As the wine manager of Suburban Wines & Spirits, in Yorktown Heights, NY, my eye was keen to the customer who filled their shopping cart, and especially the ones who filled it with a mix of wines outside of the household name brands.

I worked hard at building a selection of over 2,500 different wines with a goal to taste and hand pick everything. “Wines you want before you know you want them,” was our tag line, and one that came from lots of sweat and tasting.

When a customer like Vinny came in the door, he was exactly what I needed to move the diversity of product that filled our shelves. This was the secret to keeping Henry Ponzio (the owner of Suburban) a happy man, and me being able to continue my addiction to expanding the selection.

Vinny came in and quietly did his thing. I stalked in the distance. I saw other Suburban groupies helping him fill his cart, yet I knew the diversity of his selections needed to expand.

Then came the day I was waiting for. The folks who normally helped Vinny were nowhere to be found. I jumped at the moment and positively commented on the wines occupying his cart. After offering a few additional recommendations, the cart was full, and the relationship’s root system took hold.

This continued over the next few years until Suburban changed ownership in October, 2004, and I departed for adventures elsewhere.

While traveling the roads and towns of the west coast, the seeds of ConsciousWine were searching for an opportunity to grow some roots. After two years of supporting Verizon and AT&T, Vinny and I created a partnership. ConsciousWine was officially started on October 8, 2009.

We shared a passion for wine and the hope of having our choices support a vital world for our kids’ kids and beyond. So began the partnership that today feeds ConsciousWine.