Eric Henry, CSW, CWE
Having grown up in a military family (as a child he lived in South Korea for five years), and having enjoyed differing careers, Eric Henry, CSW, CWE, came to wine with a wealth of life experience. He worked as a waiter and bartender at a Tex-Mex restaurant while attending college in San Angelo, Texas, in the late 1970’s. At the time, the only wines served at the restaurant were Riunite, Lancers, and some Gallo jug wines; for a long time, he thought Chablis was a Gallo product because the menu offered “Chablis”—back then many Americans called any white wine Chablis. Most fittingly, today one of his favorite wines just happens to be…Chablis.
After graduation, Eric undertook a successful advertising career in Los Angeles. Eventually, he got into elementary education. For nearly two decades, he worked as a 5th grade teacher in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs and eventually became a school principal. After leaving public education, he took a job as a brand ambassador for the east coast winery Tomasello and began promoting their products to Chicago Whole Foods stores. This in turn led him to found his own wine promotions agency in 2010. More on that momentarily.
As it happened, Eric’s husband, who also works in the wine business, was preparing to take the CSW and needed a study partner, and that introduced Eric to the Society of Wine Educators. Eric passed both the CSW and the CWE on his first outing, for which he credits being methodical and disciplined in his studies. He read a good portion of the recommended reading list, practiced identifying scents with an aroma kit, and purchased the faults kit. Eric practiced semi-blind tastings at home and at a local wine bar in Dallas for six months. He also attended the boot camp just before taking the CWE. He is a teacher by profession and a life-long learner and a man with a curious mind, so the progression, the work, the continual improvement, was quite natural.
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Now about his company. In 2010, while still in Chicago, Eric launched a small wine and spirits promotion agency called Summit Wine Tastings. He began the company with only one client, but as word of mouth spread, his clientele grew. In 2016 he and his husband returned home to Texas, where his firm—now operating out of Texas and Illinois—conducted more than 5,000 wine tastings in 2019. He is able to partner with both large and small wineries because he has a unique vision for his company: to take an educational approach with tastings, being sure that all his tasting representatives are wine enthusiasts themselves and that they can share accurate, helpful information with customers. Although uncertain of this, Eric believes he may be the only CWE who owns a wine and spirits promotion agency.
In future, Eric hopes to continue learning, teaching others about wine, and improving his business, “building brands one sip at a time.”
Guest post written by Reverend Paul Bailey
If you are a SWE certificate holder and would like to be featured in our “On the Radar” series, please contact our Director of Education and Certification, Jane A. Nickles: jnickles@societyofwineeducators.org