I was deeply impressed with the depth of knowledge that was shared with the group of hopeful sommeliers (myself included) at the Monaco hotel in downtown Portland. Not only did we cover the wine regions of France, viticulture and wine making, we also practiced deductive wine tasting. We tasted eighteen wines in the double-blind format and as a group, directed by the Master Sommeliers, we evaluated each wine piece by piece and then came to a conclusion. The amount of talent in that room amazed me as many of the individuals were able to nail the wine in the glass.
The deductive tasting method is a huge thing for a sommelier, and after day 1 I totally understood why. It really helps you to understand the basic elements in wine and things you should look for in each varietal. It trains you to have an open mind and not come to conclusions too early. It also helps you to effectively lead a customer to a wine that they will enjoy not only by itself, but properly paired with what they are going to eat. This is critical for those in the restaurant business, but also for me at the store level, on my blogs, and for my Youtube channel.
Of the four Master Sommeliers teaching the course, two are from Seattle WA., Chris Tange and Thomas Price. Melissa Monosoff who coordinated the event, hails from Texas, and one of my personal favorites Nate Reddy, at one time worked at the French Laundry in Napa, and now is in Oregon. They were all amazing, humble, and very good teachers. To reach Master Sommelier is an amazing feat, and one that only 211 have attained of which 135 are in North America. It is said to be one of the most difficult titles to achieve in the world (seriously). When you listen to the breadth of their knowledge and understanding of the wine world, you begin to understand that passion for wine is a huge thing in each of their lives.
My brain hurt after day 1, which started at 8:20 am and ended at 6:10 pm. I am really looking forward to day 2 which will cover the rest of the wine world, and the wine laws that dictate each of these wine growing regions. We will again taste wine in the blind format and use the deductive tasting method of the Court of Master Sommeliers. After the course instruction and tasting, we will take a sixty-question test based on what we learned. I hope to pass that test and move on to the next level which is Certified Sommelier. It will be the end of two tough but satisfying days of tasting, spitting and learning. I will let you know how day 2 went in my next article.
One quick note that I want to share before I sign off. The perception of a sommelier is that they are snooty, wine snobs. The one thing I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt is that the exact opposite of that is true. The sommelier is taught first and foremost to be a humble servant to the needs of others. They are instructed to use the knowledge they have in a beneficial way, not only to instruct others, but to be able to better serve the wine needs of their customers and help them to make a good selection, if that customers wants their direction. If not, they are to keep their lips sealed and get what the customer wants…It’s not about them, it’s about the customer. I like that! You CAN be a blue-collar guy and a sommelier at the same time…PERFECT!
Cheers! Stan The Wine Man
