Meet the Board: Rick Lopus, CWE

Rick Lopus, CWE

Rick Lopus, CWE is a newly elected member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Wine Educators (SWE). Today, he tells us about his journey to SWE in his own words:

“After several years in the restaurant business—as a server, bartender, GM and Chef—I stumbled into a job that would change my life. I joined the staff at Michigan’s best wine retailer/gourmet food shop, originally as the manager of groceries, but due to some personnel changes, I became the wine buyer. Though I knew wine a bit at the time, I was soon immersed in the wine trade in a much (much) bigger way: overseeing the purchasing and sales at a multi-store chain, which included attending as well as hosting all manner of wine events. I was also tasked with going on buying trips—several trips to Europe annually—as well as the rest of the world. It was a very auspicious time to be in the wine business: American were rapidly discovering fine wine, and the ‘classics’ were incredibly affordable then, so being exposed to Grand Cru Burgundies and classed-growth Bordeaux was a daily thing. I recall selling 1971 Gaja Barbaresco for $15 a bottle; we sold futures of 1982 First Growths for $350 a case (of 12), and Comte Lafon Meursault for $25 a bottle, and DRC Echezeaux for $69.99 a bottle. Alas, those days are long gone!

I left that role after 6 years to open my own wine distributor—Decanter Imports. Decanter was a success and after 7 years I received an offer ‘too good to refuse’ to sell to a larger wholesaler. I then joined the team at Michigan’s largest wine distributor and commenced to upgrade their catalogue dramatically. After 7 years there, I was approached by a winery group, so I made the jump to become a ‘supplier’ (Chateau Ste Michelle). After 3 years there, my previous employer reached out since he had just purchased another, very large wholesaler and I was asked to oversee sales of that statewide company as Vice President of Sales; that was 22 years ago. Today we are Michigan’s largest wholesaler, with over 1200 employees,  9,000 wines, and a similar number of spirits.

Along the way, my knowledge and interest in wine continued to grow, and at the urging of a wine industry friend, I decided to sit the CWE and, happily, passed. This led to an intense interest in sharing this knowledge and to increase the knowledge of our entire sales staff. We now have in our building around 95 CSW’s, 75 CSS’s, 2 CWE’s, as well as several WSET and CMS-A credentialed team members. Additionally, we have 34 Certified Sake Advisors on staff.  Note that though I am a strong advocate for our staff to have strong knowledge in order for them to act as true consultants, I always caution them to make sure they use their knowledge as a tool, rather than a weapon; some of the highly credentialed wine trade out there do the opposite, dismissing people that don’t know everything about wine.

My hopes in joining the Board at SWE is to help assure its financial health for the long haul. Additionally–and as an ‘older person’ myself, I think I can say this—to try to bring in younger members and leadership…again, all with the intent of SWE thriving for many years into the future.”

Welcome to the Board, Rick Lopus!