Here are two photos of Joe so far ( Joe's wearing the green tie in the first picture here ), one with Jim Hutton ( regional sales rep for Vias Italian Imports )and wine owner of CANTELE, Puglia. They make three wines that VIAS sells here : the CANTELE Chardonnay 2006 ( $13.99 ) from Salento, the Primitivo red 2005 ( $14.49 ) from Salento and the Salice Salentino Riserva 2002 ( $14.99 ). We have sold all three.
The other photo is with the national sales Italian rep for BISOL Veneto prosecco. Jim Hutton is in both photos, too. This is the photo where Joe is wearing his green tie. I fell in love with the BISOL Cartizze made in the best land parcels of Valdobiaddene, Veneto .
Joe had sold to me wines for six-seven years perhaps? When did you start with Sotiris, Joe? I can't remember. Time rolls by quickly these days it seems.
First Joe worked with Sotiris and sold an assortment of top-notch Greek wines peppered with the Landon Shiverick portfolio of German and French wines.
Second Joe went to work for the Henry Wine Group based out of California and sold/represented then the whole gambit of wines made from around the world. These photos with Jim Hutton of Vias Imports show Joe here in our store with two excellent Italian importers : BISOL prosecco and CANTELE, Puglia.
Thirdly, Joe is a musician and plays the drums . I didn't know that until later : he gave me a copy of his three-member Reggae band and I liked it quite a bit. I have it at home and listen to it from time to time when I actually have it. That's infrequently I am sorry to say. I spend too much time blogging here but that is good, too.
I've been cleaning my desk today , Thursday, January 15th, 2009 and I came across a note from Joe : about vacation time : January 3-8th , 2004. Joe puts Chris Blethen's name down as a contact person while he is away. Chris hasn't worked for Henry Wine Group for years now. It's been some time. He also puts Chris Madsen's name down to call.
The note to : Henry Wine Group Customers reds : " Please be advised that I will be on vacation the first week in January. I will NOT be checking voicemail.... Happy New Year , and I will see you in 2005! " Nice. Joe, where did you go? What music did you listen to? Did you play any music? And most important, what wines did you enjoy?!?
Joe has " got it ". He has a real good sense for people, situations, places and moods. I most always enjoyed working with you Joe. A couple of times we'd get caught-up over some detail and it probably angered both of us at times : there's always two sides to anything if you want to be fair and true about life.
I liked, too that Joe fought for all his producers, big and small. He loves wine and so he would always taste us on his selections and try and get them here into our store so that they would sell. We were always discussing Terry Theise wines and he'd taste me on them and wait for me to buy some. I did, too but not as often as I might because as I've told Terry himself ( him being local and us knowing each other over the years ),
I'd like to see Terry here sometime before ordering any quantities so that i can discuss with him anything that might come up. It's always to have the source before you when making some decisions. If nothing else it's the experience I'm looking for and the extra connection of things that might result serendipitously because you have an extra important link there talking about their own wines and why they have imported them to the U.S. I'm a bit spoiled and don't mind saying so. And Joe knowing all this still kept fighting for more Terry Theise business here and I respect him for that. Good job, Joe.
Joe moved out to California and is still in the wine/music/arts business - much like I am. He's a " fellow-art soul " and I look forward to seeing him soon I hope. I know his family lives here still. So, where have you been Joe? You didn't get out here this past holiday season?
Go to Joe's exciting blog site : old world old school. I love it's look and feel and " read " of course. He writes about wine and music and the arts and other bloggers, etcetera. It's a fun, entertaining, personal-perspective " read " and I really like that.
Take care Joe, be well and come back and see us sometime soon. Say " hello " to your Dad for me and keep up the good work.Happy New Year to you and your family five years since your note to us about vacation! Cheers, TONY
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