Being a rare wine specialist, top wine auctioneer, and cult vintner would already constitute a hat trick for most oenophiles. But Fritz Hatton, the proprietor of Arietta, has accomplished all these with a particular panache that has also garnered legions of adoring fans across the country.

From his beginnings in Grand Haven, Michigan, where Fritz remembers tasting and liking wine at age seven, he went on to Yale for college and was in the first class of the Yale School of Management. Fritz then went on to Christie’s, where he started at the bottom as a handler and within two years became the Director of Operations for all of Christie’s. After a two-year sabbatical to study music (he is a concert pianist in his spare time) he became Head of Christie’s Wine Department until 1998.

Fritz started his Napa winery, Arietta, in 1996 with winemaker John Kongsgaard and since then has produced phenomenal wines such as Arietta H Block Hudson Vineyards, “On the White Keys” and Variation One.

Fritz’s passion for music and wine is infectious if you meet him. For a full interview with him, click here.