Vin Collections

“Wine should be interesting not intimidating, and learning about it should always be fun.”

Setting up for a blind tasting.

About Me:

My name is Levi Hensel and I supply both the musings and the consultation services at Vin Collections.

Born and raised in Alaska, I spent time living in both England and Iceland before matriculating at Dartmouth College. There I received my BA in Geography (or terroir as I often like to spin it), and spent a lot of time ski racing. After college I moved to Oregon in pursuit of the Winter Olympics. Along with an athletic career, I began working in the fields of marketing and project management for a western-regional company.

While frequently dining with wine-savvy clients and sponsors, I realized that I desperately needed to brush up on my wine knowledge. Without it, I constantly risked the dreaded “freeze up and draw a blank” moment when I was asked to order the next bottle at dinner. After a few kind souls (namely, my totally awesome and completely wine-crazy friend Liz) finally took pity on me and began to share their own experiences, I was hooked. I realized that I wanted to learn absolutely everything there was to know about wine.

My interest continued to grow through the contacts I made while freelance writing for several regional publications, and volunteering in the marketing and fund-raising efforts of my professional ski team. Later, while managing the branding of a new commercial real estate brokerage, a kind referral from the owner resulted in extensive night and weekend work for a private collector named “B.”*. Thanks to B’s guidance, generosity, and trust, my wine education truly began in earnest. After almost a year, and 10,000 bottles handled, moved and recorded (and yet somehow completely unfazed by the whole affair), I finally felt like I was beginning to get a grip on this whole ‘wine thing’. It was a trial-by-fire initiation, but it allowed me a vast exposure to wine that the majority of people do not get. This experience, combined with a voracious appetite for wine literature, also allowed me to start conducting private home and business-event tastings.

Upon re-locating to the San Francisco Bay Area, I decided that theoretical knowledge would only go so far. If I was going to speak in an authoritative manner about wine and wine production, people would want to know that I knew how to drag hoses, get covered in grape stains, and haul barrels around all day. Thankfully, I was able to secure a harvest internship with a local winery. It was there that I began to learn the finer points of wine production. Namely, the ability to clean things over, and over, and over again. In addition to vineyards and wineries across California, I have also traveled to wine producing regions in Oregon, Washington, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

Along with managing Vin Collections and exploring the wine world, I maintain a love of trail running, road cycling, cross-country skiing, paddling, Barbados Rum, Islay Scotch, and Neal Stephenson books. I continue to work at A Donkey and Goat winery as often as possible and my goal is to always spread the message that wine should be interesting not intimidating, and that learning about it should always be fun.

Doing some production work - filling the basket press with Syrah must at an urban winery in Berkeley.

Visiting vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Australia.

*I am serious about, and committed to, protecting the privacy and confidentiality of all of my clients.

-Learn what others have to say about me on the Recommendations page.-