One evening when I was 21 years old, working as an Assistant Manager at Navesink Country Club in Middletown, NJ, a member asked me to come meet him in the bar of the clubhouse. When I walked in, he handed me a wine tote with 6 bottles of red wine. I asked him if he wanted me to put them in his wine locker in our cellar. No he said, they were for me. All he asked was that I take notes on each bottle and report back. This would be my first foray into fine wines and the start of a new and life-long hobby. After bringing back my notes on the 6 red bottles, I was handed 6 bottles of white. "Why are you sharing all of these excellent wines with me?" I asked. The answer was simple he said. Someday I would have my own collection and I should pass it on and give others the opportunity to experience and taste something they may not have had before. 

 

This story was the inspiration for Wine Sparring.

 

Over the last 10 years, I have gone from a few bottles sitting on my counter to slowly building out a collection, a locker of my own, with over 275 bottles. That word locker has many meanings to me both as a wine collector and as a hockey referee. The locker room is a place where people of similar mindsets gather to participate in a sport. Like hockey players, wines can be very similar and yet very different. They're out there with a common goal, but they constantly Spar(r) against one another to gain a competitive advantage. With Wine Sparring I want to broaden your wine horizon by taking wines that may seem similar and putting them side by side, to Spar(r) on your palate. You don't have to be a sommelier's to know what you love. Remember, if I can do this, you can do this.