Today I am a biodynamic regenerative organic winegrower in Oregon's Applegate Valley, but I was born and raised in Harvard, Illinois, a land of Manhattans, Pabst beer and Friday-night fish fries: wine was unknown. However, during a college semester spent studying in Europe I discovered wine and fine food. After graduating from college, I worked as a photojournalist and food and wine writer for four years before my passion for food and wine overwhelmed my sense of reality. In 1980, I joined Direct Import Wine Company where I assembled the most elite portfolio of estate wines in the Chicago market. In 1996 the company was devoured by Paterno Imports (who later fed it to Southern Wine and Spirits), but I remained at Direct as president until 1999, when I left in a fit of sanity, prompted by an outburst of ethics.In 2000 I left to pursue an education in wine production and spent the next three years happily working in Italy, where I studied winemaking in the cellars of some of Italy’s most elite wine estates in Barolo and Barbaresco. Upon return to the United States in 2004, I took over as President of Anne Amie Vineyards, previously known as Chateau Benoit. Over the next several years I totally revolutionized the winemaking and marketing. In 2009 I moved to the Napa Valley and did the same thing for Cornerstone Cellars.Today I am general manager of Troon Vineyard fomenting another revolution in the beautiful Applegate Valley of southern Oregon. Surrounded by the Siskiyou Mountains we are making natural wines and are now Demeter Biodynamic® and Regenerative Organic Gold Certified® both in the vineyard and the cellar. I was honored to be named as one of "Wine's Most Inspiring People 2021" by the Wine Industry Network. My single-minded goal in life is to make great wine.Specialties: wine: growing it, making it, selling it