IT’S A WEIRD AND WILD RIDE

I was realizing over the weekend that it has truthfully been ten years since I made my way down to the Cincinnati area, and began my career as a buyer in retail wine. As one of a cavalcade of buyers at the old Chateau Pomije wine store in the Cincinnati neighborhood of O’Bryonville, I was pretty green on how that side of the business was. I knew a little bit about wine, and was buying for restaurants for years prior, but nothing could prepare me for the nuances of a retail wine shop.

Granted, Pomije was not all that busy – traffic in the store was light, and I found myself inventing different tasks for me to do during the day. I’d get sales reps and a customer every so often, yet more times than not, I found myself feigning off the demons of sleepiness.

It was a great experience though, and showed me what I needed to do in my next job, here at what has now become D.E.P.’s Fine Wine & Spirits. I’ve been at the store almost 8 years now, and it is still an on-the-job learning experience. Since I started, I have taken a few tests, gotten my C.S.W (Certified Specialist of Wine) and passed level 1 of the Master Sommelier Certification process, but the real knowledge has come from all the different people I have encountered over the years. Winemakers, importers, brokers, sales reps, staff members – all of these people have taught me something, about wine, and about myself.

I am not sure why I am being so introspective today. I admit I am prone to such “attacks.” Yet I guess, with a slowdown at the store you can attribute to the nice weather and the start of Baseball season (Reds’ opening day was yesterday), I have a few moments to reflect on what I have accomplished so far.

The wine business is a weird and wild ride. Having worked in two different states as a retailer, and others as a restaurateur, I have seen and experienced some incredible events. Hosting a private vertical tasting at Chateau Pomije for the local wine writer, I was witness to my first experience with secondary fermentation in the bottle, watching a case of Coturri Albarello explode, one bottle at a time, launching corks against white wine boxes that made it look like St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. My first big trade tasting was one that began with Salon Blanc de Blancs 1988 and encompassed all 5 First Growth Bordeaux, some Romanee-Conti, and finished with 1994 Ports.

I was privy to riding around in a limo trying the latest release of Opus One, having dinner with winemakers, experiencing in-depth wine seminars with the likes of Penfolds, Louis Jadot, Krug, and some of Washington States finest winemakers.

True enough, I have had my moments of brashness, voicing my opinions undiplomatically at times, and behaving rather unprofessionally. I can remember being introduced to one of my biggest wine crushes, a female winemaker who I (as our many wine geeks and neophytes alike) was (and still am) attracted to, as I was spitting some California Cab I was tasting at a trade show, leaving behind a long and glaringly obvious trail of spittle from bucket to my lips as I was shaking her hand. Really embarrassing.

I had a prominent Aussie winemaker visiting my store once and we were tasting through some of his higher end wines, in a spot that was at this moment, inconveniently too close to our employee restroom. Someone had emptied a can of blueberry-scented potpourri spray to mask their dirty deed just as I was hunkering down for a big sniff of this massive Aussie Shiraz. All any of us could smell was blueberry-flavored poop.

I had a sales rep amble into our store with 4 cases of samples – yeah, you heard right, cases! He was sweating profusely and nervously opened a sparkling wine, nearly poking a hole through my cranium in the process.

My first week on the job here at DEP’s, I discovered just how much wine is in a case full of Carlo Rossi 4 liter jugs when the bottom dropped out as I picked it up. It sounded like concussion grenades exploding as all 4 jugs hit the concrete floor and I was suddenly up to my ankles in cheap red wine.

Numerous arguments and disagreements with customers about what is sweet and what is dry, customers assuming I know NOTHING about wine, lots of customer thank yous and well-wishes over the years, and an occasional customer telling me I am a dirty S.O.B. 99% of the people I have met as customers have been awesome, and are the real reason I do what I do. Yet there is still that 1% of folks who seem intent on making everyone’s life and job a living hell.

I am sure that everyone has their good moments and their bad at their job. And these days, if you have a job, you are truly thankful. As am I. Sometimes though, it is interesting to look back on the path you’ve been traveling, and just take it all in. In this hyperkinetic, disconnected world, it seems like every minute we are awake, we take for granted. Maybe I need to take a serious vacation. Regardless, it took me nearly all my life to figure out what I want to do with myself. Now, I can’t wait to see what the next decade brings.