Tim from K&D hired me with no experience because I grew up two towns over from him in NH. Taught me a lot of the basics and the way around the business.
Then I worked at Del Posto directly under Jeff Porter and he taught me about really, really fine wine.
Bryan Shuttleworth-at The Cellar Door in Portland. Still perhaps the best palate of anyone I know.
Lots of others, Steve Doerner @Cristom, Russ Raney @Evesham Wood, Dave and Amy at Westrey, Tysan Pierce most recently of the Herb Farm Restaurant.
Phil Condit
Richard O’neill
Sam Assaad
Names will not mean much to you but I am grateful to all of the generous Puerto Rico wine people who took time and pulled corks to transfer wine knowledge and language to our generation. Their generosity was boundless and even in their advanced age they are pillars of our wine community.
Today we aim to pay it forward to the generation coming up in wine. It is harder due to the overall supply dynamics of the wine market but we always make it a focus to include the young ones in the tastings and activities. At most events we take turns opening wines that the new generation will not have tasted. It is rewarding to see in their faces what must have been our reaction way back when old wines in perfect condition create the magic. In most of our activities three generations of wine lovers share a passion for great wine and that is a good feeling.
There have been a number of them in the trade, consumers, tasting groups, etc…
A few that stand out are Peter Tryba and Maureen Nelson. Peter introduced me to the wines of Donnhoff and Willi Schaefer, not to mention Chave and Tempier. Maureen is the person who opened my eyes to great Burgundy.
Then there is Beth Sheligo, who has been a dear friend and co-conspirator on the German wine route.
Michael Quinlan and Joe Huber (both ITB) have been invaluable resources and great friends for many years of the journey as well.
Oh yeah, and Terry Theise and David Shildknecht!
Just cause I’m not knocking out centuries at a 24mph average (props on that BTW, very impressive) doesn’t mean I am not riding. I was on the bike Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. I plan to ride tomorrow too.
There’s a long list…but the names that really stand out as people that have dramatically advanced my knowledge of wine are:
Scott Worcester - The owner of a small wine shop I worked at while in college. He’s probably to credit for exposing me to more First Growths and rare old wines that have long been gone. An incredibly kind, generous, and knowledgeable man. I love getting together with him whenever possible…sadly it’s usually only 2-3 times/year. Producers I know better because of him: Musar, Mouton, DRC, Eyrie, and many, many, many old (from the 70’s) German & Austrian producers.
“Hago” Herrington - Hago introduced me to Musar. With a cellar that’s 90% Italian…he’s been the one that taught me more about Italian wine than anyone else. His love of the stories that go with the wines is infectious and he seems to be known by all. Producers I know better because of him: Musar, Foradori, Rampa di Fugnano, Produttori, Casa Emma, Vietti, Bruno Giacosa, and many more.
Doug Schulman - What do you say about your best “wine friend”…no one has been more generous with their time, cellars, knowledge, and great wines than Doug. I’ve watched as his wine knowledge has eclipsed mine (gladly) the longer he’s been ITB after I left upon finishing grad school. He’s the one person that I actively search for wines to put in my cellar to be shared with. He’s responsible for the “fine tuning” of my cellar and the producers I want to buy year-in, year-out. Producers I know better because of him: Keller, Wittmann, Poggio di Sotto, Dönnhoff, Vilmart, Thomas, Musar, G. Mascarello, Elio Grasso, and many…many more. I’ve drank more great wines with Doug in the last 5 years than all of these people together.
Shane McCarthy - He was the 3rd person I worked for ITB. His kindness and generosity has been the foundation that our friendship was built on. While there are no specific producers I’d credit Shane with…I would dare say that no one has introduced me to more unknown producers, wineries, and wines than Shane. He lives in the obscurity of the wines of Italy & France.
Bob Bartlett - He owns the FIRST winery in Maine. His wines are largely unknown…and he makes a wine from blueberries that has stumped sommeliers and winery owners alike. “I must meet/talk to him” is the most common phrase(s) I get after sharing the wines with people ITB. If you are in Maine…visit the winery before he retires. His wines are essential to my cellar…and I’m terrified that one day I won’t be able to get them.
Bad student or bad teacher? 
My first wine mentor was my late Uncle Bill. He taught me some of the basics and gave me some back issues of the Wine Spectator to look at, and I was hooked. He was all about having the wine complimenting the meal, and vice versa.
Also, our good friend Dave L. We met him at a party at Chateau Montelena many years ago, and have enjoyed many great wine dinners and offlines with him.
Good topic!
Thanks,
Ed
I used to call on Steve and Kyle. In all my years in the business, never have I run into a more competent twosome then them. They had this little garbage can in the middle of their office, that they could hit with their spit from 50 paces. They NEVER played that game of “you have to have an appointment” to see us, you came, stood in line, and had precious time to show them what wares you were peddling that week. What impressed me the most about them was; they treated the dreaded Gallo salesperson just the same as they did the fancy French wine brokers. They understood their markets, and could care less what the label said; if it was good, and priced right, they bought it.
They were not fond of the company I represented, but did love the wines in the catalog. Whenever they would like a wine, the first thing I would hear was; “Keim, we hate you!” “Send us 10 cases!” -
Bad can be good. ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
None for me and I think none the worst for wear. Had to do most of the research myself.
I grew up around an uncle with a ~3K bottle cellar which always fascinated me. He’s the one that made me think wine - specifically wine collections - were really cool.
However, I credit a really great LWS that holds well-thought-out weekly tastings for the majority of my education. If not for him, I’d drink Bordeaux and Cali Cab almost exclusively.
The porter on the train from Lucerne to Paris in 1967, who gave me a 375 of Beaujolais when I was 15 years old because I was thirsty and they had not yet invented filtered, tasteless, water in a plastic bottle.
Mrs. Feidner, my French teacher in high school, who took us to a performance by La Comedie Francaise in Manhattan in the 1960s and then we went to Au Tunnel for a French meal. We had some cheap Chateauneuf, at age 16 or 17, and it was so much better than the cheap beer we used to get. Can you imagine what would happen to a high school French teacher these days who allowed her students to drink wine on a field trip?
Frank Prial, who used to write the wine column in the NY Times. He taught me about lots of things. I specifically remember his article about Ch. Musar in the mid to late 1970s and his article about how lower Cru Bordeaux could be reasonable replacements for first growths. IIRC (and it was 40 years ago so maybe not), his suggestions were Ch. Gloria, Figeac, La Gaffeliere, du Tertre and perhaps a few others.
Hugh Johnson - I bought his book years ago. Of course, as a Francophile, he diverted me away from the delicious flavorful wines of the New World (I seem to recall that he has about 20 times as many pages on France than on the US), but I overcame that bias of his.
Len Rothenberg at Federal Wine & Spirits in Boston, where I first worked. I quickly got the bug after taking a job as a delivery guy humping soda and beer around to law firms. Almost weekly tastings with MW’s Sandy Block and Bill Nesto helped, as did meeting with various winemakers and big people in the Boston market during the 90’s. Winemakers I had a chance to speak with in depth very early on included David Ramey, Patrick Campbell and Marty Clubb. After moving on to Marty’s I already had decent knowledge and experience but 6 years there as a buyer and working with Tom Schmeisser and Peter Tryba certainly helped add to my skills. A few notable conversations with the likes of Marvin Shanken, Clive Coates, and Fred Ek were eye opening to what it was like in the really old days.
My parents drank very seldom and Andre Cold Duck was a common wine at holiday dinners. Being a studious type by nature, when I got interested in learning more about wine I bought a book by Alex Bespaloff that introduced me to the wine regions of the world. Kermit Lynch’s import business helped broaden my horizons mainly through Vin, Vino, Wine a shop run by Victor Pugliese in Palo Alto that carried most of Kermit’s wines and had daily tastings Tuesday through Saturday.
-Al
Every producer we got to meet when the wife worked at Wilson Daniels for a few years. Her job in the newly formed PR department opened a lot of doors to great conversations and bottles.
Once out of the Sonoma State Wine Biz program I worked for Rod Berglund at Joseph Swan. He taught me loads about tasting and making wine. He was always gracious enough to invite us to many tasting groups, open loads of great wine from the cellar and turned me on to Kermit Lynch.
I got a CD ROM of Oz Clarke when in med school and burned through it as fast as I could. I learned a fair amount from Mike Cox, the winemaker at Schug Winery in Sonoma, even though my stint working there was limited to the summer of 2001, between first and second years of med school. I learned a bit about the basic process, cellar work, bottling, evaluating, blending, and keeping things clean. He’s a good guy, and runs a good winery. I also enjoyed many bottles-- which were new to me-- with a fellow named Charlie Strunk, who I’d known since single-digit years, but who later became the wine buyer and director at a high-end grocery on Milwaukee’s east side (Sendik’s on Oakland). Most of my subsequent wine exploration was solo, though over the past few years I’ve been fortunate to learn quite a bit about Burgundy, Beaujolais, and the northern Rhone from Martin Steinley.
Is that Uncle Bob?