A graduate of Harvard College in 2002, Mike discovered during his studies that food and wine (inspirations for many a dinner party while living in Winthrop House) were the basis upon which he wanted to form a career. Attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY immediately after Harvard, he trained to become a chef, graduating with highest honors. After a few years of working in some of Boston's best restaurants, Mike realized that cooking for a living was not the road he wanted to take, and so packing up his life into two severely overstuffed suitcases, he set off to live in Adelaide, Australia for a year, enrolling in the Master's Degree program in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide.
While living in the heartland of the Australian wine industry, a career path devoted to studying (and occasionally tasting) wine became clear. Returning to Boston, Michael joined L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre as Sommelier and Assistant Beverage Manager and can either be found with his nose in a book or singing the praises of Grenache Gris, Chasselas, or Refosco to his customers. Mike has been certified by both the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust and is pursuing advanced levels of certification in hopes of achieving the titles of both Master Sommelier and Master of Wine.
"Before the class, I didn't know a Gimlet from a jigger, much less a Buffalo Sweat (it involves wringing the bar rag into the glass). But Mr. Tocci, whose animated delivery sounds a bit like Jay Leno's, sets us at ease from the start."
