SALISBURY — The Salisbury Wine Shop hosted a winemaker with a unique backstory during a tasting earlier this month.

Jerry Riener was a police officer when he met his wife, Jennifer Sullivan, who was working as a reporter at the time. The two now own and operate Guardian Cellars in Washington. On Nov. 19, Riener was on hand at the downtown Salisbury wine store to share his background and the wines that have become his passion.

According to the Guardian Cellars’ website, when Riener met Sullivan he was known around the Woodinville, Washington, wine scene as the chemist, turned cop, who was almost always around to help with wine work.

Riener had been volunteering 40-plus hours a week at several wineries, including Mark Ryan Winery and Matthews Cellars, assisting friends with harvest or in the tasting room. When the couple opened the Guardian tasting room in November 2007, all 375 cases — a mix of Gun Metal, Syrah and Cabernet, were gone by the end of the day. When the 2005 vintage was released months later, it was gone within a few days. For harvest 2022, the winemaking team produced 16 different wines between the two labels; a total of just over 11,000 cases.

For a guy who grew up just outside San Francisco, agriculture played a big role in Reiner’s life. Every summer, he and his three brothers piled into the family station wagon and drove to Kansas and Nebraska where they helped out on their uncles’ farms. So, when given a short to drive a forklift while volunteering at a winery at the age of 23, he jumped at the chance. Riener later graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in organic chemistry and graduated from the police academy. He soon began helping out at a number of Woodinville wineries — including Matthews, Mark Ryan and Baer.

After about four years of volunteering, Riener decided to start Guardian Cellars with one Bordeaux-style blend, a Cabernet and a Syrah. Though still an officer, and now a father of two girls, Josephine and Jillian, he remains Guardian Cellars’ lead winemaker.

When Sullivan met Riener, it was just a few weeks after she started her dream job in her hometown of Seattle. She was a reporter for The Seattle Times, fresh from jobs in South Florida and Baltimore. It was distrust at first sight, as is often the case with cops and reporters. But thanks to a few margaritas and a night debating the finer points of 90s dance music they realized they had a lot in common. Since the start of Guardian Cellars, she has managed the tasting rooms, events, staff and the wine clubs. Sullivan can often be found pouring wine in the tasting room on the weekends, sometimes with their daughters in tow.