New York – What’s it take to be a great sommelier?
A knowledge of wines that spans the world? Agility with a corkscrew? A mean bargaining streak to get the goods at decent prices? The ability to carry 45-pound cases of wine up and down stairs about 70 times a day?
How about all of that and more?
A few weeks back, 11 sommeliers gathered at the Essex House in New York City to compete for the title of America’s Best Sommelier. All the contestants are employed in the hospitality world; this was no reality TV show-like audition. Most them have also been studying wine on the side in formal classes put on by the American Sommelier Association, the organization responsible for the contest.
The test: A written exam testing the sommeliers’ knowledge of winemaking and viticulture (“vini-viti” in wine student slang) as well as spirits and cigars. Questions went far beyond chardonnay and cabernet: how about limnio and Zubrowka (a Greek grape and a Polish vodka flavored with bison grass)?
That narrowed the field to three finalists.
After a night’s rest, those three showed up in their best black-and- whites to take a practical that included identifying wines blind as well as serving a table of persnickety “diners” (actually industry professionals).
A group of some of the industry’s best sommeliers were on hand as judges. The rest of the room was filled with sommeliers who came to support their colleagues and pick up some pointers on service, and – just in case the contestants weren’t nervous enough – a bevy of sound and camera people filming the whole thing for later review.
The exam began one sommelier at a time.
First task: To approach the table of four and help them select wines for a seven-course menu he’s never seen before, and without a wine list. To make the task more difficult, the host of the table requested that some of the wines reflect the origins of her guests: South Africa, Italy and France.
The sommelier had to think fast, calling up names and vintages of wines from the top of his head, and supplying reasons for each choice, which the diners quickly argued about, pushing him to find more and better selections from the virtual list in his head.
Of course, the grade for this part of the exam is based not only on the wine choices, but on the grace with which the sommelier performs. Did he remember to offer water (still, sparkling or tap?) before they discussed wines? Did he flinch when they turned down his wine suggestions? Was he able to satisfy them in the limited time without having to hurry them up?
Next up: Six wines and two spirits to be identified by place, variety and vintage in 24 minutes. That was directly followed by a wine list projected on a movie screen which was riddled with errors. All the mistakes needed to be identified and corrected, orally, in front of the crowd.
It’s not over yet: The same guests returned for another celebratory dinner, and this time, they wanted champagne and a fancy bottle of red.
The charade continued as it did the first time around: The guests were picky and insatiably curious, only this time the sommelier needed to actually pour the bubbly all around while charmingly fielding all of their questions (“At what temperature should you serve sparkling wine?” and so on).
A normal waiter would, at this point, be able to flee to the cellar for wine and a picosecond of decompression time, but this section was timed as well; there were no breaks.
The sommelier quickly found the proper glassware for the red wine and decanted it slowly over a candle flame – all the time, chatting amiably with the crafty diners (“Why this shape of glass?” “How do you store red wine?”)
At this point, any normal person would be ready to collapse, not to mention to tell the table to pick and pour their own wines. These sommeliers had to complete a last practical on the selection and serving of cigars before they could go home.
Sound ridiculous? Not really.
Think about it: When a sommelier approaches your table, you want not only help in deciding what wine will go best with your food and your mood, but you want him (or her) to be nice to you. You want to feel like he has your best interests at heart, and that he doesn’t think you’re stupid for asking questions. You don’t want an automaton that knows everything about wine but has no personality.
And in real life, the sommeliers don’t have just one picky table. They have 50 other tables that night that would like – and deserve – the same level of gracious service as the one practice table in the exam.
In the end, the winner of the competition was Aldo Sohm, beverage director for Café Sabarsky, Thor and Wallsé in New York; runner-up was Yannick Benjamin of LeDû’s Wines and second runner-up was Troy Weissman of Beacon (both in New York). Regardless the parsing of points, I’d be tickled to have any of them at my table any night.
Tara Q. Thomas is managing editor of Wine & Spirits magazine, and author of the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wine Basics.” She can be reached at dp@taraqthomas.com.
