My story

How it started

I’ve been passionate about wine since childhood, when I first noticed the ceremony with which my father would open, taste, and savor the occasional bottle.

My wine education began in my early twenties while working at a French restaurant. The owner, a warm and passionate Frenchman named Edmond took me under his wing. Many evenings ended with a shared bottle and stories about the old country. I would taste, take notes, go home and study.

Before long, I was curating his 500-label wine list of predominantly French and California wines. After seven years with Edmond, I headed to Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee, and may have been the only member of my entering class who moved his (very modest) wine cellar with him.

Drink the wines you enjoy—whether I would choose them or not.

Bob Quinn

Through law school and the practice of law, wine became more hobby than vocation. That changed in 2011, when my son and I opened our first restaurant in Southern California. I took charge of the wine list and used the opportunity to return to formal study.

Since then, I’ve completed WSET Level 3 and earned highest honors in the Wine Scholars Guild’s French Wine Scholar and Spanish Wine Scholar programs. I’m currently the Vice Échanson, Far West Region of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs – Bailliage of the United States, and a member of Les Amis d’Éscoffier.