Aaron Campbell, Founder
My intrigue with wine began early. I was in the service industry waiting tables in Los Angeles while attending college. The restaurant had an extensive Italian wine list that was completely foreign to me. Wine had not been a part of my reality, but I knew it was important that I become familiar with our list so that I could engage with customers on the topic. At first it was merely a practical measure so that I could properly pronounce the names of the wine and have some basic familiarity with origin and varietals. But as I ventured deeper and began tasting and drinking wine, I was completely surprised to discover such a vast difference in styles, taste, texture, and hard to pin down nuances that I became compelled to understand why this was the case.
Aaron Campbell, Founder
My intrigue with wine began early. I was in the service industry waiting tables in Los Angeles while attending college. The restaurant had an extensive Italian wine list that was completely foreign to me. Wine had not been a part of my reality, but I knew it was important that I become familiar with our list so that I could engage with customers on the topic. At first it was merely a practical measure so that I could properly pronounce the names of the wine and have some basic familiarity with origin and varietals. But as I ventured deeper and began tasting and drinking wine, I was completely surprised to discover such a vast difference in styles, taste, texture, and hard to pin down nuances that I became compelled to understand why this was the case.
Aaron Campbell, Founder
My intrigue with wine began early. I was in the service industry waiting tables in Los Angeles while attending college. The restaurant had an extensive Italian wine list that was completely foreign to me. Wine had not been a part of my reality, but I knew it was important that I become familiar with our list so that I could engage with customers on the topic. At first it was merely a practical measure so that I could properly pronounce the names of the wine and have some basic familiarity with origin and varietals. But as I ventured deeper and began tasting and drinking wine, I was completely surprised to discover such a vast difference in styles, taste, texture, and hard to pin down nuances that I became compelled to understand why this was the case.
I began reading books and asking questions. Hugh Johnson’s: The Wine Atlas; Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World, and anything else I could get my hands on. Every door opened lead to several more behind it. I went down a rabbit hole of not only wine but cultural history and culinary tangents that were completely fascinating. This wine “thing” was part of the fabric of cultures dating back millennia. Tied to generation upon generation of families, intertwined with religion, associated with political clout, and the metamorphosis of the very landscape (think Etna and Mt. Vesuvius). I couldn’t pull away – there was something very special about wine. The confluence of so many different components was profound. My mind was blown, and I was hooked. That was when it all came together.
Since those days I have had the privilege to represent, visit, and get to know some of the greats of the wine industry. Yet, many years and many miles later the intrigue and fascination remain. Although finding “new” wines and varietals is becoming rarer, the very nature of wine is the reinventing of itself each and every year with a new crop – and with it a new vintage that is expressed by the underpinnings of the land and painted by the temperament of the seasons. I love this constant cycle of renewal.
