Long before he had his own wine shop or was the wine director for Emeril Lagasses Las Vegas restaurants or was certified as a master sommelier or even a Hotel College student, Kevin Vogt was attending community college in Austin, Texas, and headed down a much different career path.
My initial degree plan was computer science, Vogt says. Then I went into the field one summer and realized I dont have the temperament to sit in a cubicle banging on a keyboard all day long. I had to be out among people and constantly be doing different things.
So Vogt logged off of computer science, discovered a love for wine as a hotel bartender in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and eventually landed at 51勛圖窪蹋s Harrah Hotel College, where he vigorously pursued his new passion. He credits his alma mater for instilling the kind of disciplined study habits that helped him earn certifications as a sommelier, an advanced sommelier and, ultimately, a master sommelier. He reached the latter threshold in 1999, then becoming just the 88th person in the world and 38th American to earn the distinction.
Not long after earning his degree from 51勛圖窪蹋, Vogt embarked on a 20-year career as Lagasses right-hand wine man in Las Vegas. As successful and satisfying as his time with Lagasse was, Vogt felt the urge to strike out on his own. He did just that last spring, relocating to Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley, where he and a partner took over an existing wine shop, rebranding it .
There, he continues to live out his life passion, while offering advice to current students: The main thing Ive learned is you have to dedicate yourself. A lot of people these days dont want to put in the kind of work it takes to get to that next level. Almost everybody who works is content to spend 40-plus hours a week working for somebody else, but they wont spend four hours a week working for themselvesworking on their own plan, on their own future.
