Every day, it seems that Brew City folks pop more and more corks. And Milwaukee's growing passion for wine owes a lot to some passionate folks who work hard to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the grape and its bounty.

Two of those people are Toni Johnson, a former sommelier at Lake Park Bistro, and Nate Norfolk, who cut his teeth in the business working in retail at Downer Wine and Spirits.

They now work as salespeople for Purple Feet Wines in the Milwaukee area and together they are launching Professional Wine Consultants.

"This summer a few people had started to ask me to do classes for them at the same time Nate and I had started to talk about putting together a business model for teaching, seminars, corporate events and whatever else," says Johnson.

"We finalized the name of the company, Professional Wine Consultants, and hired a web designer at the beginning of September and we were off to the races.

"This city has a reputation nationally of being a beer and brat town and who in larger cities would think that there was a thriving group of wine professionals here?"

Norfolk says the new company allows the pair to get out in public a little more that they do in their positions at Purple Feet.

"Professional Wine Consultants gives us a platform that is more visible to the general public than our wholesale jobs," says Norfolk. "We work with caterers and restaurateurs to set up private wine-themed events."

Johnson and Norfolk -- both "official" sommeliers -- met for the first time in their previous jobs, Johnson recalls.

Johnson had recently passed her first test with the Court of Master Sommeliers and was beginning to prepare to take the advanced test.

"I contacted every one I knew of in town to form a tasting group because I knew that the blind tasting was part of the exam," she remembers.

"Initially I contacted (former Downer Wine owner) Tom Vaughn and he -- in a round about way -- that he wasn't interested but his employee, Nate Norfolk, might be. So I went into the shop and introduced myself and asked him if he would be interested in forming a tasting group and he said yes. So for about six months we got together with an assorted group and then it just fell apart."

The two stayed in touch and Norfolk, too, decided to start climbing the Court of Master Sommeliers' ladder of certification exams.

"I would go into Downer periodically and say hi. At that time my Purple Feet rep was a guy named Kent and in April 2007, he told me he was leaving and that Nate Norfolk was taking his place. So Nate became my rep for Purple Feet at Lake Park and we started up where we left off and formed more of a friendship than a buyer / rep relationship, although I did buy stuff from him."

In the meantime, Norfolk had taken and passed the test to earn the distinction of "Certified Sommelier" and Johnson aced the next level and is a "Certified Advanced Sommelier," the only one in the state.

Then Johnson was also hired by Purple Feet.

"Nate and I just continued to hit it off being the weird geeky people we are," Johnson quips.

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2 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by GreenerMilwaukee on Dec. 19, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. (report)

Nate isn't a "cork dork", he's a just a dork. But a pretty cool one.

Posted by heatherkk on Dec. 18, 2008 at 7:18 p.m. (report)

I highly recommend the services of these two fantastic "cork-dorks". Both are incredibly knowledgeable yet refreshingly down to earth. A rare combination in the world of wine & spirits sometimes.. Good Luck in your new venture Toni & Nate, you know I'll be cheering for you!