Mike Supple ’03 Fine Wine Specialist

Mike Supple graduated from Wesleyan in 2003. In the subsequent years, his passion for wine took him to northern California where he became involved in the industry through both work and furthering his education. Mike is currently a Fine Wine Specialist and has launched a website (www.supplewine.com) to provide information to young adults looking to discover more about wines.

Mike (right) in the vineyard “Les Chenes Cartoux” in Burgundy with the proprietor of Domaine Henri Gouges.

Gregory Supple ’00, Richard Supple ’06, and myself ’03 at Richard’s graduation in 2006.

More from Mike:

After Wes I moved out to northern California with Chris Watters ’03 and Jill Green ’02 (among about two dozen or more other classmates) with no job and a vague wanting to get involved in the wine industry. While at Wes I was on the Crew team for my freshman and sophomore years. As clichéd as it sounds, it was the experience of being on that team, pushing myself mentally and physically as far as I could go every day, that taught me I really was capable of completing any task that I set myself to. I was not concerned about moving to a new state with no job and no immediate prospects. I had my degree, I had my work ethic, I had a desire to succeed, and I had my Wes friends for support.

I landed a job as a sales representative for one of the largest distributors of Bordeaux wines in the U.S. At the time I was the youngest person they had hired for that position by three years, and it was my Wesleyan BA in French Studies, my fluency in French and my experiences in Paris that tipped the scales in my favor.

While in Bordeaux tasting wines and helping to make buying decisions for my employer I met the man who was to become my next boss. Impressed by my passion for wine and ability to convey my enthusiasm in writing he hired me to help start on online wine retail division of his company. In two short years I helped it grow from nothing to a $25M enterprise.

Me at "l'Hostelerie de Plaisance" in Bordeaux with Chateau Pavie and Chateau Monbousquet Blanc in hand

Wine sales are all well and good, but my passion is in the wine itself, not in the sale. My generation in the U.S. is drinking more wine than any generation in our nation’s history. Young people are exploring and learning that wine is not just a hobby for rich old men, but a great drink for enhancing social and dining experiences. My desire for education did not fade after Wesleyan, and I have since gotten my certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (based out of the UK), and am in my final year of their diploma program in wine studies with a next step of pursuing my Master of Wine degree.

One of my biggest frustrations with the wine industry is a lack of free, useful, interesting and comprehensible information for the millions of young adults just discovering wine. Over the past couple of years I have been working to rectify this situation, and have recently brought it public with the launch of Supple Wine (www.supplewine.com). The goal of Supple Wine is to provide an easily accessible resource of wine education and entertainment. Too much of life is taken way too seriously and my generation’s approach towards life has changed wine from the musty, pompous collectible it once was to something that is just second nature to share and enjoy with friends. The website will always be evolving, as nothing about the wine industry is static.

Me in Bordeaux at Chateau Larrivet-Haut-Brion

I am more than happy to take advantage of my Wesleyan connections with my new enterprise. My editor is Richard Supple ’06, who uses his experience as a writing tutor at Wes to make sure I don’t fall prey to the unsightly blunder of poor grammar. Alexander Asher Brown ’03 and his downtown LA based production company, PollutionStudios (www.pollutionstudios.com) are providing location, equipment, crew and expertise for the filming of several short webisodes that will be making their appearance on supplewine.com in the next few weeks.

I am excited to get this new content up and continue working with as many Wes grads as possible as I forge the next stage of my life. I’m happy to hear from anyone interested in wine and the wine industry, so don’t hesitate to reach out to me: msupple@supplewine.com.

Cheers,
Mike Supple ’03

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