In the late 90s I quit making beer in Colorado to learn about making wine in Napa Valley. I guess, Fermentation Science has inadvertently fascinated and intrigued me for many years. So I began with the viticulture program at the college in Napa and a job in the cellar.

Though much of the knowledge was technical, oenological, viticultural and agricultural, I learned to appreciate each winemaker’s artistic expression, to understand the effects of terroir, and of course, to drink.  After five years of studying and working for a few great producers, in various different aspects of the business: the cellar at PlumpJack, various vineyards of Napa and Sonoma for GeoVit a small vineyard management service, in the tasting rooms of Robert Sinskey Vineyards and Domaine Alfred, I went to Europe. It was there that I saw and tasted, to a more extensive degree, the nuances of terroir and I was intrigued. The differences between Volnay and Pommard, Mersault Genevriers and Mersault Chevaliers, or Chapelle-Chambertin and Charmes-Chambertin (you get the point), were not only wonderful to taste but so precisely different that I was in awe. There was no going back! 

So I returned to my roots here in NY, to work for a company that I feel represents some of the greats of France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, etc, and to continue learning the infinitely interesting subjects of science, agriculture, religion, history, gastronomy, and art that are wine.