D Magazine features Haynes and Boone, LLP Associate Taylor Rex Robertson in its March 2021 issue, describing how being a sommelier and award-winning wine taster ties to his legal career.
Here is an excerpt:
Dallas Attorney Taylor Rex Robertson’s passion for wine tasting has taken him all over the world. A certified sommelier, he won the U.S. Wine Tasting Open in 2019 with tasting partner Jacob Fergus. That earned him a spot at the World Wine Tasting Championship in France. At both events, Robertson was the only lawyer in the room.
“I’ve had situations where I’ve not been invited to tasting groups because of [not working in the service industry],” he says. “I’ve had to fight a little bit of that resistance.”
Now a trial lawyer at Haynes and Boone, Robertson developed a passion for the history, production, and marketing of wine while working as a waiter and bartender at a bistro in Oklahoma City. He was biding his time before starting law school and began to consider becoming a professional sommelier instead.
“My parents are happy that I chose law,” he says.
He didn’t give up his passion for wine, though, and in 2018 became a certified sommelier. “I love learning,” he says.” I love something that’s analytical and deductive, and for better or worse, wine and wine tasting checks all those boxes.”
He says his notoriety in the wine world is great for building relationships in his law career. “It’s always the first thing that comes up with clients or even opposing counsel,” Robertson says. “I’ll introduce myself and they say, “Oh, you’re the wine guy.”
To read the full D Magazine article, click here.
Here is an excerpt:
Dallas Attorney Taylor Rex Robertson’s passion for wine tasting has taken him all over the world. A certified sommelier, he won the U.S. Wine Tasting Open in 2019 with tasting partner Jacob Fergus. That earned him a spot at the World Wine Tasting Championship in France. At both events, Robertson was the only lawyer in the room.
“I’ve had situations where I’ve not been invited to tasting groups because of [not working in the service industry],” he says. “I’ve had to fight a little bit of that resistance.”
Now a trial lawyer at Haynes and Boone, Robertson developed a passion for the history, production, and marketing of wine while working as a waiter and bartender at a bistro in Oklahoma City. He was biding his time before starting law school and began to consider becoming a professional sommelier instead.
“My parents are happy that I chose law,” he says.
He didn’t give up his passion for wine, though, and in 2018 became a certified sommelier. “I love learning,” he says.” I love something that’s analytical and deductive, and for better or worse, wine and wine tasting checks all those boxes.”
He says his notoriety in the wine world is great for building relationships in his law career. “It’s always the first thing that comes up with clients or even opposing counsel,” Robertson says. “I’ll introduce myself and they say, “Oh, you’re the wine guy.”
To read the full D Magazine article, click here.