Close Encounter with Warren Winarski

I have had the good fortune of meeting him on more than one occasion at my retail work in Washington, DC, as well as at the winery. Most wine drinkers under the age of 60 cannot comprehend that once upon a time the wines of Stags Leap Wine Cellars and other well-known wineries at the time were not in national distribution in 1986. We were able to directly import these wines at that time. The relationships established with those wineries in those days was very meaningful for all parties involved. As you can see in the picture, he was gracious enough to sign a bottle for me many years ago when the bottle was full of wine and, at the time, fairly recent memory of what this wine represents. I am forever grateful.

There are very few people that I have met that are as soft-spoken as he was yet found yourself hanging on every word he would say as though it was the gospel; often it was. I like what I read in an article that Jim Barrett called him, "The Professor". Fitting complement. Rest in peace Warren Winarski.