I started working at SFWTC, then Mr. Liquor, right out of college.  I took a job there as a stock boy while I awaited admission to graduate school. I still had hopes of being a philosophy professor (another story). 

I quickly found out that waxing poetic about wine was about as good as contemplating the mind.  I had a natural aptitude for wine and had a really good nose.  I was infamous for picking out the corked wines.  Winery Sales Reps would come in having tasted people on their wines all day and I would say it was corked.  How did I develop this nose? When I started, I took home every corked bottle I could and sniffed it for hours. Basically, I devoted all the pent up energy that I had saved for my PhD into increasing my wine knowledge.

Soon, I was the store’s international wine buyer; I toured foreign counties and wrote the monthly newsletter.  I did this for 8 years.  During this time I repositioned the store from a cut-rate liquor establishment into a premier neighborhood venue for fine wines. As the store's inventory shifted away from gallon jugs of vodka, we changed name from Mr. Liquor to San Francisco Wine Trading Company.