After four years and the equivalent gestation of several baby elephants, my new child has arrived. No, not that kind… I have two teens at home and we are done on that front, but the child in question here, and the latest ‘family addition’, is my new book, Daring Pairings: A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines with Recipes from His Favorite Chefs (UC Press) and is a work of which I am very proud.

The book is really a result of the requests of so many readers of its prequel, Perfect Pairings, and the expressed desire, once mastering the ‘basics’ (Chardonnay, Cabernet, Pinot Noir, etc) of taking the road less traveled Continue reading »

I have been in this business a long time. No old age jokes please, as I have heard them all - from “Pleistocene Sommelier” to “What wine goes with brontosaurus”. That said, I still get rookie-like giddiness when teaching people who are just beginning their quest.

A group of us have been down under for this past week to assist the Court of Master Sommeliers in expanding our “brand” into the Antipodes. We’ve just completed our first-ever course, in Melbourne and that group of MS’s (Team Aussie if you will) continues on to do same in Sydney. I am on “Team Kiwi”, and we are completing a session of level one (the Introductory program) and a “level two” certified in Wellington (NZ), before heading off to examine in Auckland. Continue reading »

I just returned from speaking at the annual Sante magazine On-Premise Restaurant symposium in beautiful Manchester, Vermont this past week. It was a super event attended by lots of my peers and with great content in terms of the presentations and, of course, the food and wine.

During a tag-team session with Charlie Trotter‘s team (led by Conrad Reddick, the chef sommelier and company beverage director), as part of an interactive food and wine presentation, the subject came up about wine and food pairing and the importance of the emotionality or ‘emotional attachment’ factor that colors our perceptions of what we like. Needless to say, the same wine under two different circumstances can taste completely different simply by changing the environment, people and context. This is true as well of food- again based on your dining companions and, I would add strongly, the quality of service that you receive.

There’s complete truth to the old adage that a great waiter can save a bad meal but nothing can save a bad waiter. Delicious food served in a dining room that’s more reminiscent of a Keystone Cops comedy than a fine oiled machine will always fare poorly. Conversely, decent food served by a great waiter will always taste better than it actually is…we all know that first hand. Continue reading »

Being a sommelier today is very different than what it has been previously. Forget the fact that a contemporary somm needs to be aware of wines coming from Greece, Argentina, Portugal and South Africa in addition to the derigeur classics- Italy, France, and California. They have to be more adept at inventory management, staff training, cont controls and oh yeah, they need to know about pairing wine with food. Not as obvious today as it once was. Let me explain…

Historically there has been a ‘traditional’ culinary order that a sommelier addressed on the floor of a dining room: an appetizer or salad, a ‘main’ culminating in a dessert. Sure maybe a cheese course was fit in between the entrée and the sweet or an amuse was tossed in at the beginning to titillate the palate but the basic architecture of the meal was essentially consistent. But that’s not the case of many restaurants today. Continue reading »

I am asked often what my favorite wine is. Tough if not impossible query to answer as it’s dependent on so many different factors. What am I eating? What’s my mood? Who am I with? And the list goes on and on.

As a genuine lover of wine, I ask myself a rather different series of questions to weigh in on my ‘rating’ of a wine. First and foremost I ask myself, in the words of my good friend and fellow Master Sommelier Madeline Triffon, is the wine ‘good’? is it well made and balanced. Is the oak too much for the style? Is the acid in check with the wine’s texture and do all of the pieces come together harmoniously? Nothing should be out of whack or dramatically out of equilibrium. Or as I like to say simply, ’10 fingers and 10 toes’. Without this first critical factor a wine will have a difficult time making the grade for me.

Next I ask myself if the wine is varietally correct. That is to say does the wine taste of the grape or grapes from which it is made and of what it professes to be on its label? I am not a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc that tastes like Chardonnay or Pinot Noir that tastes like Syrah. I believe in ‘truth in advertising’ both for what I expect from a wine’s labeled framework and what I have paid to enjoy. Continue reading »