While attending college in New Orleans in the early 1970s I took a job as a waiter in a French restaurant and became infatuated with classic French wines and food.  My wines of preference were those from Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley.  I pursued a career in the restaurant industry and served as manager and wine buyer for several restaurants before realizing that I belonged solely in the wine business.  I ventured into wine retail, then into wholesale distribution and then started a wine marketing and sales company.  These pursuits took me to my favorite wine regions of Europe to learn what the best properties did to make their wines special.  These also led me to California during the wine renaissance of the late 1970s to meet the new small, artisan producers.  After working crush at two different wineries I decided I wanted my own small winery someday to make unique wines to add to the wine world.  In 2000 I finally moved to northern California to take a position with a wine importing company and the temptation was too great.  We bought our vineyard in Glen Ellen and Spann Vineyards was born.