A passion for wine grew into livelihood
As a buyer, he covers a lot of terroir both near, far
When Jim Denham first showed up at the rustic, hole-in-the-wall Livermore Valley Cellars in 1988, he knew little about wine. Now he’s the manager and wine buyer at the Wine Steward in Pleasanton and has vines growing in his own backyard.
Denham, 49, started out at Livermore Valley Cellars (now closed) as volunteer help in 1990, soon after he moved to Livermore. He remained for 11 years, eventually becoming one of the winery’s two winemakers.
He set his eyes beyond local wines when a mentor began bringing in bottles to taste from all over the world.
“I started to get teased, seduced and dissatisfied with the way things were, and ultimately I realized I needed to drink out of the box,” he says.
In 2000, shortly after the Wine Steward opened, Denham joined the staff. With his former career in the grocery business and new obsession with wine, the spacious wine shop — a onetime movie theater — proved an ideal fit.
Six wine clubs, frequent wine appreciation classes and an upstairs wine bar are all on offer at the Wine Steward, but what Denham likes to emphasize is the human contact — for the staff to help guide customers through more than 1,000 wines.
Denham tastes as many as 150 wines a week, looking for wines that will appeal to both the everyman and the pickiest customer. There are plenty of small, California wines for sale, including 30 from Livermore Valley. But these aren’t the focus — Denham is inspired by European wines and wants to step away from what he calls the “easy domestic sells.”
“What’s really wonderful for us is nudging people one step further on their wine odyssey,” he says, citing his own wine journey where there is always new territory to explore. His current fascination? Godello, “the white Burgundies of Spain,” discovered on a recent trip overseas.
Denham hopes to see the general wine scene in Livermore change, move away from what he calls the “McVarietals” like Cabernet and Merlot, and experiment with Mediterranean grapes such as Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. His goal is to make the Wine Steward the library where winemakers can check out foreign inspirations. “I’d love to see Livermore Valley wineries hunger to get better every year. And I’m here to help. In our little way, this store is for them.”