Odd Jobs
From October 2006
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The Fiehouse's Mario Ortiz
Enter the stained-glass double doors of the wine cellar in The Firehouse Restaurant and about 12,000 bottles of wine from all over the world stretch out before you, lining the walls from floor to ceiling.
In a locked cage called The Vault are the rare, expensive wines, including what many connoisseurs consider to be the nearly perfect vintage, a $5,000 bottle of 1997 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon. Nearly 6,000 other wines rest in a second cellar, including almost 3,000 bottles of Silver Oak Cabernet. The collection is the pride and joy of Mario Ortiz, general manager and wine buyer for the award-winning restaurant in Old Sacramento.
Born in Morelia, Mexico, and raised in south Sacramento, the artistically inclined Ortiz was a student at Burbank High School when he started working as a busboy at The Firehouse in 1971 and became fascinated with wine labels. He began visiting the old Corti Bros. store on Freeport Blvd. twice a week to study the wine labels. Today, he chuckles at the memory of “hanging around the store” until his mentor, Darrell Corti, “started getting sick of me.”
During the ’70s, Ortiz played soccer on Sacramento’s Morelia team and often traveled to Napa Valley to play the Napa team, visit wineries, and paint and sketch. In the wineries’ tasting rooms he met and learned from leaders of the wine industry, including Robert Mondavi, founder of Robert Mondavi Winery; Gil Nickel, owner of Far Niente; and Justin Meyer, co-founder of Silver Oak Cellars.
Soccer and Wine Labels
Working his way up the ranks at The Firehouse for the next two decades, Ortiz held almost every position in the organization. His passion for wine grew, along with his friendships with wine makers and owners, including Meyer.
The two men, who first met in 1979, would get together often for dinner and to share their love of soccer, wine and art. They talked about a special collection of Silver Oak cabernets for The Firehouse, but nothing got finalized. In 2001, while playing racquetball at the winery, a “handshake agreement” was made. “If I won,” says Ortiz, who was now wine buyer for the restaurant, “I would have a one-time opportunity to purchase any vintages from the Meyer’s personal cellar,” many of which were difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
“I lost the game,” says Ortiz, “but Justin said he would honor the deal anyway.” Meyer died of a heart attack eight months later, but his widow, Bonny, kept the deal. So, now The Firehouse has what is likely the only complete collection of Silver Oak vintage cabernet.
“Mario is such a warm person, gracious and supportive,” says Bonny. “Our wine relationship continues as well as our friendship.” Then she laughs, “He probably has wines I don’t even have anymore!”
However, it’s the support of Firehouse owner Lloyd Harvego, the venture capitalist who bought the restaurant in 1999, that enabled Ortiz to turn the wine cellar into what is today. “He indulged my passion to build the wine list,” Ortiz acknowledges.
Under Harvego, Ortiz has expanded the cellar from 5,000 bottles to more than 18,000, representing more than 1,300 selections. The collection has helped earn The Firehouse multiple awards, including the Award of Unique Distinction from Wine Enthusiast magazine in 2005 and the Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine for the past three consecutive years.
His personal favorite on the wine list? Ortiz pauses, nods and smiles: “1990 Chateau Latour, Bordeaux from the Pauillac region. I tasted it on a recent trip to France, and I’ve never had anything like it.” At around $2,000 a bottle if you can find it, he says, the wine “has a seamless flavor and is most memorable. It will be written about in history.”
Customers agree that while the restaurant and the wine list are wonderful, it’s Ortiz who’s the heart and soul of the place.
“He’s extremely knowledgeable without being overbearing,” says long-time customer Brooks Ellison, managing partner of The Wilson Group, LLC. “I’ve never failed to learn from Mario, but in an indirect way. He lets people come to the knowledge and makes them comfortable, connoisseurs and nonconnoisseurs alike.”
“It’s Mario and his attention to customer service,” says Joe Gamble, regional vice president for Central California at Comcast. “He gives the place its ‘homey feel’ and keeps me coming back.”
“Like going into his living room,” agrees Bob White, founding partner of the political consulting firm California Strategies. “His wonderful respect for the history and tradition of The Firehouse makes dining there a special experience.”
Ortiz still nurtures his artistic talent, too. He hand-painted the wine cellar’s floor to look like real stone. The wall next to The Vault sports a colorful landscape of Far Niente Winery, surrounded by a cream-colored faux-brick wall and grapevines laden with wine-grape clusters twining round.
Domaine Chandon commissioned him to paint 309 jeroboams for the winery’s 25th anniversary, and pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim, which has held an annual board meeting and awards dinner at The Firehouse for the past 20 years, has Ortiz paint a 6-liter bottle of wine every year, each bottle featuring a different pharmaceutical theme.
So after 35 years with The Firehouse, does Ortiz feel an urge to focus on his painting or perhaps open his own restaurant? He admits he’s thought about it, but then shakes his head. “Wine is what I do … besides going to church on Sunday.”
What about opening a winery himself? No, he confesses. “I’d rather drink it.”
Pour Man's Riches
by Jennifer AllenEnter the stained-glass double doors of the wine cellar in The Firehouse Restaurant and about 12,000 bottles of wine from all over the world stretch out before you, lining the walls from floor to ceiling.
In a locked cage called The Vault are the rare, expensive wines, including what many connoisseurs consider to be the nearly perfect vintage, a $5,000 bottle of 1997 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon. Nearly 6,000 other wines rest in a second cellar, including almost 3,000 bottles of Silver Oak Cabernet. The collection is the pride and joy of Mario Ortiz, general manager and wine buyer for the award-winning restaurant in Old Sacramento.
Born in Morelia, Mexico, and raised in south Sacramento, the artistically inclined Ortiz was a student at Burbank High School when he started working as a busboy at The Firehouse in 1971 and became fascinated with wine labels. He began visiting the old Corti Bros. store on Freeport Blvd. twice a week to study the wine labels. Today, he chuckles at the memory of “hanging around the store” until his mentor, Darrell Corti, “started getting sick of me.”
During the ’70s, Ortiz played soccer on Sacramento’s Morelia team and often traveled to Napa Valley to play the Napa team, visit wineries, and paint and sketch. In the wineries’ tasting rooms he met and learned from leaders of the wine industry, including Robert Mondavi, founder of Robert Mondavi Winery; Gil Nickel, owner of Far Niente; and Justin Meyer, co-founder of Silver Oak Cellars.
Soccer and Wine Labels
Working his way up the ranks at The Firehouse for the next two decades, Ortiz held almost every position in the organization. His passion for wine grew, along with his friendships with wine makers and owners, including Meyer.
The two men, who first met in 1979, would get together often for dinner and to share their love of soccer, wine and art. They talked about a special collection of Silver Oak cabernets for The Firehouse, but nothing got finalized. In 2001, while playing racquetball at the winery, a “handshake agreement” was made. “If I won,” says Ortiz, who was now wine buyer for the restaurant, “I would have a one-time opportunity to purchase any vintages from the Meyer’s personal cellar,” many of which were difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
“I lost the game,” says Ortiz, “but Justin said he would honor the deal anyway.” Meyer died of a heart attack eight months later, but his widow, Bonny, kept the deal. So, now The Firehouse has what is likely the only complete collection of Silver Oak vintage cabernet.
“Mario is such a warm person, gracious and supportive,” says Bonny. “Our wine relationship continues as well as our friendship.” Then she laughs, “He probably has wines I don’t even have anymore!”
However, it’s the support of Firehouse owner Lloyd Harvego, the venture capitalist who bought the restaurant in 1999, that enabled Ortiz to turn the wine cellar into what is today. “He indulged my passion to build the wine list,” Ortiz acknowledges.
Under Harvego, Ortiz has expanded the cellar from 5,000 bottles to more than 18,000, representing more than 1,300 selections. The collection has helped earn The Firehouse multiple awards, including the Award of Unique Distinction from Wine Enthusiast magazine in 2005 and the Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine for the past three consecutive years.
His personal favorite on the wine list? Ortiz pauses, nods and smiles: “1990 Chateau Latour, Bordeaux from the Pauillac region. I tasted it on a recent trip to France, and I’ve never had anything like it.” At around $2,000 a bottle if you can find it, he says, the wine “has a seamless flavor and is most memorable. It will be written about in history.”
Customers agree that while the restaurant and the wine list are wonderful, it’s Ortiz who’s the heart and soul of the place.
“He’s extremely knowledgeable without being overbearing,” says long-time customer Brooks Ellison, managing partner of The Wilson Group, LLC. “I’ve never failed to learn from Mario, but in an indirect way. He lets people come to the knowledge and makes them comfortable, connoisseurs and nonconnoisseurs alike.”
“It’s Mario and his attention to customer service,” says Joe Gamble, regional vice president for Central California at Comcast. “He gives the place its ‘homey feel’ and keeps me coming back.”
“Like going into his living room,” agrees Bob White, founding partner of the political consulting firm California Strategies. “His wonderful respect for the history and tradition of The Firehouse makes dining there a special experience.”
Ortiz still nurtures his artistic talent, too. He hand-painted the wine cellar’s floor to look like real stone. The wall next to The Vault sports a colorful landscape of Far Niente Winery, surrounded by a cream-colored faux-brick wall and grapevines laden with wine-grape clusters twining round.
Domaine Chandon commissioned him to paint 309 jeroboams for the winery’s 25th anniversary, and pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim, which has held an annual board meeting and awards dinner at The Firehouse for the past 20 years, has Ortiz paint a 6-liter bottle of wine every year, each bottle featuring a different pharmaceutical theme.
So after 35 years with The Firehouse, does Ortiz feel an urge to focus on his painting or perhaps open his own restaurant? He admits he’s thought about it, but then shakes his head. “Wine is what I do … besides going to church on Sunday.”
What about opening a winery himself? No, he confesses. “I’d rather drink it.”
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