Wine, Food, Friends

After I left Frederick Wildman, I reached out to friends for guidance, insights and jobs. Some friends were friends of my dad's, most were those I made along the way in my career. I called a friend of mine, who as am I, is a child of a parent who was in the industry (his dad is one of the most celebrated pioneers of our industry). He and I had a long talk. At the end of our conversation, he asked me if I thought of looking outside of the industry and I said in turn, "would you?" We both laughed and said an emphatic no.

I can think of no other industry where not only does our job center around wine and food, but so does our lives. In fact I can think of no other industry where it is so easy to make friends from all over the world. My mom used to remark, each time I went somewhere for vacation, that she was amazed that I usually said I had a friend there.

I am constantly reminded of how welcoming and friendly the wine and food world is. I just returned from an eye-opening trip to Brazil where I was hosted by Wines of Brazil to visit the wine scene. My invitation came via my good friend Waleska (a Brazilian living in Curacao and Venezuela). I met Waleska when we both worked with Trapiche in our respective countries. In fact I met many people through my working with Trapiche and am friends with many still today -- folks from Venezuela, Spain, England, Ireland and of course Argentina. What a collection!

Me and Waleska!

On this trip I was surrounded by other wine professionals from all around the world, and again we all bonded and became instant friends. At the end of the trip each of these new friends from Poland, Brazil, Russia, Ireland, England and Belgium invited me to come visit and I of course extended the same invitation to come to NY. We all bonded over our meals, enjoyed the wines and above all enjoyed meeting each other through the commonality of wine and food. I still laugh at the thoughts of the last evening