Who: Vincenzo Montecuollo, wine director at Potente  Background: Growing up in a small coastal town 30 minutes north of Naples, Montecuollo first tasted wine that his father made only for family consumption. At 21, he landed in Bristol, England, where he worked for a Piemontese family and learned to speak English at their restaurant.

A trip to Orlando, Fla., led to a job at Disney World - "I worked for Mickey," he says - and he later moved to Miami, then Grand Cayman, landing a spot with Casanova, the famous waterfront Italian restaurant in Georgetown. It's how he met his wife, Linda, who was vacationing on the island and happened to be from Houston. The rest, as we say, is history. Before joining forces with managing partner Bill Floyd at Potente, owned by Astros owner Jim Crane, Montecuollo immersed himself in the city's high-end dining scene with postings at Tony's and Da Marco, restaurants "that made me the wine person I am today."