Wine Notebook

We're collecting a handful of the best wine-related memories, preferences, decisions and dreams out there, and putting them all together right here! Feel free to flip through the book by grabbing any corner of the pages, and "flipping it over" as you would real book, beginning with the top right corner of the cover below.

Or, if you'd like to fill out your own questionnaire for the collection, just click here to display the form for you! Then you can have your own place in wine connoisseur history.

Wine Memory Contributors

Select a contributor's name to jump to their entry

winegeek

wine geek, Great Lakes Wine & Spirits

geeky, handsome, charming

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Lots! a 10 day old Barolo (to see how long it can last),a Santa Duc VV Cotes du Rhone, a 2009 Rose from Provence--to prove they taste good old)
2. What is your favorite wine region?: The one from which the wine in front of me hails from!
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Thailand--they do two harvests a year!
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: being the wine geek at GLWAS
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Geek only eats healthy, natural foods, such as fois gras
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Champagne, magnums of Champagne...chilled
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: The 'le nez du vin' kit...with all the labels removed
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: yay!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Hmmm...probably Retsina, which would have made me a beer drinker if that were the only option. And all 'orange' wines are pretty weird to geek

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: As a server in a club, being offered a taste of a member's '62 Ch Latour, Pauillac--and pouring myself a hefty taste (he was a poor tipper!)
12. What is your desert island wine?: Champagne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Wines from grapes they've never heard of before--Falanghina, Hondarrabi Zuri, St. Laurent for example. Restaurants should do away with Chardonnay
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Champagne & Buttered Popcorn
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: A tie: Hugh Johnson and Ron Washam
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food. W C Fields
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Dinner?
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Magnum
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: I don't remember...I passed out when the bill came
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Doing a staff training in a restaurant on how to open wine...and I couldnt get the cork out (I swear it was super-glued in there!)
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson--we'd rate the wines on a 60 point scale!

Rebecca

Great lakes Wine & Spirits

wine and beer nerd

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Two bottles of Iron Horse in the refrigerator. The counter is bare.
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Champagne, of course!
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Loire Valley. Fairy tale castles and Muscadet!
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: Own a small wine store in a university town.
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Brown ale or Gamay
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: I have some beautiful stoppers (which are never used.) No more wine-themed gifts, please. Wine is fine.
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: A great opener or wine glass charms
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yay! One of my favorite wine "discoveries"
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: My ex boyfriend's grandfather's homemade wine.

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: A couple of bottles of Champagne, freshly popped popcorn, a fire, an amazing person under a starry sky.
12. What is your desert island wine?: Special Cuvee is just fine.
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Cru Beaujolais. This is not your parents' Gamay
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Lingenfelder Bird-Label Riesling and Hot Chicken Panang Curry. The first time I ever had Riesling with Thai. Still crave it.
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Eric Asimov
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved.
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Bubbles or a Negroni
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Sexy
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Domaine Romanee Conti , at an event Purchased myself, Ca' Marcanda Ca' Marcanda
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Dumping a tray of full wine glasses all over myself in front of the table I was bringing them to.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Antoine & Katie. Truth.

Rick Lopus

VP Great Lakes Wine & Spirits

Wine Educator & Geek (and not in that order)

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Hmm, a Passopisciaro Etna Rosso, a Demiere-Ansiot Bl de Bl Grand Cru Champagne, a Santa Duc Gigondas 'Garanciers', and a Caesar Florido Oloroso
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Burgundy, followed by Piedmont, followed by Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Sicily
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Really?
5. What is your dream wine job?: I have it already
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Bollinger 'Special Cuvee'
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: a really cool WHITE wine decanter
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Wine books
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yay, Yay, Yay!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: I think all 'orange' wines are strange. I recently had one from Georgia (fka Russia) called 'Pheasants Tears'...it made ME want to cry

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: In the cellars of an esteemed Burgundy domaine when the owner asked my birth year (which happens to be a legendary vintage in Burgundy), yummy!
12. What is your desert island wine?: Champagne...goes with fish (and everything else)
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Uncommon appellations: Etna reds & whites, Patagonia Pinot Noir, Bierzo, Valle d'Aosta
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: An amazing Ginjo sake with an 'unknown' part of a chicken at a yakitori in Tokyo
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Hugh Johnson, Oz Clarke, Gerald Asher ...gee, all English--what's up with that?
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: I forget the name of the place, I forget the name of the girl, but the wine....was Chambertin (Hilaire Beloc
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Champagne, or some equivalent bubbly
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Seductive
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: '47 Cheval Blanc (wait, that was free). Hmmm, likely the 78 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Conti....it was worth it!
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Doing a presentation for a group of restaurateurs and---the power point projector died....and I'm not a good tapdancer!
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Winston Churchill and Ronald Regan---both brilliant politicians and dead (so I wouldn't have to share)

John Poggemeyer

Hyde Park Restaurant Group

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: 2009 Dreaming Tree RESERVE Cabernet 2007 R&B Cellars RESERVE Cabernet 2013 Honig Sauv Blanc (in Fridge)
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Sancerre, Champagne, Bordeaux, Napa
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Bordeaux , Germany, Spain
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Bordeaux (Sorry, DRC!)
5. What is your dream wine job?: The one I am doing! With emphasis on education and learning....
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: MD 20/20, or Wild Irish Rose. Cisco would be overpowering, I think...
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: A box of Franzia White Zinfandel on my 21st bday; I was already a bit of a wine snob, and it was a great gag gift.
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Riesling....
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yay (But tough to sell)
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Norton from West Virginia. Yuk!

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: A 1990 Gallo "Estate" Cabernet guests brought in to an Italian Restaurant i was serving at. We tried it blind, and were stunned.
12. What is your desert island wine?: Sancerre, probably Didier Dagneau....
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Lately, Torrontes is fun.
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: 1997 Biondi Santi Brunello with my wife on honeymoon with a rare bistecca in Italy. The company may have influenced this choice....
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Jancis Robinson
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: "“Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it.” - Anonymous"
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Bombay Sapphire, rocks, regular olives (bleu cheese stuffed are nasty)
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Tie between BAND AID (for pinotage) and HOT DOG WATER (a funky white Rhone we tasted blind a few years ago)
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1982 Pichon Lalande; 5th anniversary. 1887 Bual Madeira at French Laundry.
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Spilling wine down the back of a bride-to-be at the rehearsal dinner, to find out she was allergic to alcohol; she broke out down her back.....
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Wife, and James Laube (so I could give him MY opinion, and laugh)

Megan Ross

FW Manager, EJ Gallo Winery

I volatize esters with retailers

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Powerline Kerrigan- V11 CA Red, Stephen Ross Pinot Noir- V11 SLH, Vin Santo del Chianti Rufina V90
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Thats a hard questions- from what Ive been to and have fond memories of Spring Mnt. What I like to drink Loire
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: South Africa- its entirety
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: Wine Education- for trade/ Menu Consultations
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Mouvedre/Syrah blend
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Sunglasses in the shape of rose colored wine glasses from my mom
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Region Maps
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Ive tried to like you Sherry, but we really dont get along
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Wines from Jura - lots of strange oxidatative tastes or a Red Wine from Vietnam that tasted like watered down red flavored liquid posing as wine

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: Traveling to Napa with my family and knowing I was going to live there one day
12. What is your desert island wine?: Barbara !
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Barbara!
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Washington Riesling and fresh oysters- went completely into watermelon smack lip gloss
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Jefford (but I have to have a dictionary close)
16. What is your favorite wine quote?
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Gin Soda Lemon
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Unctuous
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: That I know of.. possibly Bond Estate
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: I lived quite a few its part of my evolution
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Jefford and Jamie Goode- I would be a fly on the wall with my dictionary in hand hoping to pick up a oz of what they were saying

Joseph Stetson

Exec Corporate Chef, Dow Chemical Company

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: John Duval Eligo Shiraz, Tor Cabernet Sauvignon, Ojai Sauvignon Blanc, Calera de Villiers Pinot Noir, Hourglass Estate Cabernet Sauv, Bollinger
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Champagne, Napa and Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Tuscany
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: I'm living it
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: A Full throttle Chardonnay
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Gas charged system for open bottles
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: A great bottle
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Only if its great
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: hybrids in the Finger lakes Region

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: A private tasting and dinner with Robert Parker at Daniel in NYC
12. What is your desert island wine?: Champagne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: any new wine
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Hundreds and too many to list
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Rick Lopus
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: Life is too short to drink cheap wine
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Champagne
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: It's a rockstar
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Many old Bordeaux, Burgundy and Sauternes
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: They happen everyday and prefer not to admit it
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Carl Tacey and Larry Newcombe, my wine brothers

Brian Bannon

retired wine writer

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: none
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Prince Edward County, Ontario
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: pouring at DRC
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: what's chicken-fried steak?
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: 1953 Chateau Margaux
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Champagne
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Fino, yay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Muscats from the Massender cellars in the Ukraine

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1970 DRC Richebourg at Top of the Park Traverse City
12. What is your desert island wine?: cold Riesling
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Ontario
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Auslese Trocken Riesling with steak
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Hugh Johnson
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: Benjamin Disraeli: “I rather like bad wine. One gets so bored with good wine.”
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Chamnpagne
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: "great"
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1928 Chateau Montrose
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: After a long day at Vinexpo, calling Prince Poniatowski "madame"
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Claudia Taylor, Carolyn Mason

Chip Davis

State Manager, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: 2010 Villa Antinori Rosso Toscana (Half full from last night) and A Montenisa Franciacorta Rose ready for V Day!
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Tuscany
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Rioja (Never been to Spain)
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: The nod goes to Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: Wine Educator at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (after my last one goes to college)
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Something heavy enough to cover up the flavor of Chicken Fried Steak....Amarone..
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: A wine fridge.
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Wine!
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yes please!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Chocowine-nasty!

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: I always say it's the 1945 Lafite I had on my ifrst night of working at The Golden Mushroom in 1985
12. What is your desert island wine?: I good dry Rose. What doesn't it pair with?
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Negroamaro in general.
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Vino Nobile and Bistecca alla Fiorentina in Tuscany
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Jancis Robinson
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: "They have wine in Epcot!" Sorry, my wife would understand.
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Prunotto Arneis
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Elegant
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Never kept track of those things.
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Having a sip of wine go down the wrong way while speaking at a wine dinner. Sprayed the table in front of me.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Luciano Delsignore and Randy Truant

Peter Perry

General Manager, Dana Estates

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch Pinot Noir
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Alto Adige
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: The one I have now
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: beer
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: the new Coravin device
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Any bottle of wine to a friend who I think will appreciate it
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: yay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Retsina

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1975: bottle of '70Louis Martini SS Cabernet. First time I realized that wine tasted so good and made my food taste even better.
12. What is your desert island wine?: Roumier Bonnes Mares
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: aromatic whites
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: see # 11
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Antonio Galloni
16. What is your favorite wine quote?
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: beer
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1978 DRC La Tache
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Heaping praise on a distributor at a wine dinner only to discover I was talking about the distributor I visited the day before.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Jackie Robinson and Nelson Mandela. It ain't about the wine, it's about the people.

James Lutfy

Fine Wine Source

Owner

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: 2012 Jean Philippe-Fichet Aligote 2012 Dom. Vullien Vin de Savoie
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Piedmont
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: Winemaker
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Hermitage Red
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Durand corkscrew
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Champagne Stopper
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Marzemino

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1947 Cheval Blanc
12. What is your desert island wine?: 1995 Krug Chamapgne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Blaufrankisch
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Onion Tart and 1978 Hermitage La Chapelle Paul Jaboulet
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Clive Coates
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: Tour de Force
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: A drink called the Bar Fly: Campari, Old Raj Gin, Cherry Herring, Fig Bitters
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Unctuous
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1900 Chateau Margaux Magnum
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Trying to enjoy a Argentinian Malbec tasting which I cannot stand at all!!
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Michael Broadbent, Clive Coates

Jerry Cremin

Assistant Director of F&B at the Detroit Athletic Club

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Orin Swift Pharaon, Trigger Finger and Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Champagne
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: Vineyard owner
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Zin
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Magnum of Dom Perignon
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: California Cab, can't go wrong
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Nay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Not strangest but recently tasted a Slovakian Pinot Noir which was quite good!

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: Planning my Veuve dinner at the DAC for November 2nd 2012 and my beautiful daughter being born that day!
12. What is your desert island wine?: Champagne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Joseph Phelps Freestone Pinot Noir; known so much for cab then to introduce this amazing Burgundian in style Pinot and wowing the table.
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: So many to choose from
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Jancis Robinson
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: It's 5 'o' Clock somewhere LOL
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Champagne
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Because it brings back a fond memory of drinking my first wine; Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc with it's gooseberry traits. My neighbor grew gooseber
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Krug Clos de Mesnil
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Bartending at the age of eighteen in NYC, I popped a bottle of Champagne on New Years eve and hit a lady with the cork.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: My wife and Danny Meyer

Joseph T. Allerton

Michael Symon Restaurants

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: none. its a lousy place to store wine
2. What is your favorite wine region?: bordeaux
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: central otago
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: depends on my mood. flip a coin.
5. What is your dream wine job?: importer
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Quintessa
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: A wine storage cooler
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: glassware
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: yay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: anything from dressner

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1999 Domaine des Lambrays, Clos des Lambrays
12. What is your desert island wine?: Champagne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Value driven French Wine
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: 88 Krug with Lobster Bisque
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Putnam Weekly
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: Champagne for my real friends, Real Pain for my Cham Friends.
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Champagne
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum for Albarino
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1959 Chateau Latour
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: sabering with a meat cleaver, the bottle exploded into a million pieces. bigger is not always better I guess.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Jack White and Abel Tesfaye

mark kalachnik

central region director of sales

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Spanish Verdejo and Rhone Rose, right at this moment
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Alto Adige
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Abruzzo
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: I am living the dream right now, working for Dreyfus Ashby. But if I have to select another, I would be the wine buyer for a small restaurant.
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Cru Classe Provence Rose
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: crystal decanter
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: a really nice Laguiole cork puller
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: nay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Tannant from Uraguay

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1933 Bollinger RD
12. What is your desert island wine?: Any Chambolle Musigny Amoureures that ends with a "9" in the vintage date
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Tokara Director's Red from South Africa
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: I had a single vineyard amarone with a risotto made from the same wine while on a trip to Verona
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Tough to like any of them, but find Matt Kramer to be the most likable
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: "Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy"-Benjamin Franklin
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Campari/Soda or a good Dry Vermouth on the rocks
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: "Dried Cherries"
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1995 Chateau Petrus
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: I had a trade tasting for Christian Bizot from Bollinger Champagne and only 2 people attended.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Thomas Jefferson and Ernest Hemingway

Christel Burks

Winebow

DM On-Premise Michigan / Indiana

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: A 1996 Unico from Vega Sicilia shared with some friends a while ago, now as a decoration in a bottle holder.
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Northern Rhone
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Portugal
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Bordeaux
5. What is your dream wine job?: Managing a travel agency specialized in wine tours and cooking classes
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: That doesn't sound very appetizing but if I had to eat this I would go for a Tempranillo from La Mancha.
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: An aerator
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Glasses
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yes!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: an old white Rioja

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: Sharing wine with my family at an early age at the dinner table
12. What is your desert island wine?: Banyuls
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Dry Rose
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Mouton Rothchild 1999 with rack of lamb
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Eric Asimov
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: "Life is too short to drink bad wine". "Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized"
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Champagne
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Velvety
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Vega Sicilia Unico 1989 Magnum
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Sharing wine at dinner and throwing up after laughing heavily, ending up being covered with red wine all over me...
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:

Matthew Brown

drinker

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Absolutely nothing. I am a freak about kitchen counter organization.
2. What is your favorite wine region?: I object to the premise of the question.
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: South Africa.
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy, without hesitation. They had me at Chablis. And then there's Pinot Noir . . .
5. What is your dream wine job?: Job? Hmm . . . Semi-retirement at my own vineyard/winery that somehow manages to not lose money.
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: If I couldn't lay my hands on a good bottle of Biere de Mars, I'd go with Sangiovese. Or Champagne, which never fails you.
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Does anything trump a good bottle of wine? Maybe a Magnum. . . ?
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: A bottle that will be opened before I leave.
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Absolutely yay, and preferably Amontillado or Palo Cortado.
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Anything homemade. Does this ever work?

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: First wine tasting - 11 years old, at an old winery along the Rhine. Instant junkie.
12. What is your desert island wine?: Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs.
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Beer.
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: A fine Spatlese with a Reuben sandwich. It's a match made in Rheingau.
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: The guy who tells me what enjoy my wine with on the back label. He's funny.
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: Get a copy of 'A Moveable Feast' (Ernest Hemingway) and read it through.
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: A proper Floridita Daiquiri with a fat piece of grapefruit skin. Or Champagne, of course.
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Can I say sweaty horse balls on here?
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: A 750ml of Philipponnat 'Grand Blanc' - I proposed about halfway through it.
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: I'm sure would I have no memory of it. Better to ask someone who was there.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Aristotle and Stephen Hawking. I get to drink all the wine. Sorry, professor . . .

Elisa Weber-Saintin

sales manager, Little Guy Wine Co

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: 1991 Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Reserva,
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Burgundy
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Sicily or Jerez (Sherry country)
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: I have it!!
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Rosso di Montalcino, Barbera, any high-acid slightly funky red
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: a bottle of 1990 La Tache as a wedding gift
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Chateau Laguiole wine key
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: yes yes yes!
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Honestly nothing really strikes me as strange. Natural and Orange wines used to be strange back in the day but are now relatively common.

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1982 Haut Brion
12. What is your desert island wine?: Champagne (grower, of course)
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: The white Riojas of Lopez de Heredia
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: A recent pairing that stands out was a 2007 Vazart Coquart Blanc de Blancs with a mushroom tart--sublime!
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Ha! Like I have time to read
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: I hate wine quotes
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Bubbles
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: 'drinkable'. i think any wine no matter the price or complexity should go down easy
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: probably some Petrus or an old First-growth Bordeaux or a really old Chateau d'Yquem (all tasted at my first big Sommelier job)
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: During the Cannes Film Festival I was working at a 2 star Michelin restaurant and a Champagne cork got away from me and flew into the street
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: I'll drink my rarest bottle (see question 7) with only one other person-- my husband. I know that's boring.

Valerie Santoro

Director of Training, Great Lakes Wine & Spirits

Viticulture, Ampelography, Distillation and Enology Enthusiast

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Fonseca Ruby Port
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Old Mission Peninsula - let's show the locals some love!
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: New Zealand - anywhere and everywhere
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Neither are my go-to choices: If I had to select one, it would be Bordeaux and most likely Southern Left Bank.
5. What is your dream wine job?: Living it!
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Heitz Chardonnay
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: A scarf from a Spanish winery. Love it!
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Candle Holders made from wine bottles.
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yay in a big way! I will be your Sherry Evangelist if need be...
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Well, vermouth will REALLY catch you off guard if you are expecting a typcial white wine.

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: Nothing beats elaboratly prepared meals with friends, telling stories,
12. What is your desert island wine?: Ruinart Rose Brut Champagne OR Feudi di San Gregorio Fiano di Avellino
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: I love to bring light to the forgotten categories, and less common. Fortified wines are among my favorites to explore.
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Moet Nectar Imperial Rose with short ribs in sweet BBQ sauce
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Ron Jackson (Wine Science) and Amy Stewart (Drunken Botanist)
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: A meal without wine is called "breakfast".
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Whatever is going to be the dinner tipple!
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: luscious - who doesn't want a wine like that?!?
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Château d’Yquem
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: I can't remember...
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Tim Gaiser Miss Jane, the Bubbly Professor

Steven Henkel

Sales Great Lakes Wine and Spirits

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Torres Sangre de Toro Garnacha
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Napa Valley
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Tuscany, Italy
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Burgundy
5. What is your dream wine job?: Traveling to the world's wine regions.
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Coffee table made of old vintage Bordeaux and Burgundy box ends
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: A bottle of wine from a region or type they have never enjoyed
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Nay, for now
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Some wine from the Lonz Winery on Put In Bay Island on Lake Erie in Ohio

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: My friend taking the hinges off his father's locked cellar door to grab a few bottles for a high school party. Often think , what did we drink?
12. What is your desert island wine?: Heitz Martha's Vineyard. History in a bottle.
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Quality aged wine. Having the patience not to open a bottle of a nice Cab. Having someone be "wowed"
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Chateau Beychevelle with an aged steak at Capital Grill.
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Jancis Robinson
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: "The wine will be in when it's in , go sell something else." Carl Tacey
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Bubbles Bubbles
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: "Barnyard"
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: $2,400
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Spraying wine on a white ceiling while using a mounted corkscrew. Cold synthetic cork was pushed into bottle causing a wine explosion
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Francophile grandfather who died before California got great. My wife who loves a wine on it's taste not hype.

Kim McCarthy

Kim McCarthy owner of Cost Plus Wine Warehouse

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Celani Siglo
2. What is your favorite wine region?: France
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Tuscany
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Bordeuaux
5. What is your dream wine job?: Cost Plus!
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: La batts
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: T shirt
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Wine Stoppers
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Yay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Siracchi Moscato

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: 1957 Petrus
12. What is your desert island wine?: Grand Cru Chablis
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Really great values, under $15 per bottle
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Captain Crunch and Krug Champagne
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Clive Coates
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: "The proof is in the pudding" Dan McCarthy
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: Prosecco
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: Charming
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: 1989 Marguax
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Opened a bottle of Champagne in my husbands face
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Jimmy Fallon and Connie Tanner (best friend)

Barbara Claire Pitcher

Pairing to Perfection, LLC

Wine Educator WSET Certified Level 3,

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: Ayala Champagne, L Mawby Blanc de Noirs, Tignanello & Masi Amarone
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Priorat
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Rhone, especially Gigondas & Chateauneuf-du-Pape
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Both!
5. What is your dream wine job?: Wine Educator, ah, but even better, it is my dream come true job
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: Basel Cellars Claret
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: Wine Grapes by Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Riedel Burgundy Glasses
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: yay
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Retsina - was not a fav

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: John Komes, gave me his glass of Ch Margaux at a charity in wine dinner in exchange for my glass of Louis Latour what a gift!
12. What is your desert island wine?: Lassalle Champagne - tagline in hommage to 3 female winemakers Une Femme, Un' Esprit, Une Style
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc esp Vieux Telegraphe
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: Finca Dofi with spit roasted lamb
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: A meal without wine? Oh Yes! That's called Breakfast.
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?: A brut sparkling, or brut rose sparkling
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: complex yet balanced
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: Chateau Margaux
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: Opening a bottle of Cava for a class and despite having a thumb firmly on the top of cork, the cork flew across the room reaching for a napkin
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: Madeline Triffon & Dr. Nesi they launched my love of wine & food and cheered me every step of this path

Magdalena

wine shop in NYC

retailer

1. What wine(s) are on your kitchen counter?: It's NYC, and counter space is dear—they're lying on the floor... Mostly French and Bulgarian, esp growers Champagne and aged Rhône.
2. What is your favorite wine region?: Val d'Aosta
3. What wine region you would like to visit next?: Greece (again)
4. Burgundy or Bordeaux?: Bordeaux, hands down, especially right bank.
5. What is your dream wine job?: wine writer or buyer.
6. What wine would you pair with Chicken-fried steak?: a white wine with mild skin contact, probably a Pheasant's Tears Khaketi Kisi or Vodopivec Vitovska
7. What is the favorite wine-themed gift you have received?: An apron from a French trade association for which I did a market presentation
8. What is your favorite wine-related gift to give?: Dish towels
9. Sherry, yay or nay?: Sometimes. It depends on the sherry.
10. What is the strangest wine you’ve ever tasted?: Any wine that tries to imitate the wines of another (famous) region.

11. What is your favorite wine memory? Or your epiphany wine?: OIV MSc in wine management
12. What is your desert island wine?: growers Champagne
13. What wine do you love introducing to people?: anything not from a large corporation
14. Most memorable food and wine pairing?: my Madeira from 1870 with garlic-flavoured plantain chips. A total, delicious surprise
15. Who is your favorite wine writer?: Hosemaster
16. What is your favorite wine quote?: n/a
17. What is your preferred pre-dinner tipple?
18. What is your favorite wine descriptor?: biodynamic
19. The most expensive wine you’ve ever drunk?: probably one of the Riojas from the 1940s
20. Most embarrassing wine moment?: usually, if something embarassing happens, I view it as funny. Shame /regret is a different topic, and will not be addressed here.
21. Two people you’d invite to dinner (alive/dead) to share your rarest bottle:: My wine friends. Already did — the benefit of Madeira !

Testimonials

“Great Lakes Wine & Spirits is one of our major suppliers of wine and spirits. We have the pleasure of working with the same sales managers we’ve been working with for over 30 years. The knowledge, selection, and service combined with our long-term relationship provides meaningful value to our business.”
Kameel Chamelly
CEO, Martha’s Vineyard Gourmet and Nantucket Baking Company

“Great Lakes Wine & Spirits and Plum Market have shared a symbiotic relationship for years. We rely on GLW&S to be our key supplier, and their range of products is unequalled. The leadership is outstanding and committed, and their level of service and attention to detail are excellent.”
Marc Jonna
Co-Founder, Plum Market

“An incredible portfolio that speaks for itself. But what really sets Great Lakes Wine & Spirits apart from other distributors is their customer service! The whole organization from top to bottom sets the standard on how it should be done.”
Patrick Pardington
Oakland Hills Country Club

Read All Testimonials

Wine Notebook

Wine Notebook

Wine Memory Contributors

Testimonials

Latest News

Modern Classic - Raspberry Bramble