelier Association, creating the first "Italian Wine Specialist" certification program recognized throughout the world and endorsed by the WSA (Worldwide Sommelier Association. He has been responsible for developing, coordinating and teaching wine seminars, wine classes, wine trade events, master classes, certified courses and full Sommelier certified programs. Mauro have been quoted and featured for many wine-related articles in Wine Spectator, San Francisco Chronicle, Wine Country, Tablehopper, Food & Wine Magazine, Bloomberg, 7x7, as well as other smaller publications.