Born into hospitality, I can still clearly recall filling salt shakers and cleaning tables before my 10th birthday. My mother would take me with her to our family owned restaurant and I would, to my understanding at the time, provide assistance anywhere I could. I’m sure that my contribution was pivotal to the restaurant’s operations and success…
Many years later upon completion of study, I returned to that very same restaurant as a young waiter with fresh energy and ambition. The world was my oyster. The wine list at the time topped out with Wynns Coonawarra Estate Cabernet at a mere $38.50 a bottle. A wine with such a huge cult following it quickly became my hero and fuelled my desire to delve into the world of wine.
Throughout the mid-late 90’s (The Glory Days) my wine knowledge grew mostly through my dear friend, Toby, who managed a boutique bottle shop. I discovered then, that an older vintage of wine, more specifically an excellent older vintage is more sought after and as such I started to establish my own collection. At the start of the new millennium, I had developed my own wine list of premium wines from excellent vintages (mostly 1996 and 1998 at the time) and many of our regular guests would buy from my list on every visit. It was here that the concept of The Wine Rack as a business was born.
In 2005, I was hit by the serious travel bug and I found myself in London, excited, yet terrified. To my surprise I landed a position as a waiter in a prestige venue called Plateau, owned by one of the world’s most renowned restaurateurs. To say I had a wakeup call would be an understatement! It was at Plateau, that I had my rear end served to me on a silver platter where waiters, barely 20 years old, were putting my wine and industry knowledge to shame. During my time there head Sommelier, Michael Simms shared with me wisdom and knowledge of wine that I never knew existed.
