Wine importer

5,000+ The number of wines DiMarco has tried in his lifetime. “And I stopped counting the ones I don’t like.”

Photograph: David Rosenzweig

Who he is: Brian DiMarco spends his days in exotic villas and his nights at five-star restaurants seated with some of the world’s richest people. As a wine importer, it’s his full-time job to scout delicious blends and share them with others.

The early days: DiMarco graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and moved to New York City to work for advertising firm Grey Worldwide. “It was like Mad Men, but with less cigarettes,” he admits. “I was making $17,000 a year as a media planner, but I lived like I was making $100,000. We’d go on free lunches with clients to fancy steakhouses.”

Getting into alcohol: From Grey’s, DiMarco moved on to Anheuser-Busch. After four years with them, he got an offer to help launch the Stella Artois brand and do some work on the Bacardi campaign.

Getting out of alcohol: In 2001, DiMarco wanted a change, so he accepted a “large severance package” and sweet-talked his way into the French Culinary Institute. After nine months of culinary and wine classes, the Institute helped DiMarco get a job at the recently opened Blue Smoke. “The first night I made 267 salads and thought, Are you fucking kidding me?” DiMarco quit the next day and found a job with the Food Network.

Becoming a wino: After realizing that TV wasn’t for him either, DiMarco went to visit a friend who was the general manger at fine-wine shop Sherry-Lehmann on the Upper East Side. “They needed help for the holidays, so I pitched in and ended up staying there for a year,” remembers DiMarco. “I read every wine book and went on every wine-tasting tour I came across.” Over the next two and a half years, he worked freelance in wineshops and with Christies and Sotheby’s to bring in rare wine collections for auctions. “In 2004 I landed a $750,000 wine collection that helped put me on the map. The sale’s commission and exposure helped me start my importing company, Barterhouse.”

And now: “I have good relationships with lots of high-end restaurants like Babbo, Café Boulud, Per Se and more.” Because of these relationships, DiMarco can handpick the people he wants to work with—and have dinner with on any given night.

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