Episode 111: Jeff Porter

In the Drink

Joe Campanale kicks off the new year in style on a brand new episode of In the Drink. He’s joined by one of the most important New York wine figures, Jeff Porter, Beverage Director at B&B Hospitality Group. Jeff was born and raised in Texas. He became interested in wine at his first restaurant job in Austin. To learn all that he could about wine, Porter eventually took a stocking position at one of Austin’s best wine shops. He excelled there and was soon buying wine for the shop and traveling throughout Europe. Porter then moved to the West Coast where he first worked for a wine distributor in the Bay Area and then served as Wine Director at Tra Vigne Ristorante in St. Helena, where his passion for wine and hospitality took off. Most recently, Jeff held the positon of Beverage Director at Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles. He moved to New York City in March of 2011 to head up the beverage program at Del Posto. He is recognized as an “Advanced Sommelier” by the Court of Master Sommeliers and is currently a candidate for the “Master Sommelier” designation. This program was brought to you by Michter’s.

“I always call Italy the newest oldest wine region in the world. Obviously they’ve been making wine forever but they had to figure things out. Post World War II, Italy was super poor – even through the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. It wasn’t until the 90’s that people started seeing money in wine.” [19:00]

–Jeff Porter on In the Drink