My name is Frank Romean and I was born in 1964 in Philadelphia. I currently live in New Jersey, USA. Wine began for me as a teenager (late teens), early 1980s. A friend of mine went on vacation one summer with a friend to France and learned to appreciate wine. He taught me the same. I took the knowledge I gained and began the learning process. A subscription to Wine Enthusiast magazine which I think is the best one out there was a game changer. I learned a lot about wine by reading it cover to cover each month familiarized myself with the wine labels, and learned not to buy a wine just because I like the label.
The Process About Frank
Then, I did some travelling and drank a lot of nice wine always focusing on restaurants that cared about wine. In the 1990s, wine classes and dinners became popular. I was fortunate to find a place near me that had monthly wine classes and an excellent wine educator. He taught me a ton. Learning to pair foods with wines was his specialty. Often a person will say they don’t like a wine and I will say “because you’re drinking it with the wrong food.” Don’t blame the wine! Also, I attended wine dinners and big events in Philadelphia like the annual show. Tasted, listened, learned, read, and asked questions. I immersed myself in wine knowledge. Who knew there was so much more to it than getting buzzed! LOL.
Napa Trip
In the early 90s, I went to Napa Valley for my first big wine trip. It was beautiful. I visited Robert Mondavi, Sutter Home, Beringer, Sterling and Mumm Cuvee Napa which is related to G.H. Mumm in France. I highly recommend all but Mondavi. They had a small and unfriendly tasting room. Obviously, not apriority to them. Maybe it’s different now. Sutter was the friendliest. Beringer was more welcoming. Sterling is cool from the beginning with their cable car ride to get to the winery. Mumm had the best views of the valley.
Tuscany Trip
In 2004, I planned a big wine adventure to Tuscany, Italy! I was advised that to do it right, you have to start planning 6-12 months in advance so you can make reservations to tour and taste at wineries (many don’t have tasting rooms and are by appointment only). In Europe, it’s always best to have a reservation, even for dinner as we discovered on our first night. You can go to dinner and may stay all night and talk and sip wine or spirits! Which is why you can’t get a table. Even for lunch, we went to Pienza and couldn’t get in any of the nice restaurants. Every day we went to a wine tasting, tour or dinner trying to hit all the different areas of Tuscany. THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST WAY TO LEARN IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT!
North Fork of Long Island Trip
A friend and I decided to take a ride to the North Fork of Long Island, New York for an overnight stay. We had no knowledge of the wineries there, nor did we ever have any of their wines to drink. We stumbles upon Lenz Winery and stopped in their tasting room. They had a really nice one as it turned out. We met the winemaker and owner. They opened bottle after bottle for us to try. They were very welcoming indeed. I lost count. We had planned on visiting several, but after spending a couple hours there we had more than enough. Luckily, they happened to be one of the best wineries there. We bought a case of wine. I have one bottle left which will be opened when my son turns 21 on 2/4/2020. It is their sparkling wine, 2001 Lenz Cuvee.
Advice
Unfortunately, I haven’t been back to Europe due to my health, but I still keep up with the magazines, tastings and drinking from my collection. I recommend that you start a collection for your good wines. Always buy at least 2 of the same. One for drinking now and one for drinking after the recommended time for aging for that wine. Take drinking notes to compare the young and old versions. Keep your collection on a spreadsheet and constantly update it, but never delete a wine after you drink it in case you want to see a history. It’s a fun hobby in addition to the drinking. LOL. I truly hope that my health improves and I can get back to Europe one day. Thanks for reading about Frank.
Warmest regards,
Frank Romean
If you would like to learn more about how to pick a wine, click here.