The best story on the bus is sitting right next to me, Paul Grieco. the guiding spirit of Hearth Restaurant, the Terroir wine bars in New York Wine City (NYWC) and the self-styled “Riesling Overlord”. When you sit next to Paul for many hours many days in a row as I did during last year’s Riesling Road Trip and am doing this year’s Riesling Road Trip 2, then you can’t help but absorb the many things which make him a remarkable guy. And that doesn’t happen by gentle osmosis, rather it’s like a repeat offending rogue wave that keeps hitting. For example, on the way to our event yesterday evening at James Beard Award winning restaurant Poole’s in Raleigh/NC he gave a telephone interview to a 12 year old girl for a high school project she had. Time was short (the drive time we had), but he was precise and thoughtful, and I’m sure that he gave her something to think about. He told her that his least favorite time of the day is, “when the coffee machine doesn’t work!” that, “I can teach anyone to hold a plate, but it’s not about service, it’s about hospitality,” but also that his favorite restaurant in NYWC is, “dinner at home with my wife and kids.” This is the guy who often says, “when we make a commitment, we make a God-damn commitment!” and can be focused with a laser like linearity on a goal that he pursues with a relentlessness I find slightly frightening (which may well be a sign of weakness in me – I joke not). Let me show you what I’m talking about with the following three pictures taken in Savannah/GR:
Every story has a backstory which is a vital part of the context, and you’ll only understand a story when you know at least some part of the backstory to it. For Paul that was, most importantly, a moment of truth and disappointment when, aged 17, he suddenly realized that his dream of becoming a professional soccer player was not going to happen. And he didn’t have a plan B at that point. No doubt the relative ease with which he managed a massive course correction at that age, then navigated a series of further course corrections to became what he is today, has a lot do with the way his father always looked ahead with a, “next!” attitude. That old-fashioned, now so often ignored factor of temperament surely also played a role. By that I mean the fact that Paul was receptive for his father’s attitude, even if the results of it sometimes annoyed him intensely. And every day I’m struck by Paul’s “next!” attitude, in fact, sometimes I’m also a little shocked by it.
Perhaps it is this which makes some people in the NYWC scene regard Paul with awe, even to treat him as some kind of demigod. Their adulation from afar certainly helped to increase the man’s aura, and aura is a positive factor for success, but it also sometimes puts a distance between him and the people he is so desperate and determined to reach. It doesn’t matter if they are wine geeks, regular wine drinkers, young somms or his fellow restauranteurs the Riesling Overlord is on send as soon as they appear. Last night in the belly of our (fully repaired) whale in front of Poole’s he gave back to back award-worthy performances. And the audience of professionals lapped up all the information about German Riesling as eagerly as they did the attitude. I promise you that I’m following him very closely and trying to learn from the Great Riesling Communicator.
Signed by a student at the Paul Grieco University of Life!
