Question: How many Master Sommeliers participated in the national conference/AGM this past week at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Monterey? In what was truly an awesome event, big thanks need to go out to Jay Fletcher, the current American Chairman, Kathleen Lewis, our CEO, and Fred Dame, well, need one say more about Fred (!), for putting on such a great experience. Kudos!

Who woulda thunk it 23 plus years ago, that in 2010 there would be over 100 American Masters, plus one each in Canada and in Chile forming what is now known as the Court of Master Sommeliers- Americas, embracing our compadres to the north and to the south. As an early MS, we thought we’d be about 15-20 of us hanging out at the Veterans Home in Yountville, slogging down Cabernet Sauvignon, and telling war stories as it were at this point. Well, how time can prove one so wrong. Continue reading »

In reading a recent piece by my good friend Dan Berger regarding terroir in Sauvignon Blanc, I found myself nodding my head in affirmation regarding his comments about this varietal being a paramount vehicle for demonstrating the concept of ’sense of place’ (aka terroir). In the article Berger: Sauvignon blancs best at reflecting “terroir”, his stated feeling is that no other grape does this as well. Though I am in agreement that white wines are much better mirrors of terroir than reds, I have to take slight exception with Sauvignon Blanc as being the singularly best conduit. Continue reading »

The New Year always starts out with folks wanting to make prognostications as to what the forthcoming twelve months will bring. Financial people look at indicators from the opening day on Wall Street (up 150’ish for those who don’t recall) to consumer confidence numbers. Retailers take physical and emotional inventory of the ‘OND’ (October-November-December) and especially the holiday ‘D’ numbers while restaurateurs intuitively get a hit from the level of consumer happiness they detect in the dining room, the number of private parties booked at holiday and what they were spending, and bullishly anticipate what the first few weeks of the year will bring. Continue reading »

In a recent blog I ranted (albeit for just a couple of lines) about my frustration regarding exorbitant wine mark-ups in restaurants. I understand all of the reasons why, have partaken in numerous dialogues on the subject and have debated the pros and cons of how lists can/should be marked up in a number of trade gatherings. There are no simple answers, but what most of us do know is that when prices do get too high, the people vote to opt out and do so in one of two ways. Continue reading »