Author. Educator. Marketer. Journalist. Buyer. Reviewer. Copywriter. Sommelier. Event Creator. Sales Director. General Manager. Instructional Designer. Consultant.

I’ve been around the block a few times in the industry and worn a lot of hats, yet I’m never done learning about — and enthusiastically sharing my passion for — the world’s most ancient and important beverages.

Being a steward of drinkable culture is a role I take seriously … and somewhat less seriously when the occasion calls for it. Hey, if you’re not having just a little bit of fun in this business, you’re clearly not doing your job right.

I got my start by hustling and making it work in the trenches of the Manhattan restaurant battlefield — in a fine-dining-at-a-million-miles-an-hour palace my crew and I lovingly referred to as “Thunderdome” — pairing up old Riesling with glazed pork chops, slinging rare Puligny-Montrachet with sautéed Dover sole, splashing out Cali Pinot alongside seared tuna, and occasionally and begrudgingly glooping out glasses of a certain affected Cabernet (you know which one) in a sadistic purple-toothed ritual of savage culinary abuse.

Early on, in a stroke of dumb luck, I found myself working under the leadership of a legendary sommelier and winemaker, pestering the poor guy with a never ending string of stupid questions. Fortunately, he was always more than happy to answer them, and my broader wine career got its pin and found its wings.

Desperately eager to pay even more in rent, I took a job out west in the city by the bay. There I collected a magnificent menagerie of brilliant industry collaborators and spent almost a decade on the retail, management, and marketing side of things — all the while moonlighting creating wine events and picking up consulting gigs.

As a California and Iberian specialist slowly but surely taking an interest in the literary league of the beverage game, I began directing my wine marketing acumen toward less nefarious ends like journalism and education. I also started wearing bowties and learned to be an absolute assassin at backgammon, much to the chagrin of any and all challengers.

In 2020, I unwittingly chose one hell of a year to become an expat, uprooting for Lisbon but getting “stuck” for several months along the way in the sparsely populated highlands and islands of Scotland. Happily, there was plenty of fine whisky to explore and lovely, mask-wearing people looking out for one another. What a concept!

Luckily, the Portugal authorities finally concluded that, while of questionable humor, I was not a significant security threat. Here on the edge of Europe, I’ve continued my feverish cultural exploration of all things Portuguese — and fully embraced the delightful and infinitely fascinating world of Portuguese wine.

Fun Fact!

The first decade of my adult life was spent as a professional opera tenor. Huh? Yep. It took far too long to conclude that a lifetime of antique bellowing and crippling high-wire anxiety was not my idea of professional bliss … that guy does not look happy. But hey, I had a good run, and I can still ruin karaoke night for everyone.

Like any intelligent person would, I decided to try my luck at the only other industry that could possibly go toe-to-toe with opera for pomp, competition, and subjectivity — wine.