Wine Spectator Interviews Tribeca Grill Wine Director David Gordon

"Twenty-six years ago, Tribeca Grill opened under the ownership of actor Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent—with investments from Bill Murray, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Lou Diamond Phillips and Christopher Walken—in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of the same name. Within six months, David Gordon, now 55, was hired as a manager.

"In the quarter-century since, Gordon's role evolved into "wine steward," then "wine director" as he builtTribeca Grill's program to 2,200 selections. The restaurant earned a Wine Spectator Grand Award in 2002 with "the biggest list in the world of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, easily," and some of the lowest markups in town. In his career, the self-described "schmo from Brooklyn" has created lists for every sort of cuisine, from New French at Myriad Restaurant Group's Corton (now closed) to Japanese fusion at Nobu to airplane, as a consultant to Continental. Gordon, who has worked behind the scenes at Wine Spectator'sWine Experience on the sommelier team, has also mentored a flock of other sommeliers who've gone on to open highly accoladed restaurants of their own."

To read the entire interview, please click Sommelier Talk: David Gordon of Tribeca Grill