Wine Industry Legend Howie Rubin

Wine Industry Legend Howie Rubin

From Urban Wine Club by Ari Kalos

March 28, 2025 · 23 min · Season 2 · Episode 11

About this episode

Howie Rubin shares his journey in the wine industry, from opening America's first wineries bar to his extensive career in wine education and service.

We welcome the iconic Howie Rubin to the show! Howie moved to San Francisco in 1975 in search of a good time at age 21, and ended up helping open up America's first wineries bar, the London Wine Bar. They served wines by the glass and had winemaker dinners back then, and he was bitten by the wine bug. He traveled to wine regions all over California and carved himself quite a niche at the wine bar, where wine was really coming into its own. 2 years later he worked a crush at Mayacamas Vineyards on top of Mt. Veeder, and he got a real education and appreciation for how much work goes into producing a bottle of wine. Phase 2 of his career took place at the Breakers Hotel in Florida, where he lived for a year. He was one of 4 sommeliers on the floor and really tuned up his education on how to serve, how to sell, and how to learn about European wines. He tried to get the Hotel to take on some California wines, but they were resistant! Howie then moved to Marblehead in 1980 and began what turned out to be a 43-year run on Valentine's Day 1980. He worked for 4 different owners over those years, and each one let him run the business his way, which is customer service comes before…

People in this episode

Guest: Howie Rubin

Topics covered

  • wine
  • sommelier
  • California wine
  • wine education

Keywords

  • London Wine Bar
  • Mayacamas Vineyards
  • Breakers Hotel
  • Boston wine festival

Mentioned in this episode

Products: California wines

Places: San Francisco, America, California, Mt. Veeder, Florida, Marblehead, Boston

More episodes of Urban Wine Club

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Urban Wine Club podcast page.