Who were your wine mentors?

It could be the first person who turned you onto the enjoyment of wine in your personal life, or a professional wine industry mentor who taught you a lot of what you know.

Mine include my Mom (taught me the fun of wine), the character “Uncle Oswald” in Roald Dahl’s books (taught me the class of Burgundy), and much later Gary Vaynerchuck (taught me to be unpretentious and explore new wines).

Who were your wine mentors?

A girl from Paris.

This could be serious, or a joke, really. Not sure. lol.

My real wine mentor was my father. Dad owned a liquor and wine store in Savannah, GA, and because of him I got to taste a lot of good stuff way before I had a palate. Helped me develop one. Also, working at the store during summers while in college got me to read my first wine book. So, dad is it.

Then, when I got to DC, dad sold the store and retired (after all, I was not going into the business - probably foolish). I bought at a bunch of stores in town. In those days, the wine ads were mostly in the Monday Washington Post (no internet in those days). One Monday in 1984 or 1985, I saw an ad from a store called Rex that I had heard of but had never been to having a great sale on German wines. I loved German wines and had never really seen them featured anywhere. So, I went there, where I met the wine buyer for the store, David Schildknecht. David took my knowledge level up another notch or three. The world of Burgundy and German wines had really changed in just the few years since dad had sold the store going away from negotiants and much more to small producers. Soon after I went to Rex, for example, the wines of Terry Theise started coming into Rex. I bought from David as long as he was in retail in DC and then when he was in retail in Kentucky.

Over the last 10-15 years or so, my “mentors” have really been my wine tasting group. I went to a couple of offlines organized on the old Parker wine board and met a number of people, including Randy McFarlane. Randy invited me to join his wine tasting group. I have learned and still learn a lot from the people in this group. A lot of people in the group are not close personal friends. Every month, I am introduced to producers I have never tasted before, and hopefully introduce others to good producers. I have in particular learned from one close friend there how great it is to actually meet and, at least a little bit in my case (a lot in his case), get to know producers. I think it really helps meunderstand their wines, but even more so it makes for special memories - memories that come alive every time I drink a wine from the producer.

Jerry Mead (writer)
Bill & Sandra MacIver (Matanzas Creek Winery)
Julie Ann Kodmur (publicist)
John Hinman (Attorney)

went to a local wine store because I was getting interested a bit and met two fellas working there that were my age surprisingly (28 at the time) and they were super passionate about wine and got me hooked. We have become great friends since then and still get together and blind taste and do dinners. Without them I wonder if I could of saved myself a bunch of money??? :slight_smile:

My business trips to San Francisco in the early 1990’s, coupled with my favorite journalists from the WSJ > John and Dorothy. They wrote the weekly wine column in the Wall Street Journal. It’s because of them that I started reading and experimenting with wine. Look at me now. [wink.gif]

My friends on the old parker boards. Thankfully, most of them moved over here to WineBerserkers. [worship.gif]

Jim Gallagher of San Francisco. An extraordinary man, Renaissance Man, if you will. Never pushed, always encouraged me, knew WAY more than I could ever imagine. Our worlds collided soon after my first wine was made. Good lord, that aspect of my life was serendipitous and charmed. Thank you, Dr. Gallagher.

Robert (born in an outhouse in Loire) Alfert. I knew him from cycling. But when I got into wine he pointed me in the right direction and gave me lots of good advice. More than anyone else, he has affected what I have bought and what I have tried and where my cellar is today.

And yes, if you describe a wine as barnyard, stinky, maybe manure, I am all about it. To steal from Marc F, those are an immediate 93 points for me.

Ian

Gary Andrus.

No one person, but “off-lines”;, IMO a terrific way of gaining knowledge, tasting awide variety of wines, meeting others and learning your own palate.

Peter Lesley who got me into wine, and Terry Robards who taught me how to write about it.

My father in general, with emphasis on Bdx (he always had a lot of wine and liquor at home; still does). For more geeky “mentors”, all were like-minded friends, such as long-time IWFS Philippines Branch Director & Wine Master, Bernie Sim, who got me more interested in Burgundy & Alsace, and taught me how to pair Bdx reds with Chinese cuisine. Another notable one was regular drinking buddy, Jojo Madrid (ITB in Manila), who got me interested in Hermitage and Côte Rôtie. A third would be Edouard Miailhe (who runs his family’s Château Siran in Margaux) - he was the one who got me to start visiting the French wine regions to “truly understand” (his words) the wines I enjoy.

Hank Gillespie who posts here often!

I started working at a fine dining restaurant as a busser when I was 19. At 22 I told the GM/Wine Director, Jeff Elasky, that I wanted to become a server, but knew almost nothing about wine. He informed me that I simply couldn’t serve without a solid base of knowledge, and promptly handed me 3 reference books, started sending me to trade tastings, and invited me to taste with him when distributors came through. Within a year I was serving.

Seven years later, Jeff was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, and had about a month until chemo/radiation treatments started. I volunteered to help out maintaining the wine program as best I could until his return. He did his best to disseminate 30 years of experience into 4 weeks with me. Unfortunately Jeff passed away after a 6 month battle, and I’ve been doing my best as wine director ever since.

While very few people outside of Ohio would know who he was, Jeff was hugely influential to the fine wine scene in here. Our wine list was the first in Columbus to print vintages! We won the Wine Spectator grand award in 1994 while the rest of the city was mostly content to hand control of their lists over to major distributors. I still run into wine makers who remember hosting dinners with him, after years and across thousands of miles.

It’s hard for me to understate the impact that man has had on my life and career. I started off knowing almost nothing about wine, and now run a wine program with 700+ selections. In a few months I’m leaving to work a harvest in Sonoma and hopefully transition into the production side of the industry.

Scott Manlin, Ken Kailin, Chris Hughes, Michael Bowden, Kevin Mohalley, Christopher Klingenstein to name but a few.

Be afraid, very afraid!

[wow.gif]

I knew Ian was hooked when he had a stinky 1999 D’Armailhac! I think I gave him that and a Ridge Geezer for building up my Colnago for me, wow was that one gorgeous Italian bike. I don’t think Ian rides any more . . .

Steve Zanotti of Wine Exchange. I would often finish work early Thursday and would go to the Wine Ex, sit in the back with Steve and taste as reps brought in wines, or taste wines from earlier that day, did it for years, listening to his running commentary. Steve has an amazing palate and wicked palate memory. Taught me an awful lot.

Hey Bob! I visited with Hank a couple days ago - take care of him when he gets up there for the summer [cheers.gif].

I’ve worked in the wine and spirits business for most of my working life, with the exception of 2 years between 2005 and 2007. Prior to 2005, I sold spirits (off-premise- calling on liquor stores) for a distributor in Atlanta, Empire Distributors. When I returned to the business in 2007, Empire hired me back to a position in on-premise sales (selling wine for the first time). I viewed the position as an opportunity to learn wine. During my new hire orientation I was the only person in the sessions. Empire’s director of education, Frank Doherty (RIP), who I’d always respected from my previous time with the company, gave me a full week of one on one wine education. His enthusiasm of the subject was infectious, and I was hooked from there.

Secondarily, Michael Bryan at Atlanta Wine School (now Vino Venue).