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119 Exchange Street Portland Maine 04101 207.808.8800 thepresshotel.com WINE DOWN INKWELL located in the lobby of The Press Hotel offers Sommelier selected wines by the glass Sunday through Thursday from 500pm to 700pm for 6.00 a glass. Enjoy the comfort of the newly appointed lounge overlooking Exchange Street and the Old Port. A pr i l 2 0 1 6 8 1 Filephoto es in all of Portland. Our most recent din- ner there was outstanding. Then theres the monthly Sunday dim sum at Honey Paw the Fry Bread with Uni Butter and the Lob- ster Wontons are ridiculous Im looking forward to developing a tast- ing group in Portland as well as monthly BYOBwine-themeddinnersatarestaurants to be determined. Its a great way to learn about wine by sharing great bottles Ive col- lected in my cellar which currently holds about 1000 bottles. If people are interested well do Corks Forks events in Maine. Whats your perfect wine for a lobster roll For the classic Maine lobster roll I love to drink a white wine made from the Viognier grape. On the import side either Yves Cuil- leron or Pierre Gaillards Condrieu from Francewhich was one of Robert DeNiros favorites coincidentallyor Illahe Vine- yards Viognier from Oregon. What inspired you to get out of restaurants and into retail stores Are restaurants increasingly no place for the affable and enthusiastic Id worked for Le Cirque 2000 the entire seven years it was located at the New York Palace Hotel and the last dinner there was December 31 2004. HBO has a great doc- umentary titled Le CirqueA Table in Heav- en. I woke up on New Years Day 2005 and decided it was best to go out on a high note leave the restaurant biz and take my talents to the retail side of things. Were you burned out on rich wine snobs I must say during my seven years at Le Cirque I found the clientele to be very knowledgeable about wine and encoun- tered very little to no wine snobbery de- spite dealing with the top one percent of the one percent. Certainly it was very stressful operating at that level for seven years but Im organized and Id look at the reserva- tion book before service and organize the wines and stemware for the various VIPs. Very rarely did they look at the wine list as I knew what their favorites were and prepared them in advance. So your real skill is guiding people to discover what they really like. I figured these individuals have to make hundreds of decisions daily so I would make one for them Im still in contact with my former colleagues at Le Cirque as well as some of the clientele. And with my other passionmusicI still consult on the wine side of things for various musicians and bands for their pri- vate collections. Le Cirque was just down the street from Sony BMG so all the music executives would come in and bring their artists in. Mike D. loves white Burgun- dy of the Beastie Boys would celebrate his birthday with us. Rush is one of my all-time favorites I showed up at their final show in Boston last year with some Grand Cru Bur- gundy for Geddy and Alex who were happy to reciprocate with backstage passes. Wine has opened so many doors for me Right now what Im listening to is jazz heavy with Bill Evans always in rotation as well as Miles Davis and Chet Baker. But also Everything But The Girl Bon Iver and Ray Lamontagne. My taste in music is as diverse asmytasteinwine.Itsallmooddependent n