Michael Broadbent taught me Bordeaux and German wine. Anthony Hanson taught me Burgundy. Fritz Hatton taught me California. They were not guest lecturers. They were my bosses at Christie's, and they trained me the way you train someone you expect to carry it forward.

I learned Bordeaux standing next to a table that held every major vintage of Chateau Latour from 1862 to 1995, shipped straight from the chateau. The managing director of Latour hosted the dinner. Broadbent, Hanson, Serena Sutcliffe, and Robert Parker tasted through it. I was in the room because Christie's put me there, and because the men who taught me ran the department.

That is where Vineyard Confidential starts. Not with a van and a tasting room reservation. With relationships built inside the institutions that set the standard for how the world buys and drinks wine.

Before Christie's, I trained at Windows on the World. Andrea Immer, MS hired me and ran the wine department. Kevin Zraly taught me wine education. Dale DeGroff taught me spirits and cocktails. I earned the Diploma from the WSET. In Las Vegas, I served as wine director at the Mirage and advised the beverage teams at the Wynn, Alain Ducasse, Guy Savoy, and Joel Robuchon. I trained as a chef.

Every one of those rooms added relationships. The winemaker who opens his family cellar because we have known each other twenty years. The Michelin chef who holds his best table because we worked together. The estate owner who makes the introduction no advisor can buy.

Wine and Spirits open doors. I spent twenty five years learning which doors to open, and who to open them for.