In The Drink

This week on In the Drink, Joe Campanale is joined by Doug Polaner of Polaner Selections. Doug got the wine bug in 1985 while studying abroad in Paris. Though, after graduating from college the following year and moving to NY City, wine remained a background hobby while he slugged it out on Madison Avenue working for several Ad Agencies. Eventually, the wine bug won out, and he started selling wine in 1991 for Excelsior Wine & Spirits, and later, in 1993, for Michael Skurnik Wines. It wasn’t until 1999 that Doug, along with his soon-to-be wife and business partner, Tina Fischer, started Polaner Selections. “It was our first child, literally and figuratively”, says Fischer. Though starting in an already crowded marketplace, the company knew it had to stand out to be relevant, and the couple worked hard to create a progressive and cutting-edge portfolio. Fortunately, success came early, and the company was recognized in Decanter Magazine as one of NY’s up-and-comers, and soon thereafter, as “Importer of the