In our Wilson Daniels Team Spotlight, we take a look at the team members that make this biz what it is. Get to know Alan Cohen, Northern California Area Manager, who has been with the company more than 14 years. 

WHAT YOU WERE DOING BEFORE WILSON DANIELS: Before coming to Wilson Daniels, I was a Division Sales Manager with our distributor and was the 1^st Key Account Specialist in the company.  However, my first career was in hi-tech (back when it was lo-tech in 1979) and I then transitioned to the restaurant industry just as the new era of fine dining and the celebrity chef scene in California was exploding.

WHAT DO YOU DO? I handle direct selling and work to develop relationships with top-tier restaurants and fine wine retailers, guiding the efforts of our distributor sales teams to be effective sales people and ambassadors of the Wilson Daniels portfolio, maintaining the image of Wilson Daniels and our highest quality winery partners with the utmost integrity to the marketplace.

Voted “Best Bartender” in San Francisco in 1996

WHAT GOT YOU INTO WINE? DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE A PASSION FOR IT? It was totally by accident. During my tenure managing fine dining restaurants in the 1990’s, I came to work one day and was told I am the new Beverage Director. Fortunately, it was a very high-profile restaurant and the all the wine reps with the best portfolios were lined up every day to show me their wines. What a way to jump in…total immersion!

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR FAVORITE EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH WILSON DANIELS? Of course, having the opportunity to travel and visit with our supplier partners in France and Italy and develop true personal friendships with many of the families has been a wonderful experience. There have been too many memorable moments to name them all. A most memorable day was on my first visit to the Domaine de la Romanee Conti, where we had the opportunity to enjoy a 9 year vertical of La Tache and ended with a 1946 Richebourg…truly a life moment. Most memorable dinner: with another Burgundy producer and several collectors, the paired wines for the dinner were 1979 Mazis-Chambertin, 1959 Mazis-Chambertin, 1929 Mazis-Chambertin.

WHO IS YOUR MENTOR? I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest and most accomplished icons of our industry and have benefited greatly by my association with each one of them.

Alan Cohen in 1973

WHAT WOULD YOUR COLLEAGUES BE SURPRISED TO KNOW?  Rumors of my exploits as an International Man of Mystery are largely overstated.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE WINE? WHY? Sangiovese Grosso in its many personalities is intoxicating. If I am feeling intellectual, then Burgundy and Barolo, of course.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK THAT *ISN’T* WINE? Iced tea every day.

FAVORITE VACATION SPOT, YOU KNOW, WHEN NOT IN THE OFFICE? Scuba diving in the tropical waters of the Caribbean.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR FREE TIME? Driving the beautiful back roads of Western Marin County out to the coast in my vintage sports car.