Please join me in welcoming Norm Roby as a Columnist to WRO. Many of our readers may remember Norm most clearly from his decade long stint as a columnist for The Wine Spectator and from his work as a member of the Spectator’s tasting panel. However, he has had a long and 
exceptionally interesting love affair with wine involving many other activities that contributed to the inventory of experience and breadth of perspective he’ll bring to his columns on WRO.
Like so many romances with wine, Norm’s began somewhat by good fortune. He began pursuing a Ph.D. in English Literature at U.C. Davis (which he earned, by the way) without knowing of that university’s fame in the fields of winemaking and viticulture. Needing a break between teaching undergraduates and heading to the library to conduct his dissertation research, he audited a wine course presented by the famed Professor Maynard Amerine.
The wine gods were not done coaxing Norm in their direction. On the very day after defending his dissertation, he was asked by his department chair if he’d be interested in joining a faculty exchange program with…the University of Bordeaux. Already interested in wine, and armed with letters of introduction from the legendary Sacramento wine guru Darrell Corti, Norm deepened his interest and added Old World experience to his California background.
After returning to California and turning away from the life of an academic, be worked as part of the Media Department at the California Wine Institute (writing, of course, but also working with members of the press). Budget cuts set him in search of a next gig, which was with Vintage Magazine in New York, writing feature articles about California wine. Next stop was the stint with The Wine Spectator, and both during and after his work with that publication, he also wrote for magazines such as the Robb Report and House & Garden plus newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News.
Norm also co-authored The Connoisseur’s Handbook of California Wines with Charlie Olken, which went through multiple revisions and four editions published by Alfred A. Knopf. At this same time, he taught wine classes for the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, and became the U.S.A. correspondent for Decanter magazine. Not long thereafter, he spent ten years living part-time in the broader Bordeaux region, traveling extensively when he wasn’t immersed in the nearby glories of southwestern France.
Welcome aboard Norm…we’re delighted to have you as a colleague!
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