Hello!

I have been in the wine industry for 24 years. I started in 1982 working for a gentleman who owned a retail liquor store. The owner enjoyed wine and at that time I had never even touched the stuff. I worked part time for him for a number of years and initially enjoyed the customer-service aspect of the business. Then I started learning about wine mostly from the customers to be honest.

As the years passed this grape juice thing became popular in the retail market and I thought it would be fun to explore more fully. I started working full time in the same store but after a few years it was sold and I moved on. At my new job I was mostly cashiering and stocking, which was OK, but I missed being able to really help the consumer, and about a year later I found a new challenge.

Cost Plus World Market in Cherry Creek hired me as a wine buyer. This was a terrific fit because Cost Plus places a lot of emphasis on customer service – I was in heaven! In addition, I was buying wine for the store, tasting many more wines than I ever had before, and just getting educated about the wines I was tasting and buying. So what did I do with all of my knowledge? I started to pass it on to the consumer – and they loved it. This was when it all came together for me. It was so much fun taking in all that new knowledge, but when I could share what I’d learned with someone else – that was the real fun. I think it's called customer service….you know it's been gone for long in so many industries, that it's so much fun when you give it because people notice it and appreciate it so much.

After seven years I had molded a wine shop into what is still one of the best in Colorado. This was one of the greatest accomplishments in my career. Having the freedom to do what I wanted within a major corporation was a tremendous opportunity and was the result of working for someone who believed in me. I think I proved him right – in the eyes of the company and the customer. I’ve heard people still go into that store and ask for “the Wineguy” eight years after I left.

My next opportunity was opening a store in Downtown Denver. What a challenge I was about to have. Business 101 I call it. Whew! It was successful in my eyes because – again – I had great customers. So here is to the customer.

Let’s enjoy a glass of wine together someday.

 Cheers!

denverwineguy.com