Our Story
Robert Leopardi
My passion for collecting began shortly after I graduated from college. I was raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and moved to Tucson in 1976. With a degree in history and little desire to pursue teaching or law, I turned toward the fields that genuinely interested me. Throughout college, I worked in Tucson’s finest wine stores, and after graduation, I spent a year at an excellent wine shop in Belmont Shore, California, before returning to Tucson to work in wholesale wine and spirits. Over time, I found my niche in the wine side of the business.
You might wonder: How does this connect to collecting? The answer begins with a close childhood friend who dealt in 20th‑century American Abstract Art in New York. During my visits, I was captivated by the artworks he lived with and the remarkable pieces that passed through his hands. He had also purchased an entire estate of Arts & Crafts Stickley furniture—a style I instantly fell in love with.
Inspired, I returned home and dove headfirst into the world of estate sales and early‑morning classified‑ad treasure hunts. My efforts led to extraordinary finds: first a Charles Limbert settle, then a beautiful Stickley Brothers rocker. As I continued exploring antique stores and studying the Arts & Crafts movement, I discovered metalware and American art pottery—pieces that were even more accessible at the time.
During these searches, I repeatedly encountered old corkscrews. Given my wine background, they felt like a natural extension of my professional life and collecting passions. In the early 1990s, Christie’s in London held regular corkscrew auctions, and I subscribed to their catalogues. I also acquired the few reference books available then and immersed myself in learning. From there, the collection—and the obsession—grew.
A lifelong passion
I have spent my career in the wine industry while simultaneously collecting Arts & Crafts furniture, American art pottery, and, most passionately, antique corkscrews. Over the years, I’ve met extraordinary people from around the world who share these interests.
Today, my goal is simple: to share this remarkable collecting field with others and inspire as many people as possible to appreciate antique corkscrews. Whether you are just beginning or seeking to expand your collection, I look forward to helping you discover the beauty, history, and artistry behind each piece.
If you are interested in discussing how to begin collecting, visit our page or contact us at info@wineleopardcorkscrewgallery.com.
Eric Glomski
Founder and Director of Winegrowing – Page Springs Vineyards & Cellars
Eric Glomski has been working professionally in the wine industry for over 29 years. Previously, he taught as an adjunct faculty member at Prescott College and owned and operated his own ecological consulting firm Riparia, LLC. Riparia performed biological research and conducted restoration projects along rivers throughout the Southwest. After leaving consulting, Glomski moved to California where he worked his way up from cellar worker to co-winemaker at David Bruce Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains from 1997 to 2002. While at David Bruce, he also did extensive coursework in the University of California at Davis’s Viticulture & Enology program.
Moving back to Arizona at the end of 2002, Glomski helped start up Echo Canyon Winery near Sedona, Arizona, leaving in 2004 to found Page Springs Vineyards & Cellars. He later co-founded Arizona Stronghold Vineyards in 2007 and created Provisioner, Stronghold’s second label in 2015 (the state’s largest brand by volume). Glomski has grown Page Springs Cellars from three to over 50 employees and has established this family owned, boutique winery as one of the top in the state. He is currently involved in all aspects of the management of Page Springs Cellars from vineyard to bottle.
Page Springs is 100% solar powered, reclaims all its wastewater on site, and runs a composting program that turns all the businesses solid waste into fertilizer for its vineyards. Glomski regularly lectures on wine and grape growing, helped start up the Yavapai College Viticulture and Enology program, and has helped over a dozen other Arizona vineyards & wineries establish. Eric lives in Page Springs with his wife Gayle, where they raised four children who all live in Arizona.
All Things Unique and Cool
My Collaboration with Bob Leopardi
I have known Bob for nearly two decades now. In some ways he’s like a brother, in other ways a mentor. There are few people out there who truly love and truly know wine (I can count them on one hand from a wide sphere of relationships from the last 30 years in the wine business). I don’t mean this person or that person can pick out berries and earth while telling you what vintage and region they are tasting blind. I am talking about someone who has an authentic, innate curiosity for wine, where it comes from, the people and culture that crafted it, and what any particular wine means. This is Bob.
My relationship with Bob started around wine. I then learned about Bob’s love of corkscrews and collecting them. Again, I’m not talking about someone amassing a bunch of things just to have them and show them off. This is not about ego. This is a story about people, history, evolution, how the world has changed over time and how wine and preserving wine has also developed. Bob has helped me see this. In my eyes, more than anything, Bob is a historian. He’s a historian who, through his love of wine, has connected (and connects us) with history through a craft or an artform we call the corkscrew. Utilitarian? Of course. But…so much more!
Three decades into winemaking, I personally come to wine through the vineyard. Vineyards, like corkscrews, often go unappreciated. I see vineyards as the quintessential bridge between the earth and culture as expressed in wine. I have said many times that wine is a liquid landscape. But…people are also part of that landscape, and many secrets are locked up in these vinous creations we so tightly seal with cork. Many facets of the human experience merge and connect here. How telling it is that we often call the corkscrew a wine key?
I’m proud to be playing a small part in helping Bob bring the corkscrew to you. This is a fascinating part of the wine world, and one rarely seen by the average wine drinker. I hope you get a chance to see what I have seen and it deepens and enriches your appreciation for this richly textured world we all live in.
– Eric Glomski