Helen Johannesen

They trusted me to shape service, and revamp the wine program, however I saw best. I had minimal experience. I had everything and nothing to lose all at once, but that made me focus, and work to do it all myself. That tone laid the groundwork for us to be business partners today!

You can’t necessarily teach these skills, they have to be in you.

A sense of humor is also a must. I look for human traits. People who can retain information and and who are eager to learn. Organized in ways that I’m not. You can’t just hire yourself, I look to hire people that have strengths in different areas than I do.

For my wine crew, we do weekly in depth private study sessions - it’s a collaborative process. It's not just me teaching. I include them in all of my tasting appointments, teach them how to taste wine, how to buy, and how to be comparative. There are so many options, but how to taste, evaluate, and pinpoint the highlights is crucial to building a great wine program. It’s important to be more patient to select the wines for the list. It also builds a dynamic team atmosphere!

I listen to the Cru podcast. It is people at my level that are working at the similar capacity as me that I find very resourceful. I like reading what Allen Meadows is writing, because he has an objective opinion and I appreciate his honesty in his wine reviews. One of the best resources we have are are the importers website's, they are very helpful when you are looking for information about small producers.