Our Founder, Gerald A. Hirsch

Gerald Hirsch was a very passionate historian and educator in the world of wine. Not only was his business important to him, aside from his family, it was his love and greatest interest. He cherished the many great relationships and acquaintances that he had established throughout the years. He was inspired by so many, and he himself inspired so many.

He spent many of his early years in the business traveling vineyards throughout the world taking countless slides and photographs for the purpose of educating as many as he could. In recent years he used the art of the video camera to further enhance the message he wanted to pass along.

Gerald's father passed away when he was eighteen which caused him to have to drop out of school to run McCoy Liquor store and tavern with his mother. In August 1959 he went to California and visited the old Cucamonga Winery on the first day of harvest. The celebration was so special and the time he spent sharing with the harvest staff and drinking a 1958 Zinfandel infected him a with a passion for wine which lasted the rest of his life.

When he returned from his trip he joined Angelo Fantozzi and spent the next 6 years working for Fantozzi Wine Company. In 1965, he teamed up with Arthur Edelstein of Federated Distributors and founded Wines Unlimited, one of the first premier wine distributorships in the country. It was at Wines Unlimited he established himself as a National wine celebrity and developed relationships with many of the most important winegrowers in the world.

In 1980, he resigned from Wines Unlimited to pursue his interest in an even more premium wine distribution operation, and in April 1981 he was a founding partner of Heritage Wine Cellars, Limited. He maintained an active role as Chairman, running the company along with his son, Steven, as President. He was also still managing Custom House Wine Merchants, a wine marketing company he founded in 1980.

It was his dream to grow Heritage Wine Cellars Ltd. into the premier wine only distribution company in the US, and today Heritage Wine Cellars Ltd is one of the most highly recognized wine distribution companies in the country representing some of the most important wine producers in the world. Heritage Wine Cellars Ltd distributes wine to the finest retail and restaurant customers in the state of Illinois.

The Chicago wine community has lost a very special wine celebrity in Gerald Hirsch. He was respected and admired by many of today's wine professionals. Just to meet him was inspirational; and his passion for the art of wine and food was unique and never ending.