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Circa 1980, I was an attorney in Philadelphia who became obsessed with wine in much the same way as that more-famous attorney from Monkton: traveling extensively in France. French sommeliers in the early 1980s assured me that their fine meals could only be drunk with fine wine, and they were quite correct. Madness quickly ensued. In no time at all, I was berating myself for actually spending $25 on a bottle of wine (some Mondavi Reserve vintage from the late 1970s or early 1980s), which was one of the first ever premium purchases I made. 1979 Mouton Rothschild, 1978 Arnoux Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots, 1970 Taylor's and Fonseca Portos and other similar wines quickly followed, circa 1980.

By the end of the 1980s, I eventually started teaching wine courses, doing seminars and publishing articles in various publications. I later became the forum leader of the wine section of the old Prodigy service. Prodigy’s demise was the motivation for starting my own website, what would now be called a blog. In internet terms, that was really ancient history—way back in 1995. It quickly evolved, had a professional side to it, generated a little income and got some nice reviews, being mentioned in publications ranging from the New York Times to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Business Week to Food & Wine. Pretty soon, all of my spare time and vacation time seemed to be taken up by wine tastings, events and wine region travel. The problem was simple: there just wasn't enough time to do it the way I wanted to do it. In many respects, it was a professional site, but it just wasn't complete and comprehensive. Then, the expert I worked with on Prodigy, a guy named Robert Parker, finally opened up his site. I moved my site’s forum to RobertParker.com in 2001.

Modern history began in 2006 when I was asked by The Wine Advocate to cover Portugal, eventually including Port. Since then, my portfolio has evolved to include many other areas, listed above. In November 2014, I was inducted into the Confraria do Vinho do Porto. In October 2022, I was promoted from the rank of Cavaliero to Infanção.

In 2019, I was honored as the Wine Personality of the Year for the Americas after a vote taken by ViniPortugal members. In May 2022, at the Thessaloniki Wine Competition, the Greek Wine Federation awarded me the Greek Wine Industry Award for contributions to Greek wine.

There have been more than a few adventures along the way. No doubt, one hopes, there will be more.

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