Its 14,000 graduates included untold numbers of wine stewards and cellar masters.

Boulud promoted Lopez first to kitchen porter, then to cellar master's assistant and two years ago to his current position.

The aging process is monitored constantly by the cellar master and his tasters that work under him.

Two years later when the cellar master left, she got the job, the first woman at Windows to do so.

"The cellar master buys the wine, works the floor, trains the staff," she said.

The door opened and the cellar master meekly ventured in, his face white with terror at having to be the one to deliver bad news.

By his own count, he has trained almost 30 wine stewards and cellar masters since Windows opened.

The cellar master must know what to buy and precisely when.

He worked his way up to the dining room on the 107th floor, where he was assistant cellar master and sommelier.

Have the cellar master cut the nectar with water.