Bordeaux, Loire Valley, New Zealand, Sancerre, Sauvignon Blanc, Savignin, South Africa, Wine

Sauvignon Blanc

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During the pandemic, Sauvignon Blanc became the go-to wine in the United States. Wine sales during the summer of 2020 showed that 38% of all wine sold in the U. S. was Sauvignon Blanc. This was followed closely by red blends, Moscato, Pinot Noir, and Rosé. This isn’t surprising considering that the crisp tropical and herbal flavors of Sauvignon Blanc are refreshing and delicious during the hot summer months. But what is Sauvignon Blanc? Let’s dig a little deeper to see what all the fuss is about.

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape that originated in the Bordeaux region of France. Its name most likely comes from the French word sauvage (“wild”) and blanc (“white”). Experts believe that it is descended from Savagnin, a grape found in Jura, France, an area located in eastern France near the Swiss border. Sauvignon Blanc is planted in many of the world’s wine regions. It produces white wines that are dry, crisp, and refreshing. It is the grape used to make the famous dessert wine from Bordeaux known as Sauternes. It’s grown in Chile, France, Canada, Bulgaria, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, California, and Washington.

In California, Robert Mondavi and others refer to their Sauvignon Blanc as Fumé Blanc, an homage to wines made in Pouilly-Fumé, an AOC in the Loire Valley, France. For those unfamiliar with French wine terminology, AOC stands for Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. In essence, it’s the designation of origin. In France, certifications are granted to certain geographical locations for the production of wine, cheese, butter, and other agricultural products. It’s equivalent to the designation of origin (D.O.) in Spain.

Climate determines the flavor profile of wines made from Sauvignon Blanc. In cooler climates, the wines tend to have high acidity with noticeable green aromas like grass and bell peppers with tropical fruit and floral notes–most notably, passion fruit and elderflower. In warmer climates, the tropical notes become more pronounced, but the warmer temperature can cause those aromas to disappear, leaving grapefruit and peach flavors and aromas instead.

Sauvignon Blanc is usually seen as a single-varietal wine, although it is sometimes blended with Sémillon. It is usually aged in neutral vessels such as stainless steel. It’s distinctive herbaceous characteristics are easily overwhelmed by new oak barrels. Sauvignon Blanc is best consumed when young. Even the best examples of this wine lose their fresh aromas within a couple of years. Older Sauvignon Blanc tends to develop undesirable vegetal aromas. 

In the Loire Valley, Sauvignon Blanc is the only white grape permitted in the Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé AOC’s. These two AOC’s face each other across the Loire River. This area has a cool climate which produces dry white wines with high acidity and aromas of green apple, grass, asparagus, and sometimes wet stones. There are also some amazing examples of Sauvignon Blanc from the Touraine AOC, located just west of Sancerre.

Bordeaux produces a broad range of styles of Sauvignon Blanc. Here, the simplest examples from Bordeaux have fresh aromas of grass and green apple, while the wines from Graves AOC and Pessac-Léognan AOC are more concentrated and complex. These wines tend to be blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, another white-skinned grape from Bordeaux. Sémillon adds body to the blend and also helps the wine to age. 

The cool to moderate climate in the Marlborough region of New Zealand has become the epicenter of Sauvignon Blanc in recent years. Here, the grape has more pronounced characteristics than those from France. The wines are usually a blend of Sauvignon Blanc from different sites or harvested at different ripeness levels. The wines therefore display a broad range of fruit flavors: lemon, passion fruit, and peach. These flavors alongside pronounced green bell pepper and asparagus produce some remarkably interesting wines. Marlborough winemakers are keen on experimentation. They’ve begun to work with grapes from cooler climates to produce a style similar to the Loire Valley. Some winemakers there have also begun to experiment with oak aging and lees contact to add complexity and body to their wines. Lees are the dead yeast cells left over after the fermentation process. These cells add desirable flavors and aromas to wines when they are not immediately filtered out after the fermentation process has finished.

The Margaret River region of Western Australia is also making a name for itself with its Sauvignon Blanc. They produce both single-varietal wines as well as Sauvignon Blanc blended with Sémillon. Here the wines are concentrated, with grassy aromas. They’ve also begun to use oak in the aging process. The Adelaide Hills in South Australia have vineyards that are cooled by both altitude and ocean breezes. Wines from this area are fresh and fruity with a broad range of citrus and tropical fruit flavors and aromas. There are also some examples from this region that blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon to produce wine that are much fuller in body with some potential for aging.

South Africa’s Sauvignon Blanc plantings are concentrated in the coastal regions. It’s too warm to grow the grape inland. Constantia, just south of Cape Town, is cooled by breezes from the Southern Ocean. Sauvignon Blanc produced here is refreshing with ripe tropical-fruit and herbaceous aromas. Elgin, a much smaller region, is cooled by elevation. It is the coolest wine producing region in South Africa. Sauvignon Blanc here shows green apple with some minerality, namely wet stones.

The climate in California is generally too warm to grow Sauvignon Blanc. The notable exception is the Napa Valley. The cooler climate in Napa can produce the characteristic acidity and herbaceous notes associated with Sauvignon Blanc. Wine makers here like to use oak to add body and smokiness to their wines.

Sauvignon Blancs popularity continues to grow throughout the wine drinking world. It’s refreshing and can be enjoyed with or without food. It is one of the few wines that pairs well with Sushi, one of my favorite summer foods.  Whether you like the classic styles from France or the New World Styles of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa or Chile, there is a style of Sauvignon Blanc for almost everyone’s taste. The next time you’re in the mood for something new, why not try Sauvignon Blanc? You may find a new go-to wine.

Chardonnay, Wine

Chardonnay

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PRODUCED IN ALMOST EVERY wine-growing region, Chardonnay is the world’s most popular white wine.  It’s made in styles ranging from lean, racy, and unoaked, to ripe, rich, and unctuous. It can express a wide range of terroir influenced elements, from stony minerality to salinity, and herbal tones. Love them or hate them, the beauty, versatility, and diversity of this amazing grape does not go unnoticed. Let’s take a dive into the deep end of the chardonnay pool to see what else we can discover about this amazing grape.

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape used to make white wine. It’s considered a neutral grape with many of the flavors associated with the wine being derived from the influence of terroir and oak. In cooler climates such as the Carneros AVA, located in California, or Chablis, located in France, Chardonnay tends to be light to medium-bodied with higher acidity and flavors like green plum, apple, and pear. In warm climates like the Mornington Peninsula, in Australia, or Marlborough, in New Zealand, the flavors lean toward citrus, peach, and melon while very warm environments such as the Central Coast of California tend to have more tropical fruit and fig flavors.

Malolactic conversion is a process in winemaking in which malic acid, a tart-tasting acid, naturally occurring in grape juice, is converted to lactic acid, a much softer tasting acid. This process in standard in red wine production and is common in white wine production as well. In the production of Chardonnay, this conversion imparts fruit flavors along with a buttery mouthfeel and notes of hazelnuts. High acid Chardonnay is a key component in many sparkling wines, especially Champagne. It is the second most widely planted grape in the world, finishing second to the Spanish varietal, Airén.

Modern DNA testing has determined that Chardonnay is the product of a cross between Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc.  It’s believed that the Romans brought Gouais Blanc from Croatia to eastern France where it was embraced by peasants. Pinot Noir, widely enjoyed by the aristocracy in France, was grown in close proximity, so there was ample opportunity for the crossing to take place. Further propagation of this successful crossing, in turn, produced Chardonnay’s siblings: Aligoté, Auxerrois, Gamay, and Melon de Bourgogne.

Chardonnay is known for its relative ease of cultivation and adaptability.  It can grow in all wine-growing climates.  It’s considered very malleable as it reflects the impression of both the winemaker and the terroir where it’s grown.  It’s a highly vigorous plant which requires vineyard managers to aggressively prune and limit yields so that quality is not diminished.  It also adapts to most soil types: chalk, clay, limestone, stone, shale, and Kimmeridgian marl.

Known for its versatility, Chardonnay lends itself to almost any wine-style.  Two wine making decisions that most affect what you’ll find in a bottle of Chardonnay are whether or not to use malolactic conversion and whether to age the wine in oak or not.  Oak can either be used during the fermentation process or during the aging process or both. Oak barrels can be charred on the inside.  The amount of charring determines the level of “toastiness” that is present in the wines flavor.  The level of “toastiness” also adds flavors such as caramel, cream, smoke, spice, coconut, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla.

Other factors that affect Chardonnay are the temperature of fermentation and the amount of time, if any, that the wine is allowed to spend on the lees. Lees are the deposits of dead yeast and other particles that precipitate to the bottom of the fermentation vessel after fermentation has completed. Colder fermentation temperatures produce tropical fruit flavors like pineapple or mango.

The time of harvesting is a key decision for Chardonnay because it loses acidity as soon as it ripens.  In Champagne, the grapes are harvested early while slightly un-ripe to preserve its high acidity levels.  Sparkling Chardonnay based wines exhibit more floral notes and steely flavors in their youth. When they are aged on the lees, they tend to develop toasty notes.  Even in cooler climates, Chardonnay has little difficulty developing sugar.  This promotes the potential for high alcohol levels.  Low acidity levels can be a problem, however.  These wines tend to be flabby or dull.  In cases like this, the winemaker can add tartaric acid to help balance the wine.  This process is called acidification.

As mentioned earlier, Chardonnay is very malleable. This is good news for the winemaker because there is no one distinct wine-style for Chardonnay.  He or she is not limited by terroir, region, or aging vessel. Not only that, but they can also make still or sparkling wine.  The sky is the limit. This wide range of styles allows Chardonnay to pair with a diverse spectrum of foods. Chicken and turkey are commonly paired with Chardonnay, however, heavily oaked Chardonnay pairs well with smoked fish, Asian cuisine, and dishes with guacamole and garlic.  Chardonnay with higher acid levels pair well with tomato-based dishes while older vintages of Chardonnay pair with earthy/mushroom soups or aged cheeses.

In France, Chardonnay is prominent in the regions of Chablis, Burgundy, and Champagne.  These wine-producing regions are known throughout the world for their very high-quality wine offerings.  Burgundy has long been known as the benchmark for expressing terroir through Chardonnay.  The United States is known for the successful commercial production of Chardonnay in California. Areas such as Sonoma, Napa Valley, Monterey County, and the Russian River Valley have set themselves apart with their quality Chardonnay production. Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and South Africa have also made a name for themselves by producing high quality wines made from Chardonnay.

I, personally, have a love/hate relationship with Chardonnay.  As a wine professional, I appreciate what Chardonnay can be.  When it’s done properly, Chardonnay has an unmatched elegance that few grapes can express.  Sadly, the best Chardonnays are too expensive to enjoy every day.  Those that are affordable, leave a lot to be desired. For me, they are too oaky, have too much acid, or too much alcohol. They are too unbalanced for me to enjoy.  But on that rare occasion when I can enjoy one of those expensive examples that expresses terroir in a way that transports me to another time and place, I close my eyes and enjoy the journey.  I hope that, one day, you get to experience that too.

Fining Agents, Natural Wine, Vegan, Wine

Wine 101 (barely scratching the surface)

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RECENTLY, I WAS ASKED to teach a wine basics class. This isn’t an unusual request.  I’ve done these sorts of classes for the staff of restaurants on a number of occasions.  This request was a little bit different, however.  Instead of teaching a restaurant staff, I was asked to teach the members of a restaurant’s wine club some wine basics. This would be challenging for many reasons.  The level of wine knowledge with a group such as this would vary widely, and the focus of the class could be broad.  Figuring out how to approach this type of assignment would be particularly challenging, but I always wanted to do something like this, so I had a couple of ideas that would make the class flow pretty easily.  The best place to start is, as always, at the beginning.

Definitions are always a good starting point, so what is wine? Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced from grape juice via a process called fermentation.  Archeological evidence suggests that wine made its debut at a site in Georgia, a country that lies between eastern Europe and western Asia. This site dates to approximately 8000 BCE.  At that time, the wine-making process was not understood.  The altered consciousness produced by this amazing new beverage was attributed to religious doctrine. Ancient Greeks worshipped Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest, and ritual wines were consumed as part of Jewish religious practice since Biblical times and are an integral part of the eucharist commemorating the Last Supper.

It took almost 12,000 years before fermentation, the magical process that converts grape juice into wine, was understood.  In 1837, three researchers independently published papers that established the fact that yeast was a living organism.  In 1850, Louis Pasteur continued this ground-breaking work. Finally, in 1897, Eduard Beuchner identified the enzymes responsible for fermentation.  His work gave rise to the birth of biochemistry and helped him secure the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1907. Let that sink in for a few seconds.  Fermentation has been a part of human civilization for the better part of 12,000 years, back when beer hit the scene, yet we’ve only understood how it works for 184 of those years.  The other 11,816 years we merely attributed it to the good graces of whichever deity or deities were popular at the time.

Now that we know what wine is and how biochemistry plays a role in making it, why are wines from different places made from the same grapes so different? Fortunately, the French have a term that answers this question very simply.  The word is terroir. There is no English equivalent for this mysterious word. It’s defined very eloquently by Hugh Johnson, a renowned British wine writer as …much more than what goes on beneath the surface. Properly understood, it means the whole ecology of a vineyard: every aspect of its surroundings from bedrock to late frosts and autumn mists, not excluding the way a vineyard is tended, nor even the soul of the vigneron. While cleverly written, this sheds little light on what terroir actually is.  The textbook definition states that terroir is the complete set of factors, tangible and intangible, that go into the grape-growing process. Again, not exactly clear, but better.

I like to use a story to give a better picture of what terroir is.  I have a friend who grew up in the Piedmont region in Italy.  This area is known for some of the most powerful red wines in the world.  She’s been around vineyards and wine all of her life. We’ve drank wine together both casually and professionally for a few years now. The first time that we drank wine together, I noticed something that helped me understand terroir in a different way.  We opened a bottle of Nebbiolo d’Alba, a wine made near where she’s from.  When she put her nose to the glass to smell it, she slowly closed her eyes.  Then she began to smile and her skin almost glowed. When she finally opened her eyes, she said, this smells like home.  But, when she said it, her barely noticeable Italian accent was suddenly far more pronounced.  Throughout the rest of the wine tasting, she actually spoke to me in Italian a few times before she realized that we were still sitting at the same table in a restaurant in Carytown rather than in a cantina in Alba.  So, what happened? As someone who grew up in a wine culture, she could smell the soil where the grapes grew. She could smell the flowers and herbs that grow near the vines, she could smell the rainfall, and she could smell the cool breezes that blow across the vineyards.  That’s terroir.  It can literally transport you to a different time and place.  That’s why I love being a wine professional.  I want to open a bottle of wine and be mentally transported to where it’s from. 

One of the most important things to note is that there are thousands of different types of grapes.  The primary species used to make wine is called vitis vinifera. It’s native to Europe, the Mediterranean, and southwestern Asia. Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Merlot and all the grapes synonymous with the wines we all know and love are from the vitis vinifera family. Grapes don’t just provide the juice to make wine.  The skins of the grape provide tannins, flavor, and color. The pulp provides water, sugar, and acids.  The seeds can add bitterness.  The ideal area to grow vitis vinifera is located between the 30th and 50th parallels in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Typically, the growing season is from early spring through the fall in the northern hemisphere.  In the southern hemisphere, spring begins in October, so the growing season runs from October through March.

Two other terms that you should be familiar with are Old World and New World.  The Old World refers to places like France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Greece, and Hungary. The New World refers to most everywhere else that produces wine.  Places like Argentina, Chile, the United States, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand are considered the New World. In general, the differences in Old World and New World wines come from wine-making practices (tradition) and from the effect of the land and climate on the grapes. Old World wines are often described as tasting lighter, having less alcohol and higher acidity, with a less fruity taste. New World wines are often described as tasting riper, having higher alcohol and less acidity with a fruitier taste. The biggest difference between the Old World and the New World is that the Old World has strict laws in place that dictate wine-making practices.  This ultimately decides the wine’s style.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s answer one of my favorite questions: why do people hate French wines? During my years as a wine professional, I’ve discovered that people really don’t hate French wines. What they hate is that the labels on French wine bottles are so cryptic to them that it’s impossible to figure out what’s in the bottle.  That’s more like frustration than hate.  For instance, I have a friend who says that sometimes she likes Bordeaux and sometimes she doesn’t.  After carefully listening to what she said about the wines she liked, I figured out why that was the case.  In Bordeaux, the wines are blends.  This is news to some, but what’s even bigger news is that Bordeaux is divided into two sections which are separated by the Gironde Estuary. The left section is referred to as the Left Bank and the right section is referred to as the Right Bank.  Red wine from the Left Bank is made predominantly from Cabernet Sauvignon while red wine from the Right Bank is made predominantly from Merlot.  Because my friend does not enjoy Merlot, it would stand to reason that Right Bank Bordeaux is not her favorite.  Another comment that I’ve heard frequently is that people think that the Burgundy region only makes red wine.  Burgundy is the name of a place, not the color of the wine.  Red wine from Burgundy is made from Pinot Noir while white wine from Burgundy is made from Chardonnay.

Champagne is also commonly misunderstood.  A phrase that I like to use to begin to help clear up the confusion is that ALL Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne.  Again, Champagne is the name of a place that produces a sparkling wine called Champagne.  Any sparkling wine made outside of Champagne is not Champagne.  There are a lot of amazing sparkling wines made all over the world using the exact same method used to make Champagne, but they cannot be called Champagne.  Examples of this are Cava and Crement.  Cava is a sparkling wine made in Spain from indigenous grapes. Crement is a name given to the best sparkling wines from France that are not made in Champagne. Crement de Loire, Crement du Jura, and Crement d’Alsace are examples of really good sparkling wines made using the same process used to make Champagne.  Prosecco is a sparkling wine from Italy.  Making Prosecco is far less time consuming than making Champagne, therefore it’s not as expensive to make and the savings are reflected in its price.

The last thing I would like to discuss is vegan wine and natural wine.  All wines are not vegan friendly. That’s because fining agents, the processing aids used to stabilize and clarify some wines, are made from things like animal proteins and egg whites. Fining agents are filtered out but can be absorbed by the wine, making the wine not vegan-friendly. There are vegan-friendly wines on the market, so check the labels to find them. Natural wines are a concept rather than an actual wine category.  At its core, natural wines are wines made with little to no intervention.  Basically, wine made the way it was made before machinery and herbicides became the norm. I find them interesting, but they aren’t for everyone. If you’re adventurous, give some of them a try.  You may find a new favorite beverage.

Wine can be an overwhelming endeavor.  If you enjoy drinking wine, it’s definitely worth the effort to do some research about the things that you enjoy. It’s also good to take notes on the wines that you like, so that you can find them again the next time you’re out searching for wines.  Attending wine tastings and sharing bottles with friends are also fun ways to learn more about all the different kinds of wines out there. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.  That’s the best way to learn.  Don’t be afraid to try new things. How else are you going to expand your palate? Most importantly, enjoy your wine journey.  Wine is an amazing gift.  Learning to appreciate it has been an unparalleled learning experience for me. I hope that others find it as fascinating as I do.

Albumin, Casein, Clarify, Fining Agents, Gelatin, Isinglass, Natural Wine, Vegan, Wine

is all wine vegan?

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THE SHORT ANSWER IS no. The long answer is a little more complex.  Simply stated, wine is fermented grape juice.  Yeast, either natural or cultured, converts the sugar in grape juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This simplistic process is by no means harmful to anyone, so what makes some wines non-vegan-friendly? Surely, wine isn’t tested on animals or is it? Again, thankfully, no. That would be a tremendous waste of valuable resources.

These days, wine drinkers tend to enjoy their wines clear and bright. Once fermentation is complete, wines are very cloudy. If it’s left sitting long enough, it will eventually stabilize and clarify on its own.  However, winemakers have long used fining agents to speed up the process.  Fining agents are substances used to clarify liquids such as beer or wine. Essentially, the fining agent acts like a magnet by attracting the molecules around it.  The molecules and the agent coagulate, creating fewer yet larger particles which can more easily be removed from the liquid. 

Traditionally, the most commonly used fining agents were isinglass, albumin, gelatin, and casein.  These are made from fish bladder protein, egg whites, animal protein, and milk protein, respectively.  Each of these fining agents is known as a processing aid.  They aren’t considered additives because they precipitate out along with all the molecules that cause the wine to haze.

If you’re a vegetarian, albumin and casein are acceptable, but if you’re vegan none of these are acceptable because small traces of the fining agent may be absorbed into the wine during the fining process.

All is not lost, however.  Today, some winemakers have begun to use clay-based fining agents.  For example, bentonite is very efficient at removing unwanted particulates.  Activated charcoal, another modern fining agent, is vegan and vegetarian-friendly.

In recent years, wineries have begun to focus on natural winemaking methods. Many producers have elected not to fine or filter their wines while allowing them to self-clarify and self-stabilize. While some of these wines are labeled as not fined or filtered, typically there is no indication that wines are vegan or vegetarian-friendly.  Currently, there is lobbying to change the laws so that labels list ingredients, but it’s not required. 

Unless a wine is labeled vegan or vegetarian-friendly, it’s virtually impossible to tell whether it is or isn’t.  The best advice is to go to places that sell natural wines.  While these places are not guaranteed to have what you’re looking for, the hope is that the staff at places like these are knowledgeable enough to lead you in the right direction.  I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I do understand how hard it is to find what you’re looking for. Labeling standards have gotten better, so there is hope. For now, research is your best ally. Good luck and happy wine searching.

Cloudy, Funky, Natural Wine, Phylloxera, Sulfites, Wine

Natural Wine

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I CURRENTLY LIVE IN Richmond, Virginia.  In the past couple of years, there has been a trend toward natural wines.  They are everywhere: grocery store shelves, wine shops, and restaurants. It’s the latest fad.  Like most fads, by the time it makes it to the south, most everyone else had already been enjoying the latest thing for a while.  But before we get into what natural wines are, let’s start at the beginning.

Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced from grape juice via a process called fermentation.  The oldest archaeological evidence of wine was discovered at a site in Georgia, a country that lies between eastern Europe and western Asia.  This evidence dates to 8000 BCE.  At that time, the wine making process was not understood.  Basically, the altered consciousness produced by this newly discovered beverage was considered religious. The ancient Greeks worshipped Dionysus, the god of the grape-harvest, and ritual wines were consumed as part of Jewish religious practice since Biblical times and are an integral part of the eucharist commemorating the Last Supper. Wine production and consumption increased over time, redoubling significantly from the 15th century onwards as part of the European expansion. Despite the phylloxera devastation of 1887, science and technology adapted and the production and consumption of wine now takes place all over the world. For those unfamiliar with phylloxera, it is a louse that feeds on the roots of grape vines.  In 1887, this louse completely annihilated most of the grape vines in Europe, crippling wine production there for years.

So, what is natural wine? Generally speaking, it’s a concept.  There is no natural wine category with well-defined characteristics or agreed upon guidelines.  It is basically wine made from untainted grape juice. These days, winemakers, distributors, sommeliers, and writers still take umbrage with the term natural wine. Personally, I just call it wine.  Others prefer low-intervention wine, naked-wine or raw wine.

To understand what natural wine is requires a rudimentary understanding of the complex process of making wine. At its simplest, wine making is growing and picking grapes, and then turning those grapes into wine using fermentation. Natural wine is made by handpicking grapes that were not sprayed with pesticides or herbicides. The winemaker relies on native yeast, the yeast that lives in the air and eventually finds its way to the vats where the grape juice is stored. Additives such as flavoring, sugar, and acid are not used.

On occasion, sulfites are added as a preservative and stabilizer for the wine.  This has been done for decades.  It ensures that the wine will taste the way that it did when it was bottled. Natural winemakers use little if any sulfites, while conventional winemakers tend to use sulfites throughout the winemaking process. The use of sulfites doesn’t disqualify a bottle of wine from the natural wine category.  Remember, this isn’t even a well-defined category with a set of guidelines to be followed to the letter.

A common misconception is that all-natural wines are cloudy, funky or inherently weird.  While they aren’t filtered, leading to cloudiness, and can be funky, there are many that don’t require an acquired taste to enjoy. Some consider the funkiness a signal that the wine is somehow not clean.  That’s definitely not an accurate assessment of these amazing wines.

Earlier, I mentioned that my quaint little town was once again late to the party.  As I said, the natural wine craze began here just a few years ago.  The natural wine movement actually began in the mid-1990’s in France when a small group of low-intervention winemakers who were working independently using organic winemaking practices discovered that they weren’t alone in their belief that wines could be better.  They were using methods that harkened back to when their father’s fathers worked the land by hand without pesticides or additives. By 1999, they were organizing natural wine tastings in France.  Not long afterwards, importers were bringing this style to the United States. More than a decade later, Richmond, Virginia was finally on the bandwagon. Better late than never, I suppose.

Lastly, let’s address the elephant in the room– sulfites. Do sulfites cause hangovers and are natural wines the best option if you want to reduce the chances of getting a hangover from drinking wine? There is no evidence, scientific or otherwise, that suggests that sulfites cause hangovers. This means that drinking natural wines will not reduce your chances of getting one.  What is known is that a hangover is caused by ethanol alcohol.  That’s the alcohol that’s in wine.  It acts as a diuretic. That means it causes you to urinate more often when you consume alcohol, which causes dehydration.  Dehydration causes headaches.  So, when you’re drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage, you should do yourself a favor and drink water as well.  Studies on this topic have been done extensively by the Mayo Clinic, a highly respected medical organization recognized around the globe.

That’s the abridged story of natural wine.  As I mentioned at the beginning, this isn’t a well-defined category and the rules for making natural wines aren’t written in stone or recognized by any governing body in any winemaking region.  The concepts mirror the concepts used to make organic wine with more emphasis on low-intervention, no additives or filtering.  Natural wines are quite interesting, but for the novice wine drinker, I’d tread lightly.  These aren’t your aunts Pinot Grigios or Pinot Noirs.  These wines have flavors and aromas that wine geeks love, but they aren’t for everyone.  I’d suggest going to a natural wine tasting, so that you can experience them for yourself.  Who knows? You may find a new favorite wine. Experience is the best teacher. Get out there and learn something.

Ardbeg, Dexter Gordon, Duke Ellington, Jazz, John Coltrane, Legends, The Balvenie, Uigeadail, Yamazaki

Drinking in My Dreams

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ONE OF THE THINGS that makes us uniquely human is our ability to use our minds to imagine scenarios that we would not otherwise experience.  Our brains are extraordinarily complex, and our dreams can often times seem real. It gives us the ability to answer one of the most often asked questions posed by friends.  If you could have dinner with someone famous, who would it be? We all ponder it whether asked or not.  As a jazz fan, I think dinner with some of the luminaries of the past would be kind of boring.  However, drinking a glass of Scotch with some of them would probably be more in line with the vibe that I get when listening to my favorite artists recordings.

Ardbeg Uigeadail is one of my favorite Scotches.  It’s rich and weighty with intoxicating and smoky aromatics. The initial aroma is a mix of walnut oil and violets with fresh ocean spice, pine needles and cedar. It’s reminiscent of a smoldering coal fire that brings warmth on a cold winters’ night. It’s full-flavored with a rich, deep, tongue-coating texture that is an intricate balance of sweet, spicy, and deep smoke.

When I think of jazz and smoke, I immediately recall a photograph of Dexter Gordon, one of the legends of the tenor saxophone. In the photograph, he’s wearing one of his trademark hats and smoking a cigarette.  He started his career while still a teenager, touring with the great Lionel Hampton. He eventually moved to New York City to pursue his dream of being a professional jazz musician.  He spent the majority of his career in Europe in what can only be described as exile, living in Denmark, and traveling to France and Germany to perform and record music.  Among his many accomplishments, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the movie ‘Round Midnight. I imagine it would be fun to speak with Dexter Gordon at a café in Paris.  We’d probably just talk about life.  His experiences as a musician during the 1950s and 1960s could not have been ideal, but to persevere as he did would no doubt lead to some interesting conversations about the things he learned along the way, both the good and the bad.

If you’re a jazz fan like me, the only name that comes to mind when you think of smooth and elegant is Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.  His stage presence made him seem almost regal. Duke Ellington was a famous and successful musician and band leader when it wasn’t in the best interest of an American of African descent to be either.  He rose above the prejudice of his time and became not only an ambassador for the music, but an ambassador for his race.  Every interview I’ve ever read or television program where I saw him interviewed, he was always gracious, honest, and thoughtful.  A person who had every right to be bitter about the way he and others like him were treated and I don’t ever recall him lashing out.  I’d love to hear his views on the state of today’s music.  I doubt that he’d be critical of it, but it would be great to hear the opinion of someone who was there when Jazz was in its infancy to talk about its evolution and where it’s headed in the twenty-first century.  As a non-musician, I would find it fascinating to hear his views. I would love to enjoy a glass of Yamazaki 18 with him while discussing what influenced him when he wrote his famous suites.

Yamazaki whisky is not Scotch, but it’s made with the tradition of the whiskies of Scotland at its core.  Spiritual and deep, the soul place of Japanese whiskey is one of the ways that it’s been described.  Yamazaki 18-year-old whisky is elegant with a deep amber color.  It has aromas of apricot, raisin, truffles, marmalade, Oloroso Sherry, and Japanese oak. The palate is rich and bittersweet with heather roots, cigar leaves, honey, toffee, apples, plum wine, and black pepper.  The finish is long, spicy, fruity, and smooth. It’s such an elegant expression of the Scotch tradition that it was voted best whisky in the world in 2014, besting ALL whiskeys, whiskys, and bourbons around the globe.

Another outstanding whisky is The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14-year-old Scotch–a traditional single malt from Speyside, a subdivision of the Highlands.  In order to be considered Speyside Scotch, the whisky must be made near the river Spey. Balvenie 14 is initially aged in a traditional oak cask before it is finished in a cask which previously held Caribbean rum. This imparts an extra sweetness and warmth to the whisky. What makes this whisky even more fascinating is that the malt master at Balvenie created his own blend of West Indian rums, filled it into the rum casks, and then eventually replaced his rum with Balvenie 14 whisky. This particular Balvenie has rich aromas that include tropical fruits and toffee.  The palate has a creamy vanilla feel with notes of apples and mangoes with a hint of orange. Its finish lingers with a more focused vanilla character. 

The level of complexity with the added layers of ingenuity used to create this whisky reminds me of one person—John Coltrane. John Coltrane passed away in 1967 and since that time, musicians and scholars are still trying to understand the music that he created.  There isn’t a saxophone player alive who isn’t influenced by his playing.  He studied eastern religions and incorporated those ideas into his music.  Not only that, but he was also a big fan of Albert Einstein.  He studied Einstein’s theories and had a deep understanding of the underlying physics and mathematics.  In the book The Jazz of Physics by Stephon Alexander, the author talks about how Einstein inspired Coltrane to put physics and geometry at the core of his music.  Music that has secrets yet to be unraveled by today’s musicians.  John Coltrane was incredibly soft spoken and very reserved.  His thoughts always seemed to come across as deep and introspective in his interviews.  His interests in mathematics, physics, and eastern cultures would lead to some interesting conversations.  It would be really interesting to listen to him expound upon ideas that none of my friends would find interesting.  Topics such as the belief that the catalyst for the Big Bang was literally a sound or a tone. A tone whose remnants still exist somewhere in our vast Universe. You’d need a complex Scotch to get into the details beneath the surface of this complexed topic. Possibly more than one bottle. It would be a sacrifice worth making.

As I said at the beginning, the brain is an incredible tool.  Even when our technology advances to the point where we can virtually enjoy our dreams, it will still allow us to dream big.  I hope humanity never loses that ability.

Cataluña, CAVA, DO, Riddling

DO Cava

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LOCATED WITHIN THE AUTONOMOUS Community of Cataluña is DO Cava. In Spain, DO or designation of origin is the name of a geographic region or specific area that is recognized for producing wine (or other products) that reflect the characteristics of that particular place. Cava was awarded its DO designation in 1986 and its only wine style is Espumoso (sparkling). 

The success of sparkling wine in Cava is due to the Raventós family from Penedès.  After visiting Champagne in 1872, Joseph Raventós i Fatjó created the first sparkling wine in Spain using the traditional method.  He called it Xampany.  It was remarkably successful, and production of this amazing new beverage increased with its popularity.  In 1888, Joseph’s son, Manuel Raventós Domènech, successfully produced a sparkling wine from Xarel.lo, Macabeo, and Paralleda, three grape varietals indigenous to the region. To this day, these grapes remain the dominant grapes used in the production of Cava. Cava is fully sparkling usually with lower acidity while being heavier on the palate than Champagne. It also tends to have less autolytic character (the smell of yeast) with more fennel and herbal notes on the nose.

As I mentioned earlier, Raventós called his creation Xampany.  That name was frowned upon by the French.  However, the name Cava didn’t appear until the mid-1950’s. Cava is a reference to the caves or cellars where the wine was made and stored. It wasn’t until 1972, with the creation of the Consejo Regulador de los Vinos Espumosos (Regulatory Council of Sparkling Wine) that the term Cava was officially recognized as the name of sparkling wine from Catalan made using the traditional method (the process used to make Champagne).

Spain is known for its innovations with respect to the wine industry.  In the 1970’s, Cataluña invented a semi-automated girasol, the precursor to the fully automated gyropallete.  This device helped accelerate the riddling process, an important, very tedious and time consuming, requirement in the production of traditional method sparkling wines.

Because the secondary fermentation process takes place within the individual bottles, sediment is formed as a byproduct.  Since the sediment is left inside the bottle for a long period of time, it will stick to the sides, leaving it visually unappealing.  Shaking the bottle will cause the sediment to cloud the wine.  Winemakers, instead, leave the bottles in racks with their necks tilted downward.  This allows gravity to pull the sediment downward toward the cork.  Every couple of weeks, the bottles are twisted (riddled) in both directions and tilted at more and more severe angles until all of the sediment is collected in the necks of the bottles.  At this stage, the sediment can be removed. All of this is important because sediment can alter the taste of sparkling wine as well as its appearance. In Champagne, this process is still largely done by hand.  This is very time consuming and amazingly expensive.   

Although Cataluña is still the original and spiritual home of Cava, today, the DO incorporates more than 150 municipalities spread out over seven autonomous regions within the borders of Spain.  These areas include País Vasco, Cataluña, La Rioja, Comunidad Valencia, Navarro, Aragón, and Extramadura. 95% of all Cava production still takes place in Penedes, located in Cataluña. Cava rosato (rosé) is also legally allowed to be produced. It requires a minimum of 25% red wine grapes, four of which are authorized for use within the DO. 

Sweetness levels for Cava are determined by the amount of dosage, a form of sweetener, added to the wine after disgorgement.  Disgorgement is the final step in the process of making sparkling wines using the traditional method. This step involves removing deposits of yeast collected in the neck of the bottle.  Sweetness levels, for Cava, from least sweet to sweetest are Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Seco, Seco, Semi-Seco, Dulce.

To be labeled Cava, wines must be produced using the traditional method and aged for a minimum of 9 months on its lees. Lees is the name given to the yeast that’s added to the bottle during the secondary fermentation process. There are also special label designations for premium Cavas. The premium categories are Reserva, Gran Reserva, and Cava de Paraje Calificado.  Cava de Paraje Calificado (Qualified Single Vineyard Cava) is intended to increase the visibility of the highest quality cava produced in the region. This new classification was established in 2015 as a way to highlight the uniqueness of a specific terroir within a region. The requirements for this new classification are strict.  The vines must be at least 10 years old, the grapes must come from a single vineyard, must be harvested manually, must have lower than normal yields, must be vinified on the estate, must be labeled with a vintage, must be aged for a minimum of 36 months on the lees, sweetness level can only be Brut Nature, Extra Brut, or Brut, must be approved by an unbiased international taste panel, and production must be traceable from vineyard to shelf. For those unfamiliar with the term vinified, it is the name given to the process of converting grape juice into wine using fermentation.

I drink a lot of Cava and I do have favorites.  The first is La Barraca Brut Cava produced by Emendis in Penedes, Spain.  It’s made from 100% Xarel.lo. The vines are 40-years old and grow in soil that is largely clay-based. The estate dates back over 800 years and its name was derived from the family name of the eight female farmers who settled there.  I like this wine because it has fine bubbles and a bright yellow straw color.  The aromatics are intense with a profound aroma of anise complemented by nutmeg and thyme. At its core, there are notes of citrus that give a complex smokiness that hint at coconut and caramel. The palate reveals fruit that leads to a long, persistent finish. 

Another favorite is a Brut Rosé, also produced by Emendis.  It’s made from 100% Pinot Noir. The maceration process lasts for 8 hours, giving the wine its distinctive hue.  The natural elegance and high acidity associated with pinot noir is perfect for the production of rosé. It gives the wine a cherry color that is accented by pink salmon tones. The wine has persistent bubbles with rich aromas of wild raspberries and currants. There are subtle notes of toast and spices that unfold into a generous fruity finish.

I like Cava because it’s an inexpensive alternative to Champagne. And because of the nature of the culture that produces it, I enjoy the festive, fun overtones that I associate with my visit to Spain.  There are lots of interesting examples of Cava on the market and with the strict rules designed to guarantee quality, you’re sure to find something that you like. 

Albariza, Canary Islands, Cataluña, DOCa/DOQ, Lapilli, Llicorella, Priorat, Sherry, Sommelier, Spain, Wine

Playing in the Dirt: Spain

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I HAVE A LOT of nerdy wine friends. When we drink wine together, we don’t just drink it– we look at it, we smell it, we taste it, and we talk about it.  We’ve acquired quite the wine vocabulary over the years.  It’s the kind of jargon that probably sounds like a foreign language to anyone who hasn’t been initiated into our wine fraternity.  One of our favorite words is terroir.  It’s a French word that has no English translation. My favorite definition for terroir was written by Hugh Johnson, a renowned British wine writer.  For him, terroir is …much more than what goes on beneath the surface. Properly understood, it means the whole ecology of a vineyard: every aspect of its surroundings from bedrock to late frosts and autumn mists, not excluding the way a vineyard is tended, nor even the soul of the vigneron. This gives it the proper amount of mystery and the sense of the different levels and nuances involved in terroir. 

One of the things that gets overlooked when talking about terroir is soil.  This makes sense because to most people grape vines are plants and plants grow in dirt. Similar to that medium where you plant your garden every Spring.  Grape vines are different, however.  They can thrive in environments where typical plants would not survive.  Spain has a few unique soil types that not only allow grape vines to thrive, but, in some cases, influence the way wine made from those grapes will taste.

In the north eastern corner of Spain lies Cataluña. Within its borders is one of the smallest, yet most prestigious wine-producing regions in the world–DOQ Priorat.  It’s one of only two DOQ designated wine producing areas in Spain.  For those unfamiliar with European Union regulations with respect to wine, here’s a brief primer.  In the EU, a designation of origin (DO) denotes the name of a specific place where the wines exhibit the qualities and characteristics of the particular geographic environment from which they originate. The DOCa (DOQ in Cataluña) designation is awarded to DOs that have attained the highest levels of quality for an extended period of time. In Spain, this is the highest level that can be awarded. 

Priorat is completely surrounded by Serra de Montsant mountain range, which protects the vineyards from cold weather and harsh winds.  DOQ Priorat is known for red wines that are highly concentrated, mineral driven, and complex with notes of ripe berries and cured meat.  The palate is usually rich and intense, yet balanced and refreshing. The unique soil in this region is called Llicorella.  It’s a shallow, copper-colored, decomposed shale/slate with low organic content.  It’s extremely fragile, layered rock with fine texture.  Root systems of the vines have to constantly search for fractures in this type of soil to find nutrients and water.  Wine produced from grapes grown in Llicorella are DOQ Priorat’s signature. Whenever I see a wine from DOQ Priorat on a wine list, I order it.  I am such a fan of this style of wine and I have never been disappointed.

South and west of Cataluña is Andalucia.  This area is known for being the location where Tapas was invented.  It’s also known for Sherry. Sherry is a fortified wine made from grapes.  There are several different styles of Sherry that have a varying range of colors and flavors.  Part of the success of Sherry is due to the unique soil in which the grape vines grow.  It’s called Albariza. It has a characteristically white hue and is extremely rich in calcium carbonate.  It has a chalk content that ranges from 30-80% with limestone, clay, and sand to balance the mixture. What makes Albariza vital to the production of Sherry is its ability to reflect sunlight, retain humidity, and store water produced by winter rain by forming a hard crust on the surface during the hot summer months.  This allows the vines to thrive in an environment not necessarily suited for grape production. I love Sherry.  It’s very versatile.  One of my favorite cocktails is Manzanilla Sherry and tonic over ice.  It’s so delicious!

Six hundred miles south of Andalucia are the Canary Islands.  Most people don’t think of these remote islands as a place to find amazing wines, but the Canary Islands actually produce some of the world’s most highly sought-after wines.  What makes them so highly desirable is the soil found there.  It’s called Lapilli and it consists of a layer of small, porous, volcanic pebbles which blankets the topsoil. Lapilli filters rainwater and pulls moisture from the passing winds. It also helps prevent the evaporation of water in the soil beneath it.  The white wines produced here are tropical fruit driven with distinct saline and mineral notes.  The rosé and red wines are overtly savory with distinct minerality that produces a lingering finish. I haven’t had the opportunity to try them yet, but the next time I travel to Spain, I’m definitely taking the three-hour flight from Madrid to the Canary Islands to try a few of these amazing wines.

Whether you’re a wine nerd or a wine newbie, it’s always fun to try new things.  If you find yourself wanting to broaden your wine horizons, try some of the wine styles described above.  They will definitely give you a sense of how broad and how deep the wine spectrum truly is while exposing you to some wines you may not have otherwise been aware of.  

Champagne, Sommelier, Valentines Day, Wine

St. Valentine’s Day (How to Flip it On Its Head)

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What is Valentine’s Day?  Traditionally, Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated each year on February 14.  Originally, it was a minor Western Christian feast day to honor at least one, if not two, early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine. It has since evolved, through folk traditions, into a significant cultural and religious celebration of romance and love throughout the world.

In these modern times, St. Valentine’s Day has turned into a commercial tidal wave in which restaurants, retail outlets, florists, greeting card manufacturers, and chocolatiers benefit from a marketing campaign designed to make you believe that your love for your significant other can only be measured by spending as much money as you possibly can in order to profess your undying feelings for them.  It’s pretty ingenious. This time of year, many find themselves with a new-found windfall as their Federal tax returns have just arrived.  Marketing firms know this and are ruthless in their attempts to relieve you of as much of that newly acquired wealth as possible. 

But, what if you’re single? Maybe you recently broke up with your significant other.  Maybe you’re newly divorced or maybe you enjoy being single because you’ve discovered that this is the lifestyle for you.  The marketing campaigns designed for couples tend to alienate those who are not in a relationship.  The odds of you finding that special someone, if you’re looking, are exceedingly small. There is an undocumented dating moratorium that goes into effect sometime after Halloween.  This is the time of year when finding a new someone traditionally ceases.  Apparently, the pressure of gift giving associated with a newly acquired significant other is too extreme.  Not to mention, holiday events that necessitate meeting the families of your new person are frequently awkward at best.  The moratorium ends sometime after the new year, leaving you with just a few weeks to find someone new before Valentine’s Day.  The sense of awkwardness doesn’t subside and the pressure to find the perfect person is quite daunting.  So, what do you do?

I’ve discovered over the years that happiness comes from within.  Loving yourself is paramount to the happiness that you desire.  On Valentine’s Day, do the things that couples do by yourself.  You’ll find that if you’re comfortable in your own skin, you can have just as much fun as those commercials suggest—there will just be one less person to please.

I’ve sent myself roses at work on Valentine’s Day. I like flowers, so why not?  I love the expressions on co-worker’s faces when the roses arrive.  They don’t have to know that I sent them to myself.  The stories that they make up in their minds are probably better than the stories I could come up with.  Take yourself out to dinner.  Eating alone isn’t a bad thing.  What’s better than enjoying an amazing meal with the person you love?  Good food is good food.  And it’s even better when you’re with the person who you love the most—yourself. My favorite Valentine’s Day dinner took place in the late 1990’s.  I was on a business trip in a city that was thousands of miles from home.  I decided to take myself out for dinner because I hate room service.  Because it was Valentine’s Day, the only seats available were at the bar.  I took a seat and ordered my meal: Tuna Tartare as an appetizer and the Surf and Turf special for dinner.  I ordered a glass of Champagne to pair with the first course and a bottle of Rioja to pair with my main course.  I was enjoying my appetizer when a couple sat next to me while they waited for a table to clear.  While they sat near me talking about their day, my entrée and the bottle of wine arrived.  The woman looked at my meal and blurted out, “…he got the special!” This immediately led to an argument between the two and the woman stormed out before they even got seated.  I continued to have a great time, but they clearly did not.  The expectations of the day always seem to overshadow the reality of the moment. 

I don’t always go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day, however.  I usually end up working, so over the years I began the custom of getting a really nice bottle of sparkling wine to drink whenever that horrible shift ended.  Since I’m technically a Sommelier now and this is a wine related post, below is a list of my five favorite sparkling wines to enjoy on Valentine’s Day.

  • 2007 Billecart-Salmon “Cuvée Elisabeth” Brut Rosé Champagne

On the nose, there is a refreshing expression of citrus peel and red berry jelly with a rich and complex aromatic note of roses, cherries, and white peaches. There are soft hints of wild strawberries and spices can also be detected. The palate displays delicate flavors of mandarin, blood orange, and apple tart.

  • NV A.R. LENOBLE BRUT NATURE

This wine is bone-dry with layers of complexity.  Stone fruits, fresh baked pie crust, and toasted hazelnuts appear on the nose with a mineral driven, mouthwatering palate. The salinity of the wine lends itself equally as well to oysters and pomme frite with aioli.

  • NV Taittinger “La Française” Brut Champagne

This wine has a subtle, pale gold color with fine, persistent bubbles. It is delicate, with aromas of peach, white flowers, vanilla pod, and brioche on the nose and flavors of fresh fruit and honey on the palate.

  • NV CRÉMANT DU JURA ROSÉ, DOMAINE ROLET

A nice steady pink color, brilliant copper reflections, fine bubbles with good persistence. Delicate notes of morello cherry that is slightly vinous and fresh. The palate is intense with a touch of energy that is lively and pleasant.

  • 2016 Lambrusco di Sorbara Spumante DOC Metodo Classico ‘Brut Rosso’

The nose is very inviting with fragrances of raspberries and juicy wild strawberries mixed with subtle citrus notes.  This wine has incredible dark fruit flavors.  It has a nice dry finish, good persistence, excellent harmony and is balanced with acid and salty flavors. The finish is clean and leaves you wanting more.

I’m notorious for saying that sparkling wines pair well with life.  The five wines listed above are some of my favorites now that I’m living my best life.  If you’re single like me, don’t fall victim to all the Valentine’s Day hype.  Treat yourself.  You won’t regret it.

CMS, Sommelier, Wine, WSET

An Interview With Myself

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I’M NOT A CELEBRITY or a famous athlete, so the chances of me being interviewed for a magazine or newspaper or television program are pretty small.  So, I thought that I’d do the next best thing.  I’d write some tough interview questions and give some honest answers.  After the way last year went, it seemed like a good therapeutic exercise.  What follows are questions that I imagined I’d be asked if I were a famous person who struggled like many others during the last year but survived to tell the tale.

How were you feeling at the beginning of 2020?

I felt rather good about it.  The restaurant had just finished another successful holiday season.  We sold quite a bit of wine in 2020 and all of our wine dinners were well attended.  I was asked to take on a different role throughout October, November, and December.  It wasn’t a role that I was happy about, but I was able to learn something else about restaurant operations and it gave me more opportunities to interact with guests during service and help them navigate our wine list.  We were offered an opportunity to host a wine dinner with one of my favorite winemakers, Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi, from Rocca di Montegrossi located in Tuscany, Italy. I didn’t know it at the time, but this would be my last wine dinner of the year. I don’t really do resolutions, but I did have a couple of things that I wanted to do.  I had until late November of 2020 to take the Certified Sommelier exam through the Court of Master Sommeliers, so I needed to start preparing for that.  I was in the early stages of planning a trip to Italy, and I also had some fitness goals in mind that I really wanted to get started on as well.

How did you react at the beginning of the shutdown?

For me, it was very surreal.  The entire weekend leading into the shutdown was really slow.  That Friday was Friday the 13th.  It’s usually busy with a sprinkling of weirdness on Friday the 13th.  That night, not to mention the entire weekend was eerily dead.  That Sunday, we closed at 8:00 PM.  I remember sending a message to some regulars to let them know that we were closing early, and they replied that they were staying home where it was safe.  They were such loyal regulars that it kind of put a stamp on how serious this was for us.  When I left, I thought about going out to get a drink like I always did on a Sunday night, but not one restaurant in the city was opened.  So, I went home and called it a night.  I came in on Wednesday to do inventory.  When I clocked out, it would be the last time I worked at that restaurant.

Did you have a plan?

Initially, I just had some thoughts.  In my mind, I knew that there were certain things that I needed to do.  I went through a long work stoppage after the events of September 11, 2001, so I used that experience as a template.  For instance, I knew that I should apply for Unemployment. I also knew that I needed to have a budget.  When the shutdown was announced, we were told that by April 15, 2020, we’d be back at work.  Then that date was pushed back to May 15, 2020.  That meant that I probably needed to find a job because I knew that Unemployment wouldn’t sustain me while I waited for things to reopen.  While exchanging text messages with my daughter, she asked me what my plan was.  I told her about the exam that I needed to take and my vacation and how my gut feeling was that I wasn’t going to go back to my last employer.  She suggested a Vision Board.  It was a great idea because it allowed me to make a visual representation of my plan and make strides toward making the plan a reality.  For those unfamiliar with a Vision Board, it’s defined as a collage of images and words representing a person’s wishes or goals, intended to serve as inspiration or motivation.  It may not work for everyone, but it helped me formulate my plan.

What did you do next?

Fortunately, I didn’t have to look for a new job.  About a week after the shutdown, a friend contacted me to ask if I was interested in working for him at his toy distribution warehouse. I knew that I didn’t want to sit around all day doing nothing, so I was pretty excited to get an opportunity to do some work.  It wasn’t wine, but it was a job that allowed me to focus on goals and not dwell on negative thoughts.  It was a lot of fun.  I kept my head down, listened, and learned. 

What positives can you think of that highlighted 2020?

The most important positive for me was that my family is safe and healthy.  Of all the things that matter, my family is at the top of the list.  I couldn’t ask for much more than that.

What did you learn in 2020 that prepared you for 2021 and beyond?

The most important lesson was to trust my instincts.  If something doesn’t feel right, then listen to that inner voice.  Hard work doesn’t mean anything, except to you.  Doing your job well, showing up on time, working late, and being loyal are concepts that can be used to keep you in shackles.  They don’t guarantee anything.  You can love a job, but that won’t guarantee that your job will always be there.  Be prepared to move on and when it’s time to move on, don’t look back. You’re not going that way.  The other lesson that I learned is that work friends are just that – work friends.  When the job is gone, work friends often go with it.  Of course, you do make some lasting friendships at work, but not as many as you think.  It’s not the end of the world though.  When you find a new job, you’ll find new work friends.  It’s a cycle that’s been in place since the dawn of the concept of work.  When our grandparents worked, they kept the same job for decades, so they had decades long friendships.  In these modern times, you’re lucky to work a job for more than two or three years.  That just means you have to make new friends at work more often than your predecessors.  That’s probably not a bad thing. During a pandemic, friends are important.  I discovered how many I actually had during these past 10 months.  Not as many as I thought, but more than I needed.  That’s called providence.

What sparked your initial interest in wine?

That’s a long story.  I didn’t grow up around alcohol at all.  No one in my family drank wine or anything else for that matter.  My first exposure to wine was like a lot of people, when I went off to college.  Of course, the wines I drank back then were cheap table wines because that’s what I could afford.  I had no idea what I was buying either.  I just saw purple, yellow, or pink liquids in wine bottles.  I didn’t like any of them. During the last semester of my last year of college, I found myself working in a fine dining restaurant.  At the time, this restaurant had the largest private wine collection in the country.  We had everything and I knew nothing about any of it.  The good news was that we were constantly being taught about wine, food, and pairings and we were also allowed to taste the wines on the list.  I discovered that the wines that I had been drinking to that point were nothing like these wines.  These wines were good, and I liked them.  I started to notice that the wines that I really liked came from places not named Napa or Sonoma or Oregon or Washington.  I liked Rhone, Burgundy, Rioja, Tuscany, Loire, and Provence.  I wanted to learn more, but then I graduated and started a career as a software engineer.  September 11, 2001 changed everything for me.  My software engineering job disappeared.  I was hired and laid off seven times in the next three years.  Each time that I was laid off, I worked in a restaurant to make ends meet.  After the last lay off, I found myself back at the same fine dining restaurant.  It was a lot different by then, but the wine was still there, and I had the chance to learn about wine again.  After a few months, the restaurant closed permanently. The executive chef who was there while I was in college had since opened a new restaurant and he offered to hire any of us who needed work.  I took his offer and began waiting tables there.  I continued to learn about wine from the GM.  He allowed me to taste with him whenever wine reps came in to sell us wine.  I learned a lot.  I was offered an opportunity to write for an online magazine, so I wrote about wine often.  Eventually, I moved to Richmond where I continued to learn.  I was given the wine program at a movie theater that offered upscale dining, and I hosted wine tastings there for five years.  After that, I took a job at the largest French restaurant in the city.  In time, I was offered the position of Wine Director.  I curated the wine list, did staff training, purchased wine, hosted wine dinners and wine tastings.  Today, I am the warehouse manager for a Spanish and South American wine importer.  And I am still learning .

What is a Sommelier?

A Sommelier is a trained wine professional who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as food and wine pairing. During the reign of Louis XIV, the sommelier was the official in charge of the transport of baggage when the court moved. He was the person who chose the wines, table settings and desserts. The sommelier used his tastevin, a silver saucer on a thick silver chain worn around the neck, to check his lord’s wine for poison. He also checked the food. If the sommelier died, his employer would avoid the meal. Modern sommeliers came from the ranks of cooks who were kicked out of the kitchen and sent to the cellars where they subsequently learned to deal with negotiants and barrels of wine.  As bottled wines became the standard, the role of the sommelier evolved into the profession we know today.

Why did you want to be a Sommelier?

Like many people, I watched the Neflix documentary called Somm.  After I saw it, I finally realized that learning about wine was cool and being a wine professional was an actual career.  The Court of Master Sommelier was featured in the documentary, so I did some research and set about getting some credentials.  It took a few years before I could actually get started.  But eventually I did, and I haven’t stopped working toward the goal of getting as many credentials as possible.

How do you become a Sommelier?

Before you begin your journey to becoming a sommelier, there are a few steps you should take.  First, learn as much as you can about wine. Learn how to taste wine and how to take useful wine notes.  Sommeliers use a specific method to assess wines.  This allows them to distinguish the different aromas and flavors in a specific wine.  It also helps you to determine whether a wine was aged in oak or not.  Once you’ve begun to master this, learn about the important wine regions of the world. Learn about the wines that come from those regions. There are so many great books and websites on this subject.  Next, learn how to serve and pour wine.  There are certain rules of etiquette that apply to wine service.  You should learn and practice them.  The best way to do this is to find a job at a restaurant that serves wine.  It takes a lot of practice, but it is a valuable skill that a sommelier must perfect.  If, after you’ve taken all of these steps and you still want to be a sommelier, start taking the certification classes.  You don’t need them to be a sommelier, but certification classes definitely put you ahead of candidates without them.

What’s the difference between the Court of Master Sommelier and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust?

Contrary to popular belief, WSET has been around longer than CMS.  WSET was founded in 1969 whereas CMS was founded in 1977.  They are both headquartered in London, UK.  The biggest difference between the two is that CMS focuses mainly on the Old World while WSET focuses on the entire globe.  Old World refers to wine producing countries who produce wines using traditional methods. Places like France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Austria. CMS also focuses a lot on the service aspect of wine.  Otherwise, their goals, on the surface, seem similar. At the beginning of my formal wine studies, I was drawn to the allure of CMS.  Mostly because of how it was portrayed in the Somm documentary.  I took the first of the four exams necessary to become a master sommelier.  Like everything else, the wine world was flipped on its head in 2020. In June of 2020, Richard Betts, a Master Sommelier, posted an open letter in which he resigned his title amid a scandal related to cheating on the Master Sommelier exam.  That was just the beginning.  Since then, there have been accusations of racism, sexism, and discrimination levied against The Court. This caused me to rethink my plan.  I knew about WSET, but not a lot.  I talked to people who I knew had taken WSET classes and asked questions about how the credentials are thought of in the industry compared to CMS.  The most striking thing was that everyone pointed out how inclusive WSET was and how accepting the global WSET community was.  They also encouraged me to talk to others before I made my decision, and I was given the contact information for the person who ran the school where I could take classes locally.  I was surprised to find that most of the people I’d spoken with had already given me a shining recommendation and she said that she was looking forward to working with me because my name had come up even before I started my inquiries.  So, with the decision to move to WSET made, I took my stimulus check and invested in myself.  I have not regretted that decision.

What does a Sommelier do exactly?

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t get paid to drink wine all day.  The job is a lot more complex than that.  A sommelier knows every aspect of the winemaking process.  We study wine history, wine culture, winemaking techniques, soil types, climate, aging techniques, different methods of fermentation, and many other wine related topics.  We understand how to pair wine with food, so we are available during service to assist guests as well as staff members on food and wine pairings.  We curate the wine list for the restaurants where we work.  That means making the decisions on what should be on the list and what should not be on the list.  We work with wine sales representatives to ensure that we are up to date on current trends, pricing, and availability.  Having great wines on a list is good but having great wines that pair well with the items on the food menu is better. I notoriously walked the isles of local grocery stores to ensure that I didn’t have anything on my lists that could be found in a grocery store. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine, but definitely a good habit to have.  Retail pricing versus restaurant pricing is quite different and it’s best to not put your staff in the position to have this discussion with guests during service.  We also work with the executive chef to make sure we are in sync with respect to menu selections and wine choices.  It’s good to share ideas and give feedback.  We also lend our expertise to special events like wine dinners.  We do taste wine.  It’s the method we use to decide what we like and what we don’t like, which wines fit with our needs and which wines do not. Tasting means just that– tasting.  We don’t drink it. We smell it, we swirl it around in our mouths to make sure it tastes the way it should and then we spit it out.  If we drank every wine that we tasted during any given day, we’d definitely not be very productive.    

Is the Sommelier exam difficult?

I’ve only taken two of the certification exams so far and I can say that they are difficult.  As a college graduate with degrees in mathematics and computer science, I’ve taken plenty of difficult exams and the sommelier exams are on par with some of my college courses. There is a lot of information required for each level, but memorizing it isn’t the key.  Knowing how to apply what you have learned is vital. 

Is the wine rating system legit?

For me, ratings don’t really mean much.  I say that because a high rating on a wine style that I don’t like won’t make me buy it.  By that I mean that I rarely drink Chardonnay, so even if a Chardonnay gets a perfect 100 score, I’m still not going to drink it.  So, to me the system is subjective.  As a wine professional, I get to try many types of wine on any given day.  When I go out to eat, the chances of me recognizing the wines on a wine list are far greater than the average restaurant patron.  I’m also trained to know how specific varietals and blends are supposed to taste, so I can make informed decisions on pairing wine with my meal.  I don’t have to guess, and I don’t require a grading system to tell me that something is good.  I recognize producers’ names, specific wine regions, and specific grapes when I look at a list.  This helps me far more than some random writer’s opinion which can easily be swayed by advertisement dollars or friendships made while talking over a glass of the wine soon to be mentioned in an article.  There are some expensive wines out there, but they aren’t expensive because of a grading system.  They are expensive because they are well made year after year, come from prestigious growing regions, are rare, or exceptionally good, yet in limited supply. As a sommelier, it’s my job to know those wines and guide you as you decide whether it makes sense to invest in that particular wine drinking experience.

What’s your worst experience as a Sommelier?

My worst experience as a Sommelier actually happened on a day off.  There’s a small restaurant near my house that I liked to go to on Mondays after I finished my gym workout.  I liked the food and I liked being able to sit quietly and enjoy a meal.  One of the benefits of eating there on Monday was that some of the wine reps who I bought wine from would visit that restaurant to taste wines with the owner.  It was an opportunity to try wines that I wouldn’t get to try otherwise because our wine list was so specific that reps didn’t always bring the same wines for us to try that they brought to this place.  I didn’t go there to taste, but I was offered the opportunity once and then it just became a normal part of Monday if I was there.  One afternoon, the owner asked if I wanted to taste with him.  I said yes and he handed me a glass.  While we were tasting, there was an older Caucasian woman sitting at the bar watching.  After the third rep offered me some wine to try, she wonders aloud, “…why does HE get to taste wine?” The owner says, “…. Because he’s the Somm at Can Can.” In the most indignant, disrespectful tone she could muster she says, “…. you? You’re the Sommelier at Can Can I said, “…yes.” The four wine reps who were still there gave her a glare that let her know that they didn’t appreciate her, her ignorance, or her attitude.  She paid her tab and left.  All I did that day was show up in the skin that I was blessed with and it made her uncomfortable to find out that I had a job that she didn’t think I deserved to have.  This sort of thing happens on occasion, but that was the worst that I could remember.

What’s your favorite experience as a Sommelier?

Being able to share my knowledge and experiences with others.  Recently, I had the opportunity to work with the staff of a new restaurant.  I taught them some wine basics to help them as they learned the nuances of their wine list.  It was fun to be able to answer questions and share some of my experiences with wine over the years.  They all seemed to appreciate the time we spent together and every time that I get to speak with them it’s always a pleasure to answer their question and help them learn.

“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.”