About the Proprietors, Tom and Janet Dugan
First and foremost, we should confess that despite our love of wine and cheese, Janet and I have no prior professional experience as wine buyers, sommeliers or cheese mongers! We have not been in the “trade” in any fashion; Not even remotely. Having opened in November 2006, we certainly have gained experience and knowledge, but we’d be foolish to hold ourselves out as “experts.” Like the people we hope to attract to our shop, we have simply found that we thoroughly enjoy wine and cheese, together or separately, alone or with a meal. We hope to grow in our knowledge along with you. Ask us questions about wine and/or cheese and we’ll try to answer you with our best advice. Share your own experiences with us and that will allow us to provide more guidance to other guests in our shop.
If you really need to know, I was a federal law enforcement agent for 33 years. Janet has, and continues to be, involved in hospital administration. She is darn close to being a native Californian, whereas, I grew up in a variety of locations on the other coast. We live nearby, and with the possible exception of Ireland, couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. If Janet had been a winemaker and I was the sommelier at Valentino’s, I wouldn’t feel compelled to have told you about that other stuff, but it seemed like”About Us” should tell you something about us!
