Thomas Price, MS, is the head sommelier and educator at the Metropolitan Grill, Seattle’s premier steakhouse. Price came to Seattle in 1988 from Anchorage and managed beverage programs for some of Seattle’s top restaurateurs. In 1997 Thomas and his wife Jessica opened their own restaurant, Luau Polynesian Lounge. After selling Luau in 2004 Thomas started at The Met as a banquet server by night and by day began the arduous process preparing for the Master Sommelier examinations. Price was promoted to head sommelier at The Met in June of 2008 and passed the Master’s exam on his fourth attempt in May of 2012.

I tasted with Thomas in January of 2013. We used the 2009 RDV Rendezvous Merlot blend from Virginia and Riedel Vinum Bordeaux glasses. I began the interview by asking Thomas about his strategies for the three parts of the Master’s exam. I’m always interested in what strategies different students use to prepare for the exam. Thomas’ were unique and didn’t disappoint. 

Exams

TG: Let’s talk about the exams first and what worked best for you. We were talking about theory a few minutes ago. You said that you tried maps but they didn’t do it.  

TP: No.

TG: Most students say that they work, but you said that working with sounds files was really good for you.

TP: That was a better method for me. I was probably overstating it when I said that maps didn’t work for me. But focusing solely on visual learning was not successful. Once I went to audio bombardment and very exhaustive note taking, it really began to work.

TG: Going to the service exam, what part of the practical was hardest for you?

TP: Something you said once when you came up to Seattle to work with my group finally got me in the right mode. Before I just couldn’t get into character. I really struggled. I’d think this (the exam) isn’t real, I’m so stiff and wooden. Then you said something like, “we just want to be taken care of like we’re at a restaurant.” And that made all the difference in the world. So when I drop a little bit of red on the table cloth or I’m less than perfect at the job, I rise above and embrace the fact that I made a mistake and get better and keep going. That was really useful for me.  

The whole thing for the exam is that people worry about what’s going to happen and they think about “what wines are they going to pour me” or “what questions are they going to ask me.” If you’re thinking like that you’re just not going to be successful. I found that out the hard way as it took me four times to pass the exam. Ask me anything you want and make me do anything you want and I’ll persevere. I’ll persevere with style and class and I may not answer every question but I’ll carry myself like a Master. That’s when you know the difference.

TG: Sounds like being in what I call “game mode” for the service exam was the hardest part. Was the physical service difficult for you? 

TP: Yes, because as I mentioned earlier, I get nervous. I think part of it for me too was that I never achieved any academic success. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself. When I was successful at service my technique was extremely smooth. I think the last time I did the decant it was a magnum which I do a lot of at the restaurant. We rarely use a cradle at the Met (Metropolitan Grill in Seattle). I practiced a lot with one but it never did feel natural to me. But really it was just a combination of everything. I would get nervous to perform in that medium which I think was the most difficult and unpredictable of all for me.  

TG: What again made the difference in terms of not being so nervous that you could really function well? Was it the feeling that you had to take care of the table? 

TP: Yes, I got into character. I kind of channeled our colleague Shayn Bjornholm who was a trained actor in a previous life. I’m not an actor, but I was that day; I was so in character that this was my restaurant and these are my guests. They’re not Master Sommeliers who are judging me on my performance. I’m going to wait on them because that’s what I’m really good at. So that was really helpful.  

TG: What about tasting? Was tasting difficult? It was by far the most difficult part of the exams for me. How was it for you?

TP: It was difficult for me because again it was about nerves. But in Aspen when I passed (May 2012) I took each wine individually. I remember working with Fred Dame MS and him saying to approach a flight like it was six different examinations. So I tasted the heck out each wine and then moved on to the next one. I think that if you can go wine by wine it’s much better. I was also not thinking, “They’re going to pour Grüner or Grigio and Chablis next to each other and I’ve got to figure it out.” For the first few exams that was my mindset. But in Aspen it was more like, “pour me anything you want. I trust my process and I’m going to evaluate the wine to the best of my ability.” 

TG: That’s a big shift.

TP: (laughs) Well the other way wasn’t working! 

TG: So for students in tasting, if you had advice for them what would it be? 

TP: In my practice I actually got away from Court-like tasting and did a lot of comparative tastings. My group always talked about the “why” and not just the end result—almost like a metaphor for the whole exam. So I really worked on why I would confuse Grüner with Chablis. We (the group) would do that and sometimes we’d see the labels and discuss differences. All this helped me in the examination format to be able to speak to the characteristics of the wine in a much more informed way.

Tasting: Goals

TG: The next part has to do with your goals in tasting wine. First, let’s take you in the MS tasting context. What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve? 

TP: I’m trying to evaluate the wine as thoroughly as I possibly can all the way down the line. But also--and this is another piece that I started to incorporate into my actual tastings--I ask myself, “Do I like it personally? Do I like the texture? Do I like the flavor?” Obviously, we all have wines that we like and wines we don’t like as much as others. I changed my tasting from just wanting to get the wine right to starting to think about if the wine would work for me or the guest in my restaurant. I let a little of that creep into my method for the exam and I think that was helpful too.

TG: What are your beliefs about tasting in general? Equipment-wise, what do you need to have a successful tasting? 

TP: I think you need good light and proper glassware. For Court-specific tasting I love to keep my own time. Some people don’t like to do that. But if you get the banker Chablis of all time and blast through it in two minutes it’s good to know that have that time in case you get a wine you have no clue about. Then you have some extra time to spend on it.  Otherwise, lighting is big but then so is glassware. I love specifically the Riedel Sangiovese/Riesling glass for tasting. I think from an aromatic perspective it really concentrates the aromas. Also make sure you’re hydrated, make sure you get some rest.  

If I can give one piece of advice to Master’s candidates it would be “don’t taste ten wines before you go in for your tasting.” I made that mistake a couple of times. Also, don’t over-taste before you go to the exam. I was so geeked before I went to my first couple of tasting exams that I tasted too much. You’ve got to taper off and trust your ability especially right before the exam. I tried a lot of different strategies but the one I went back to was one I used for my Advanced exam. Before I went in for my tasting I tasted three wines: Vouray, Rioja and Zinfandel. I know those wines and rarely get them wrong so tasting them was just a positive thing. It’s a better calibration for me than trying to taste other wines that I might struggle with. 

TG: What are your beliefs about yourself as a taster?

TP: I’m think I’m very strong. I started with some ability but with a lot of practice and some shifting of my approach I’ve become really solid. I’m think I’m really good at establishing a rhythm when I’m in the practice of doing it exactly the same way every time. Now when I work with students I tell them, “Come to the church of low, medium and high.” Not sort-of or slightly or a bit or kind of. Everything is low, medium or high. If it’s minerality sure there are gray areas because wine is a constantly morphing, changing thing. The wine you start with four minutes in may be showing some different characteristics. But low, medium, high is uber important. Then doing the wines in the same order every time. That’s a discipline because every wine has a different expression. Doing it the same way every time is an enormous part of the discipline.  

TG: Finally, what do you think makes for a great wine? 

  TP: Great question. I have this discussion with my guests and also with my colleagues. There’s a few things: price to quality ratio is big in the real world. DRC is a dream for a lot of people, myself included. Also if the wine costs four dollars a bottle or four hundred dollars a bottle if it tastes real. I know that’s an ambiguous term but what I mean is that the wine tastes like it was made in the vineyard and not like it was genetically engineered or manipulated. That’s a huge factor for me. Something we don’t discuss a lot but I try to use in my notes is texture. How does the wine feel in your mouth? I think that we are so busy with the structure—the acid, alcohol and tannin—that mouthfeel gets left behind. When I’m tasting for the restaurant or for pleasure that’s a big factor for me. It doesn’t have to be dense and plush but it’s how the texture works with the fruit and the structure that’s a key component for me. 

Tasting: Sight

TG: In terms of looking at wine to evaluate it either for professional purposes for your list or the MS context what are you trying to do? What are your goals when looking at a wine? 

TP: For both it’s making sure there’s no intentional flocculation whether the wine is old or however filtration or cold stabilization fits into the picture. I think you’re looking at the wine initially to try to get your feet underneath you in terms of where the wine might be, where it might come from and how it might taste. For the CMS tasting format I don’t spend a lot of time on sight. I think there are some wines like an aged Rioja or a Barolo where it can be a huge tell. But for me it’s more important to say all the things about the sight in 20 seconds tops. It’s different for everybody but certainly I would say to Advanced or Master’s candidates, if you’re 30-45 seconds into the sight you’re already behind.  

TG: Any other thoughts about the sight, the appearance of wine?

TP: With this wine that I’m looking at right now, viscosity is your friend. With the color description-wise, my ruby might be your garnet might be somebody else’s red. I think those descriptions are useful but the viscosity and staining of the tears in a red can be really important clues right at the start.

TG: What color would you call this wine? (2009 RDV Rendezvous Merlot blend from Virginia)

TP: I would call that a dark purple going out to some ruby notes; holding its color with a little bit of change at the rim; moderate-plus staining of the tears and high viscosity.  

TG: We’re going to get into some abstract questions, but how do you know it’s that color vs. something else? How do you know it’s not the color of Pinot Noir? 

TP: That’s a great question. It goes back to thing I was talking about; having confidence anchored in because I almost see the staining of the tears and the viscosity first. In my mind, I know that this can’t be a light-skinned grape varietal. 

TG: But in terms of picking out that color and being able to identify it, how do you know? 

TP: I don’t know. A lot of people will look at ruby red in an art book. I just never did that.  

TG: But there must be some way that you know. So as you take a look at the glass, in your mind’s eye how do you know it’s that color vs. something else? 

TP: I think that is just repetition of tasting a bunch of wines.

TG: How would you represent all that experience? 

TP: That’s a great question. I’m not a very visual learner or visual person.

TG: Let me ask you this: if I say think of the difference between something like Mendoza Malbec that’s purple and Rioja Gran Reserva that’s 20 years old.  Do you get two images in your head? 

TP: Yes.

TG: So when you pick up this glass is there some way in terms of a series of images or colors that you’re able to match the wine to a color you’ve seen before? That’s the question.

TP: I’m more abstract than that. I don’t want to sound like I’m winging it but I have a really good memory and I’m drawing on tastings that I’ve done in the past. 

TG: OK but how do you represent all that? Think about other Cabernet and Merlot-based wines and how do you know? 

TP: I don’t know.  

TG: I think it’s more that you do it so fast that you’re not aware of how you do it. But let’s slow it down for a second. And if I had to be you, what would I do? What would I see? What happens? 

TP: I think that I’m so excited to get into the wine that I do it really fast. I don’t really want to get locked in on it. It (the wine) looks ruby purple enough so we’re moving on. 

TG: I have to tell you that watching in watching you, you’re looking at the glass first and then you’re looking out here at several different points (out in front and slightly to the left of center and slightly up in several places). So I’m wondering if you hold your eyes out here, what happens? Take a look at the glass first and then go there and see what happens. What feels comfortable when thinking about color?

TP: It’s almost like in this format the train is on the track.

TG: When you say the train is on the track it means …

TP: It means it’s time to start evaluating this wine and I have a visual memory of what I call purple or ruby.  

TG: What are those memories like? Images of colors or images of glasses of wine? 

TP: Glasses of wine. 100%.  

TG: Are the images in a row? 

TP: This is great. So Stevenson’s book (Sotheby’s Encyclopedia of Wine) has pictures of everything from the lightest, brightest, cleanest wine to the deepest red. That series flashes in my head. 

TG: Do you have separate white images and red images? Or is it just one color gradation?

TP: It’s one.

TG: Are they separate images like the Stevenson book? 

TP: They’re like little slide images in my head.

TG: So what happens? Do you take a look at the glass and then the image continuum and match it up? 

TP: Yes.

TG: Does anything happen when you find the right match? Does something light up? Something happen? Does the slide change somehow?

TP: It’s almost like I go straight to it. It’s like your computer when you click on something and it gets bigger. It’s like I’m scrolling through and then match it up.

TG: So the image gets bigger? 

TP: Yes, it gets bigger and I know it’s a match. 

TG: Do you say something to yourself at that point?

TP: I say, “That’s it.” I also may say to myself the four or five things it could be. But some days I’m in the zone and not aware of any of this.

TG: Just curious, when you say you’re in the zone and you look at the glass, ID the color and say here are the three or four things it could be, where do those things go? Do you say those possible things to yourself? Do you see images? How does it work? 

TP: It’s words. 

TG: At that point is it your voice saying it or someone else’s?

TP: Mine.

TG: How do you get around the pitfall of pigeonholing the wine?

TP: Because I’ve got so much left to evaluate. Those potential things are floating through my head as I taste the wine but I really try not to force the wine into something. I think that’s something I’ve become really proficient at—really focusing on what the wine actually is and not trying to force into something it isn’t. Otherwise, there’s a lot of people living in my head at the same time. 

TG: That’s right because you have to acknowledge that kind of thought but then park it to the side and get back to it at the conclusion to see if it makes sense. Otherwise, you definitely will try to make the wine into something else.

Smell

TG: Now for the nose. In terms of overall goals in smelling wine, what are you trying to do?

TP: I’m trying to get the blueprint of what the wine is which will hopefully be confirmed on the palate; what it’s going to taste like, what its age is, and if there’s minerality and the like. I’m just trying to get a snapshot of what the wine will be. We’ve all been there when you get the wine on your palate and all the things you’ve said about the nose seem really dumb. But I think for the most part, as you become a better taster, the nose is the main thing. In my experience, when I put my nose in the glass and smell it for the first time, I try to think about what it is and 95% of the time it’s right for me—I know what it is. When I was a less accomplished taster I would try to find ways to talk myself out of that. Occasionally it doesn’t work because I still need to evaluate the wine.  

TG: Now it’s time to get to work. For the record we have the 2009 Rendezvous Merlot blend from RDV in Virginia as the wine we’re using today. Go ahead and smell the wine and focus and get in your zone. What I’m curious abou,t is where you’re looking when you put your nose in the glass which is almost straight down in front. Is that where you usually look when smelling a wine? 

TP: Yes.

TG: Just curious about something. So as you smell the wine what happens if you move your eyes up to about horizon level? What happens? Anything change? Smell better? Worse? 

TP: I get more lift, more high tones.

TG: It seems like you hold the glass at a fairly steep angle straight out in front and then look straight down. What happens if you move your eyes to the left or right? Brain-wise, does that feel better or worse?

TP: It doesn’t work. I need to be right in the middle.

TG: As you smell the wine, why don’t we start with the fruit. What do you get for fruit?

TP: Blackcurrant, black plum, and black cherry.

TG: Two questions: how do you know you’re smelling those things? And if I had to be you, what would I experience? 

TP: To begin, I didn’t do a lot of “go get some gooseberries” to learn what gooseberries smell like. It’s almost a life memory. I know what blackberry and black plums smell like.

TG: Agreed. But when you put your nose in this particular glass of wine, how do you know you’re smelling those things vs. anything else? How do you know? I also notice that you’re holding the glass with both hands.

TP: Yes, that’s how I do it. A lot of times I want the temp of the wine to be warmer so it’s a way of doing that. Otherwise, it’s been my method. But that’s such a great question and it’s awesome to delve into this.

TG: Let’s go back and do it again. You put your nose in the glass and your eyes go here (middle and almost straight down). At this point do you say anything to yourself? 

TP: No. 

TG: Anything like “what’s there” or “what’s going on?”

TP: It’s like I talked about doing it the same way every time. The initial scent on this wine is new oak. I get a very plush, lush, nutmeg, vanilla sort of aroma. But of course I have to be careful to stay in my method so that’s not the first thing I would note.

TG: Having said nutmeg and vanilla, how do you know it’s those things vs. something else? 

TP: Because of all the wines I’ve evaluated over the last 9-10 years. 

TG: Not to be a pain, but if I had to be you what would nutmeg and vanilla be like? How would I experience them? 

TP: I’m going to have to somehow convey that information to you.

TG: Exactly! But again, how would you know? If I had to be you, I would hold the glass with both hands at this angle, look straight down here, and then smell a lot of new oak influence. What would I experience for new oak? How would I remember that it’s new oak? 

TP: Baking spices, apple pie, everything. I’m a cooking fanatic. It’s my favorite thing to do. Ever since I’ve been studying for the exams, every time I make something I try to identify the smells as much as possible—fruits, vegetables, or whatever. If I’m making a salad with arugula, I’ll crush some in my hands and smell it so the next time I smell Grüner Veltliner I’ll be able to recognize it. Even if I just say the word “arugula,” this memory pops into my mind. It’s mostly driven by foods I’ve worked with. I’ve never been much of an aroma wheel person either.

TG: Pick up the glass again and go to all the oak aromas. From here I’m just trying to see what your eyes do. They go down here initially but I’m looking for the other place they go when you recognize something in the glass. All of this is to say that you have to have a way of drawing on all the memories you were just talking about—memories that help you identify something. When you smell vanilla and spices in this wine, how do you represent that to yourself? That’s what we’re after.

TP: It’s all smell memories.

TG: Memories like …

TP: Like apple pie filling.

TG: So apple pie filling and you’re looking out here to the left and about chest level. What’s there at that location where you’re looking? Is that a memory of you making an apple pie as you in a movie making apple pie? 

TP: Yes!

TG: So with the nutmeg and vanilla, what do you get for those? 

TP: Like making béchamel and putting a little nutmeg in it.

TG: Like making the sauce? 

TP: Literally me making the sauce.

TG: Great. Just so you know, this is what you did just now: when you mentioned nutmeg, you put your nose in the glass and looked down to your starting point then went very strongly out and slightly to the left to your memory of making the béchamel. Just for detail, when you see making the sauce do you see the actual ingredients or the process of actually making the sauce?

TP: I see the ingredient that I’m using and also smelling in the moment.

TG: Does the ingredient sit on something? Is it by itself? Remember this is in the context of me being you and experiencing what you are in the moment.

TP: The ragu is almost cooked down, the cream is almost cooked in and I’m grabbing a pinch of nutmeg and about ready to add it to the sauce.

TG: What about the vanilla, what’s that like? 

TP: Vanilla extract. As a kid, I liked to open a bottle of vanilla extract and just smell it. To me, it’s just a beautiful smell. That’s a very powerful memory for me. But I’m not necessarily accessing this memory while I’m smelling the wine because I’m so focused on what I’m doing. But to your point, I have to get there somehow.

TG: Go ahead and smell the wine again; what about fruit? Tell me about the fruit.

TP: Black fruits: black plum, blackcurrant, and almost a kind of blue or boysenberry thing too.

TG: That’s a lot of fruit.Which one is the strongest? Let’s pick one and figure out how you got there.

TP: Black plum.

TG: So for black plum, what do you get? How is that represented to you?

TP: I’m thinking of a place where we used to toss the disc around in Seattle; on the rare occasion of warm summer day where there were plums that were so ripe they were almost rotten on the trees. You could smell them in this orchard where we played.

TG: Is this like a movie of the memory and you’re in it? Like you could reach out and grab the plums? 

TP: Absolutely, and we would never eat them because they were so ripe they were almost turned. But that’s the level of intensity of the black plum on the nose of this wine—uber ripe.

TG: What other fruits to do you smell?

TP: There some blue fruit too; boysenberry, blueberry, and straight blackberry.

TG: How do you represent all those other fruits to yourself? We’ve got the movie for the black plums and what happens for the rest?

TP: This if funny because I really don’t eat very much fruit—I don’t really like it. How I access these memories is almost going back to when I was growing up in Juneau, Alaska. There wasn’t a lot of fruit growing there but we had blueberries. I remember having to eat them but not enjoying them. Now living in Seattle blackberries grow rampantly all over the place. My wife tries to get me to eat them and I still don’t particularly like them.

TG: Anything else for fruit we should mention? 

TP: No, I think the wine is very expressive and straight forward.

TG: OK; pick up the glass again and think about all those fruits. Can you pick them up sequentially quickly or keep them in mind all at the same time? How does it work?

TP: It’s sequentially. But I’m thinking that when I get to the palate the intensity or the amount of each fruit will probably change. There may be more blueberry vs. more black plum or whatever. I kind of card catalogue it.

TG: When you say “card catalogue” what does that mean? 

TP: In my brain I remember the three primary fruits.

TG: Are there literally cards? You’re pointing to the right side of your head by your ear.

TP: Yes, it’s right back there. It’s like the purpose of my whole process is to not only get the wine right but to also evaluate it completely. So on the palate--if my nose didn’t let me down and those fruits are still in the wine--I need to let to let whoever wants to know, be that an MS panel or a distributor, about what’s going on in the wine.

TG: OK, but what I’m trying to do here is build a sequence of what you’re doing. It seems like you smell the wine, your eyes move up here, and then you get total body memories of things in the wine. That’s at least what I’m picking up so far. But then does that information become a card that you store in your head? That seems to be where the info is going.

TP: This is interesting because I’ve never thought about it analytically. At that point, what it feels like in my head is that I do make an image because I might need it later--but then put it away. I’ve pulled the memories out, I’ve got the cards, and I don’t need the childhood stuff anymore.

TG: Not to sound silly, but what do the cards look like? 

TP: Like little flashcards.

TG: Like 3 X 5 cards?

TP: No, really small. They have to fit in my head! (Laughs) It’s almost like dragging your mouse on your computer over an image and it gets bigger. I can make the images bigger if I need to. With the blue fruit thing, if I taste it then the image will get bigger automatically because it’s so intense.

TG: But these images are to the side. How can you see them?

TP: It’s inside and like a voice and an image.

TG: But you still got an image, correct? 

TP: Yes. 

TG: Is the image flat and two dimensional? Or is it three dimensional? 

TP: Flat and two dimensional. 

TG: Are the images in the order that you smelled them? Or is it whatever is the most intense? 

TP: It’s whatever is the most intense is first.

TG: Does the MS grid have any bearing in terms of how you organize all this? 

TP: Definitely. But right now with the nose I’m just compiling evidence. By the time I get this wine on the palate I’ll put all the evidence in a perfect linear order.

TG: When you do that it sounds like you pull everything outside and put it right in front of you. You’re going from up to down right out in front of you about a foot away.

TP: Yes.

TG: When the images are inside can you look at all of them or do you have to look at things one at a time?

TP: I look at categories of things in sequence.  

TG: What about minerality? Smell the wine again and see if anything pops up for minerality. I’m curious if you use the same process that you did for fruit.

TP: Yes, I actually picture rocks inside my head.

TG: You mean rocks out here (out in front) or an image of rock inside your head? 

TP: Yes, out front. 

TG: Then that goes inside and becomes one of those cards that you store? 

TP: Yes.

TG: What does the image of minerality look like? 

TP: If it’s Chablis, it’s like the white cliffs of Dover or it’s galets for Chateauneuf. I’ve never walked the vineyards in some of these places so I have to rely on images I’ve seen in books. But the images are definitely there.

TG: The last thing is non-fruit; what do you smell in this wine? 

TP: There’s a lot of purple flower-violet happening in the wine.

TG: What’s that like? 

TP: It’s an image of the flowers.

TG: Is it 2D or 3D? Movie? Still image? 

TP: It’s 3D and like a vase of violets. But it’s also like a flower that grows in Alaska called fireweed and it has a very similar aroma to this.

TG: Is the image like a vase with flowers in space out in front of you? 

TP: Yes.

TG: It seems pretty close like you could reach out and touch it. Is it life size? 

TP: Yes and yes.

TG: Once you create that image, does it get filed in your head like the rest of the images? What happens to it? 

TP: They go back into the file. 

TG: What does the file itself look like? It’s a collection of images but what does it look like? 

TP: It’s like a box with cards in it. This if funny because this is what I was finally able to do in the Aspen exam—and what I’ve been able to do since. I’m able to empty out the box once I’m done with a wine and then refill it with the next wine. 

TG: That’s brilliant. But can you get that information back if you need it? 

TP: Yes and this sounds so nuts (laughs) because there’s another box—a hedge box.  

TG: So the first box is in your head and at some point you empty it; but you also want to keep the information when you’re done with the wine. Does it go into the “hedge box?” 

TP: Yes. 

TG: Where does this hedge box live?

TP: It’s sitting right in front of me, right by the glass of wine in case I have a question about it. 

TG: So it’s there and you can pull up information/images if you need it?

TP: Yes.

TG: Finally, how do you know when you’re finished smelling the wine? 

TP: When I’ve filled in all my boxes; when I’ve talked about everything I feel there is to talk about.

TG: Do you actually see the MS grid when you’re tasting to make sure you’re not missing anything? 

TP: Yes, very much so.

TG: Where do you see it?

TP: It’s out in front. 

TG: Yes, you’re looking right out in front of you 3-5 feet away almost at eye level. So periodically, you’ll flash it up and make sure you’re getting everything? 

TP: Right. 

​Last year as a part of my tasting project, I did a session with dear friend and fellow Master Emily Wines. Emily is the current Senior Director of Beverage for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants in the U.S. She’s had an outstanding career in the wine industry having worked at top level restaurants in San Francisco such as Jardinierre, Elka, and Foreign Cinema. In 2000 she joined the Fifth Floor restaurant as assistant sommelier under Raj Parr. In 2005 she took over the Wine Director position for the restaurant and during her tenure the Fifth Floor list won a Grand Award from Wine Spectator as well as being nominated for the Outstanding Wine Service award by the James Beard Foundation.  

In 2008, Emily became one of only 149 people in the U.S. to ever pass the Master Sommelier diploma examination—and one of only 24 women. She was also awarded the prestigious Remi Krug Cup for passing all three sections of the exam on her first attempt, one of two women to ever achieve this remarkable distinction.  

We did the tasting session at her office in San Francisco. The wine used for the tasting was the 2009 Double Bond Pinot Noir from the Wolf Vineyard in Edna Valley. Riedel Wine Series Chianti Classico/Sangiovese glasses were used for the tasting. During the session, I spent the better part of two hours standing next to Emily observing her tasting. In particular, I paid close attention to her eye movements and language patterns, looking for clues as to how she processed all the information in the glass. My intent was to deconstruct her strategies, literally how she thinks about tasting, in the form of processing and organizing aromatics, flavors and structural components. In the end, we managed to map out the exact sequence of what she does internally when she tastes. The results, to say the least, are remarkable in that they provide a glimpse into the thinking and strategies of a top taster. Read on and enjoy!

Overall Goals and Beliefs about Wine 

TG: What are your overall goals when you taste? What are you trying to accomplish?

EW: I’m trying to find out if the wine is, what it should be, and if it’s OK and not flawed. If it’s too wacked I don’t even bother to go further and taste it. I’m also checking for flaws to make sure it’s not too over the top. I’m also looking for varietal correctness and the “deliciousness factor,” or something that makes me want to taste more. Even if it’s an over the top Cabernet, is there something about the wine that would make me want to taste more.

TG: What does “deliciousness” mean? 

EW: Does the wine have good balance and good structure? Does the wine have something intriguing about it that makes me want to taste more? The intriguing part could be, if it’s an over the top Chardonnay that’s all about oak and butter, does it taste like delicious caramel popcorn, tropical fruit, and butterscotch? Or is it just so heavy in the mouth and there’s really nothing else there. The opposite would be something really understated which also can be a problem if there’s not much there to begin with. A lot of people are now making an un-oaked or restrained style of Chardonnay and there’s really not much there.

TG: Do you have other goals for tasting if it’s a wine you’re considering for a restaurant list?

EW: I’m checking for varietal or regional correctness. I’m also asking if it’s appropriately priced. Does the wine taste like it should for the money or does it over-deliver? Ideally it should over-deliver.

TG: What are your goals as a taster? 

EW: To narrow down and get an impression from the wine. At the very least, I want to come away with an impression from a wine. I’d like to have more stamina as a taster, to be able to get through more wines. Once I get beyond 50 wines my palate isn’t as fresh. But there’s not something specific that I try to do every time I sit down and taste. I’m trying to find something new that sticks or that makes an impression; I think blind tasting is like a language, so I’m looking for something that I can add to my language of senses.  
 
TG: What is your evidence for a good tasting?  What do you need? (Glassware, context, lighting, etc.)

EW: I need good light, bright enough light that I can really see the wine; it needs to be quiet. With a professional tasting, it’s really easy to blow through a ton of wines and not pay attention. I taste wine in batches so I can go back and compare if I need to. I think comparing is important because a wine can sometimes be affected by what comes before it. I also almost always taste wines at room temperature because any flaws in the wine will really show. It’s the most honest way to look at wine.

TG: What are your beliefs about tasting; about your own tasting?

EW: I think that I have a pretty unbiased palate; some people’s palates are more skewed to luxury wines vs. other people’s palates which can be more naïve. I’ve tasted so long as a buyer that I do tend to have that perspective. One of the things I have to do is find wines under $5 and that’s hard. But I don’t really think I’m a great blind taster; it’s something that I worked really hard at and focus on. It’s not something that’s inherently easy for me. Some people have really great palate memory and the ability to taste things and textures that I don’t get. But I can taste at a really high level. In the scheme of blind tasters out there, it’s not a talent that came easy to me but it’s something that I’m good at doing. I think I’m good at processing information quickly and categorizing it in my mind; visualizing through things. I learned pretty early on that I’m a visual learner with my tasting. 

TG: What about the other parts of the exam?

EW: Service was easy for me because it’s what I did all the time. Theory was manageable because it was about taking all the information and making a system for memorizing the information. To memorize theory I made up a lot of acronyms. But then I also did what I’ve come learn as making memory palaces; taking names or places that didn’t really have any connection for me and then create a word association picture with it. 

TG: What are your overall beliefs about wine? 

EW: Wine is pleasurable, it’s enjoyable and it’s often social. It’s an artisanal thing but it’s also an industrial product; there’s a balance there and it doesn’t mean that one is necessarily better than the other.

TG: How is wine valuable to you, both personally and professionally? 
 
EW: It’s a living, creative thing. Fine wine is like artwork that’s in a bottle and you don’t get to appreciate that artwork until you consume it. If you go to a big trade event like the Aspen Food and Wine Festival, watch the people with wine vs. spirits. There’s something about the way that people think about wine—they savor it.  Most people take their time and get drawn into it. You don’t see that often with beer and spirits.  

Sight

TG: What are you trying to learn/accomplish when looking at a glass of wine?  

EW: I’m looking for quality. There are times when I’m looking at a Pinot Noir, for instance, and it’s purple. Then something’s wacky or not varietally correct because there could be something blended in like Syrah. So it’s not honest wine and they’re (winemaker) changing the wine from something that it should be.

TG: As you look at the color, how do you know if it’s varietally correct? How do you know that it’s the right color vs. other similar wines you’ve had in the past? 

EW: I can compare it to similar wines I’ve had before; I have experience with what those wines should look like. I’m picturing the range of colors for red wine starting on the left with pale colors for a delicate young red moving across and to the right as they get more intense in color (Emily motions 12-15” in front of her, starting to her left at eye level, then going left to right ending just to the right of her face. The more intense the color, the farther right and closer to her face the color is. If it’s too intense for her it’s literally right in her face).

TG: What about wines that have age? 

EW: If the wines are more orange in color with age, then it moves off to the right and farther away.  
 
TG: So there are two color spectrums? One for age and one for intensity of color? Do they start together and then branch out separately? 
 
EW: Yes and yes. 

TG: Do you do this with all wines? What about a white wine like Chardonnay? 

EW: Yes, if it’s really yellow, it’s right here close to me. If it’s a younger wine with more green, it’s over here (to her left). If it’s golden and oxidized, then it’s over here off to the right and further back. 

TG: Do you literally take a look at the color of a wine and then compare it to the scales? 

EW: Yes.

TG: What shape are these color scales?

EW: It’s like a strip.                                              
 
TG: Do the colors change in a continuum or are they separate?

EW: It’s like a continuum or series of pantone paint swatches lined up.

TG: Are the different colors segmented? 

EW: They are segmented but it’s very subtle. Like tick marks, like paint strips with very thin lines. 

TG: How does it work? Do you look at the color of the wine and then match it? Does the scale move? Something else move? 

EW: The scale is fixed. I look at the wine and then compare it to the scale.  
 
TG: How do you know you have it or have accomplished it? 
 
EW: It happens pretty quickly for me. After I match the wine to the color on the scale I’m pretty much done. 

TG: How do you actually observe wine? 

EW: When I look at a glass of wine, I almost always tip it away from me and roll the glass in my fingers. At the same time I’m looking at the color, I’m also watching the viscosity and the staining because the wine is moving and reflecting light. I’m also looking down at the core and then at the rim for sediment for brightness and for clarity. All that’s happening pretty much at once.  

Tasting: Nose

TG: What are you trying to learn and/or accomplish when smelling a wine? 
 
EW: The grid is a pretty important framework to hang things on. My primary goal is to get a first impression. I believe that whatever that first impression is, is really important. If I’m starting to veer off, I go back to that first impression because it’s something that can’t be ignored. The first impression can be a flaw or cherries or violets or smoke like a campfire. I ask, what can that be? Sometimes it can be really obvious like Shiraz. Sometimes not.

TG: When you say it’s obvious like the Shiraz, it’s because ...

EW: It’s because all those clues are lined up.

TG: What are the clues? 

EW: I’ve already looked at it so the color’s there. Then there’s an almost painful intensity with blue-black fruit, tar, mint, and eucalyptus, herby, and exotic--all those things. 

TG: Are there any other goals in smelling the wine? 
 
EW: Once I get that primary or first impression, I usually don’t say it out loud; but if I’m blind tasting but hold it and then I try to go through the wine and find the fruit, earth, and wood.

TG: Do you use the MS tasting grid? 

EW: Yes, it’s huge and in black and white right in front of me (about 5 feet away, 2D, rectangular about chest height). It looks like an Excel document and has the all information from the grid on it. The first thing I do when approaching a wine is to get a first impression, to let the wine come to me. I stop and smell the wine. It’s more of a visceral experience and I try to get an idea of what’s the very first impression. But I’m not trying to make any decisions. I just want to be with the wine because sometimes I think we do so much work with the grid that we miss out on things. You can miss the soul of the wine.  
 
TG: What does soul of the wine mean to you? 

EW: It’s the part of the wine that speaks to me. 
 
TG: So soul and first impression are the same thing? 
 
EW: Yes. 

TG: Let’s find out how you smell wine. 

EW: I smell wine twice. I first pick up the glass not disturbing it too much and take the most delicate gentle sniff and let the wine come in. To me, it’s a whole different range of smells. Then I give it a swirl and smell again.  

TG: What are you looking for in that first go round? 
 
EW: The very delicate, sort of volatile aromas that disappear when you swirl the glass. Things like floral, volatile acidity, and perfume. Sometimes it’s hard to pull things out of a wine; but when you pick up the glass like that you can get some delicate subtle aromas. 
 
TG: Show me how you smell the wine. (Emily rests the glass under her nose on her upper lip.  She holds the glass at about a 35 degree angle, head slightly down, torso very slightly down as well). When you first pick up a glass to smell the wine where do your eyes go? 

EW: Straight out ahead and very slightly down. 
 
TG: What’s happening then? Do you think about the grid? 
 
EW: No. 

TG: What’s going on?  
 
EW: I smell roses and cherries. It’s almost like Tarot cards on a table.  

TG: Cards? How do the cards appear? Where do they come from? So you smell something, ID it as “cherry,” and then what happens? 

EW: It’s almost like there’s a table in front of me and there are cards on the table that have things in the wine on them. 
 
TG: Where do the cards from?  
 
EW: I take them out of my back pocket.  

TG: When you take the card out of your pocket do you look at it and ID it as “cherries?”

EW: Yes.

TG: So when you smell something you and ID it, how do you know it’s a “cherry” and not something else? This is even before it becomes a card. 

EW: I’m picturing big, luscious, almost stewed cherries right here (points chin level to the right about six inches away). There’s a cluster of cherries, they’re really ripe and almost soppy.  

TG: What does the image look like? 

EW: It’s a cluster of cherries in 3D with realistic bright colors and texture. 

TG: What happens to the cherries once you see them and ID them? 
 
EW: I set them aside and they become an image on a card that goes on the table. With the first impression whatever it is, the card is larger and I keep it on the table right in front of me.

TG: So you smell and then confirm with an image of the fruit or whatever; then the image becomes a 2D Tarot like card on the table in front of you.  
 
EW: Yes.  
 
TG: What’s the table like? 

EW: It’s a dark wood conference-like table. When I taste, the table is my whole world. I can’t see the other side. I’m in my own little bubble just putting these cards out in front of me. It’s funny because I’ve never even done Tarot cards before. But that’s exactly how I picture it.

TG: What else did you smell besides the cherries?  

EW: Roses (she points to almost the same place where the image of cherries was) and they’re almost to the point of almost being tossed out.  

TG: Just curious, where are the cherries now?  
 
EW: They’re both together but the roses are closer to me. They’re the same color as the cherries (deep but almost faded Burgundy).  
 
TG: What happens to the roses then? 

EW: They become a card and go on the table.

TG: How big are the cards on the table? 

EW: About the same size as playing cards, although the primary, first impression card is larger and it’s right in front of me. The others not so close, so I’m always having to refer back to them. If there’s an important clue about a wine, the card could become bigger and closer to me. If I’m looking at a white wine that’s copper colored, then it’s an important clue and it would be a bigger card. It’s almost as if the sight’s here, the nose is here, and palate’s here (she motions in front of her left to right, table level, sight to the left, nose directly in front and palate to the right).  

TG: With all these cards, are there different places for fruit vs. earth vs. wood?  
 
EW: Not at all. It’s more about what are the most important clues. The more important they, are the closer they are to me.  
 
TG: This is a pretty cool system. How do you use the grid with it?  The grid that you showed me a few minutes ago was right out in front of you about chest-high and was like an Excel grid with all the information on it. 

EW: Yes, it’s right here (motions out in front of her about two feet), and I’m going through it checking off things that might be in the wine.  
 
TG: What happens there? You’re seeing something that might be on the grid and then what? 
 
EW: Rather than checking something off, it becomes a visual clue.

TG: So you’re going down the grid checking things off and then an image is generated? 
 
EW: I’m looking at the section of the grid on wood and now images of oak aromas are coming up; then they become cards and go down here (points to the “table”).

TG: It also seems like the images of wood are slightly to the right of center.

EW: Yes. 

TG: For this wine, what representation of wood do you see? 
 
EW: I’m looking for sweet things like in ice cream or baking spices like clove. Or maybe there’s a subtle textural thing.  
 
TG: Are you pulling something out of the glass and then comparing to something you’ve smell before, or do you see all of those things first and then choose? 
 
EW: It’s a scale just like the colors; from gently oxidative all the way to screaming oak.

TG: What does that scale look like? Is it colors? Images? 
 
EW: I guess it’s kind of images. For gently oxidative I think of dried apples.  
 
TG: Where is that? (Points over to the left about 2-3 feet from center) What’s over on this end? 

EW: On this end, it’s my primary impression and I almost can’t shake it. The scale starts here (motions in front about two feet left of center) and goes over here (scale ends really close to the right side of her face).  
 
TG: What’s over here next to your face? 

EW: It’s something very sweet like vanilla and sweet spices. It’s not necessarily images, but something really sweet like you’re walking through the cologne department of a store and people are spraying things on you. While over here I really have to reach for it. 
 
TG: That’s great, but again I’m trying to get the recipe or sequence for what you do. You put your nose in the glass and smell the wine. Then you have the Excel grid in front of you and have these continuums. Do you use them for everything? Do you use the same thing for earth and mineral? 
 
EW: No, it’s different. With fruit, I have buckets of different kinds of fruit I’m reaching into. Is it red fruit or black fruit, or blue fruit or dried fruit? (Points to different locations out in front of her, eye level, left to right starting with red fruit). 

TG: When you say buckets of fruit, are there literally buckets? 

EW: No, they’re almost like giant fruit bowls with real fruits in them (both 3D). I identify the kind of fruit in the bucket and then ask what quality is the fruit. Is it fresh? Is it dry? Is it sweet? Is it sour? 
 
TG: So you pull the fruit out of the bucket and then look at it to see if it’s dry, fresh, sour etc.? Once you’re done with it, does it becomes a card that goes on the table? If it’s really important, is the card is larger and closer to you? If it’s anything else, is there an arrangement to it?  

EW: Not really, it’s more like the important things are closer to me; the things that are screaming are very close, and that first impression is always the biggest card.

TG: Do the other cards vary in size?
 
EW: No, it’s just in terms of how close or how far they are from me. 

TG: What about earth? What do you do with earth?

EW: With earth, I smell the wine and ask if it’s there and then if it’s organic or not (Eye position is in front and down table top level).  
 
TG: You looked here and here for organic and inorganic. What are you looking at?

EW: It’s almost like there are two buckets; a bucket full of rocks and a bucket full of soil and mushrooms.  
 
TG: What do these buckets look like?

EW: These are more like a bucket with a handle on it.

TG: And the fruit is in a bowl?

EW: Yes, the fruits are in a bowl up here (points to just below eye level out in front), while the buckets for earth and mineral are down here (table or waist level).

TG: So you ID something, define its quality, and then as soon as you’re done with it, it becomes a card on goes on the table.  
 
EW: Especially if it’s important. It might not be that important.

TG: How do you know if it’s important? Better question, how do you know if it’s not important? 
 
EW: Sometimes if it’s a neutral white wine and has citrus, the citrus doesn’t tell me anything. 

TG: Got it. Behind your system there’s a lot of theory and experience to back it up.  

EW: Right. 

TG: I have to ask if you had any idea that you did all this? 
 
EW: I knew I did the Tarot card thing but not the rest of it.  

TG: To summarize: you start by putting your nose in the glass and then you look out in front. It seems like most of your eye positions are right out here in front. Right here (out in front, straight ahead and slightly down), seems like your comfortable starting point. Does that seem right? 

EW: Yes.

TG: From there, you’re looking for the first impression, whatever the strongest aroma is.  If it’s fruit, it’s in the bowls out in front here; if it’s earth, it’s in the buckets here or here. What about herbs and other non-fruit things? Where are they? 

EW: They fall in that same kind of middle tier out here (points directly out front, chest level and left to right).  It’s almost like reaching out to find what else is there.  
 
TG: Where are the herbs? 

EW: The herbs are in bunches. I’m also asking what kind of herbs, as in fresh herbs vs. dried herbs, etc.

TG: So literally right out in front of you, chest level, with herbs left of center in bunches and then going toward center.  
 
EW: Yes. 

TG: To finish your sequence; you put your nose in the glass and then your eyes go out in front and slightly down. If fruit is the first impression, you go with the system of bowls, choose what it is, and then grab it. From there you hold it, look at it, and then assign a quality to it. Finally, that becomes a card that goes on the table. 
 
EW: That’s right.

TG: How do you know when you’re done? 

EW: Because I’ve gone through the entire grid. I’ve got my first impression and then I check off all the boxes on my Excel sheet.  
 
TG: It also seems like that once you ID something, you pull it out and compare it against the grid as well.

EW: Right, I check it against all the boxes.  
 
TG: When you say you check all the boxes, do you actually put marks on the sheet?
 
EW: Yes.

TG: To finish up, let’s talk about submodalities and the image of cherries. What happens if you make the image larger as in really large? Does the intensity of the aromas of the fruit get stronger? Less strong?  
 
EW: If I make it larger it becomes singular, blocking out all other smells.

TG: What happens if you make the image smaller? Stronger intensity or less strong?  

EW: By making the image smaller it’s less intense, almost like it's set aside.

TG: What happens if you push the image far away? Stronger intensity or less strong?  

EW: Much less strong or intense; it’s what has to happen to move on to the next aroma. 

TG: What happens if you make the image of the fruit black and white? Stronger intensity or less strong?  

EW: It becomes much less intense. The color is very much a part of the aroma.

TG: What happens if you make the image 2 D instead of 3 D?  Stronger intensity or less strong?  

EW: Much less strong. This is what I describe when I say the 3D image becomes like a playing card. It is cataloged but set aside.

TG: What happens if you change the location of the image? Say put it way up or way down? Stronger intensity or less strong?

EW: It becomes less strong. It's strongest when it is right in front of my eyes.

TG: In summary, your driver submodalities are size, proximity, color vs. black and white and location. Changing any of those in an image changes the experience and sometimes dramatically.  

Palate

TG: Now you have a really good idea of what the wine is about. What are your goals when actually tasting the wine? What are you trying to
learn/accomplish?

EW: To confirm the checked off things on my Excel sheet next to me, but I’m also going through this physical visceral kind of experience with the wine. 

TG: What does that mean? 
 
EW: Is it mouthwatering? Is it appealing? Is it bitter? Is it even the right temperature?  

TG: We’ll get to the structure in a bit, but in the meantime, what are your goals as a taster in terms of what you’ve tasted vs. the cards on the table? 
 
EW: I’m referring back to the cards on the table, reviewing and asking, does this taste like cherry? Like roses? Now I’m noticing that the fruit is more macerated.

TG: What it seems like you’re doing, is pointing to all the cards on the table from smelling the wine. If there’s something extra, what happens? Is it the same process where you reach for something and then it becomes another card? 
 
EW: No, when I taste I’m looking at the cards and reviewing them. If there’s something new, then it’s almost like it’s right in front of my face.  
 
TG: You mean an image right in front of you? 

EW: Yes, but it’s like a card because I’m not reaching for it. I’ve already done that but I’ve missed whatever the new thing is.  
 
TG: After it pops up where does it go? Is there a specific position for it? 
 
EW: It goes on the table in the palate position to the right. If it’s something subtle, then it will go further away from me. But if it’s something screaming, then it will be closer and I’ll say, "Wow, how did I miss that much tar in the wine?" Or something like noticing that the quality of the fruit is different from what I was smelling.  
 
TG: Do the images on the cards change, or do you get different cards?

EW: If I’m tasting a wine and the fruit is much richer or brighter than it was on the nose, then the image on the card actually gets brighter too. If it’s a wine where I’m reaching for it and can’t I really get anything out of the nose, sometimes I’ll taste something new and it can solidify the wine.

TG: Go ahead and taste the wine. I’m interested in the sequence of where your eyes go. I notice that when you taste your eyes go down here (down and straight ahead). Are you looking at cards?   
 
EW: I’m looking at the other edge of the table. When I taste, my whole world is right out here (motions to the “table”).  
 
TG: Are you looking at anything in particular? 
 
EW: No, just trying to let an impression come to me. 
 
TG: So you look out to the other edge of the table and let the whole process start? 
 
EW: Yes.

TG: Now for structure. How do you know how much acid, alcohol, or tannin is in the wine? How do you quantify those things? Let’s talk about acidity, for instance. 
 
EW: I’m paying attention to how tart the wine is on my tongue, how much I’m salivating—a combination of the two.  
 
TG: Got that. But how do you calibrate just how much acidity is in the wine, as in the difference between medium-plus and high acid? How do you know? 

EW: There’s a scale I see; it’s really small. 
 
TG: So there’s some kind of visual confirmation? You put both hands out in front of you about a foot apart. What does the scale look like? 

EW: It’s a ruler.  

TG: A ruler with gradations? Over here to the left for low and over to the right for high?

EW: Yes.

TG: What color is it? 

EW: It’s yellow and the color for medium to low is almost faded out; the color from medium to high is much deeper and brighter.  

TG: Is there any marker on it that moves so you can calibrate? Or do you just point to a mark on it? 

EW: There’s a motion; I point to it.

TG: What about alcohol? How do you calibrate it? 

EW: Alcohol is more visceral in some way; there’s an intensity to the wine overall. 

TG: How do you measure it? 

EW: There’s the same kind of ruler, only it’s broader because it goes from low to high. It also doesn’t have tick marks on it. There’s almost like a bubble on it like a construction level that shifts. I have to watch it a lot closer because alcohol can be kind of nebulous for me sometimes. 

TG: Is it the same color as the acid ruler? 

EW: No, it’s kind of an aquamarine blue like a swimming pool.

TG: What about tannin? 

EW: Tannin is kind of a wooly thing; it’s a textural thing. It’s almost like a piece of wool that’s stretched out and thin at one end and much thicker and larger at the other. 
 
TG: I also notice that you’re going through the scale with your hand. Is that something you have to feel? 
 
EW: It’s a textural thing: how much it is and the texture.  Is it gritty? Is it silky? Where is it on the scale and how much?

TG: So it’s a combination of the amount and the texture.

EW: Right, as I’m tasting, it’s almost like I’m taking a piece of Brillo pad and rubbing it against my fingers. 

TG: So if it’s a Brillo pad, it’s probably a wine that’s pretty tannic and astringent. What about a wine that’s smooth? 

EW: It’s like wet velvet.

TG: It seems like you have your right arm out in front of you and you’ve moving it from left to right and feeling the texture of the wool.

EW: Right.  
 
TG: What about the finish? How do you calibrate that? 

EW: I like the finish because I get a lot of subtle clues out of it (Her eyes move slightly up and look out over the table).

TG: I noticed that your eyes moved here (points to the location). What’s there? 

EW: I guess it’s almost like I’m trying to taste the wine through my sinuses or something. I’m exhaling the finish.  
 
TG: Like retro-nasal breathing? 

EW: Yes, I’m doing that and asking, “What’s there?”

TG: OK, but twice you’ve literally looked right up here, slightly above eye level, out and straight ahead. What’s up there? 

EW: I’m looking for anything that I haven’t seen in the wine.  
 
TG: The components of the wine? 

EW: Yes, sometimes I find something on the finish like, “that’s American oak.”

TG: Would that then become a card? 

EW: Absolutely.

TG: Getting back to the finish. How do you know how long the finish is? How do you calibrate it? Is it another scale? 
 
EW: Yes, it’s a kind of a scale that goes out in front of me. It’s almost like a road that goes out to the horizon. I’m looking to see how far down the road I can see.  

TG: When you taste and look down the road at the finish, does anything move? 
 
EW: No, it’s almost like how far away is the horizon.  

TG: How do you know when you’re finished tasting the wine? 
 
EW: I’ve gone through the process with all my cards. Then I sit and do a quick see, smell, and taste through of the wine to see if I’ve missed anything. From there, I ask what makes sense about the wine. I obviously already have a general idea about the wine sitting in my head.  

TG: Do you use the cards on the table to match to a specific wine? How would you match the cards to this Pinot Noir we’re tasting? 
 
EW: No, it’s like I have a Pinot Noir card in my hand (holds her left hand out in front of her) and ask if the cards on the table match the list of things on the Pinot card.

TG: So you look at the list of things on your Pinot Noir card and compare it to the cards on the table? If enough of them match, then you internally say yes, this is Pinot Noir?  
 
EW: Yes. 

TG: What happens if the Pinot card doesn’t match? 
 
EW: Then I might set the Pinot card aside and consider other cards. But I always have my first impression card and that’s really important for the
conclusion.

TG: What does the Pinot Noir card look like? Is it just a list of the markers for the grape? 
 
EW: It’s a card with a Burgundy-colored border and the center is white with the list of Pinot things typed out in terms of sight, smell, and palate. It’s literally a check list for Pinot Noir.

TG: Is it playing card size? 

EW: Yes. 

TG: If it’s not Pinot Noir, you pull out another card that the wine could be? 
 
EW: Yes, at that point I have a really good idea of the cards I want to bring out to look at to consider for the wine.

TG: Where do the cards come from? 

EW: (Pauses and smiles) From my back pocket! At that point, I think that I have Pinot or Gamay or something like that and ask, “Which of these match?” I’m thinking varietal as well as wine.  Is it Burgundy? Is it new world? 

TG: In terms of Pinot Noir, are there different cards for Central Otago and Carneros? 
 
EW: They all have their own cards. It’s almost like Pinot Noir has a card but Pinot Noir from Beaune has its own card too.   
 
TG: How do all these Pinot cards show up? 

EW: It’s almost like a family of cards, the Pinot cards, and that set has a Burgundy border. If it’s the Malbec/Syrah cards, they have a dark purple border. It’s a family of cards.  
 
TG: So it has to do with color.  
 
EW: Yes.  
 
TG: If it’s white wine, does it have to do with the color as well? 
 
EW: Not necessarily but wines that are grassy and herbal have a green color. Aromatic wines might have a pink border since they are so distinctive and floral.  
 
TG: How do you know you’re finished tasting the wine? 
 
EW: I say this is the card that matches, that feels right. Then I put the card right in front of the wine and move on to the next glass. When I’m done with all the wines I’ll go back and look at all the cards to make sure.  
 
TG: What about age and being able to assign a vintage to a wine? 
 
EW: To me, that’s like theory. It’s about knowing what happened in a particular place, how youthful the wine is, and then matching the two together and asking if it makes sense. It’s combining the sensory thing of feeling the age of the wine with knowing about the year.  

TG: Thanks, Emily, it's been amazing to taste with you and deconstruct your system for tasting. 

I’m just back from ten days on the road; a trip split between three Alto Adige wine seminars in Denver, D.C., and New York, and a trip to Germany for the Weinbörse, the big annual spring wine fair. While the likes of such a sojourn may sound glamorous, anyone who travels for a living will tell you that most of it is spent looking at the inside of hotels, cabs, and planes, not to mention the long periods of time in various inert, semi-functioning states. But there was plenty of upside to this trip with the buzz generated by Alto Adige wines (see earlier post) and tasting the outstanding 2012 vintage for German Riesling. More on the latter will follow in my next post. Until then, here are bits of wisdom gained from the road.

Bee Death Smells Like Bananas

This gem offered by Haley Dale from Omaha who was on the Germany segment of the trip. Haley’s restaurant, the Grey Plume, is a farm-to-table concept and her commitment—no, make that obsession--to deliver the freshest local ingredients to her guests includes the likes of keeping bees in her back yard for their prized honey. However, she warns that the worst thing one can do before working with bees is to eat bananas. That’s because the hormone given off by a bee that’s just stung you, as in a bee that has just given up its life by stinging you to protect the rest of the hive, smells like bananas. So those ripe banana slices on the breakfast cereal you’re enjoying as you read the celebrity column right before you amble out to check out the hive will instantly signify serial death to the inhabitants and give the signal to attack. Bee forewarned.

They Have Wine Queens in Germany

On the first morning of our German itinerary we were graced by the presence of one Sabine Wagner who, as it turns out, is the 2013 Rheingau Wine Queen. I’m not sure about the selection process or the requirements for being a wine queen, but I will tell you that Sabine was lovely, charming, and wore a very cute tiara that would surely be the envy of most any nine-year-old girl. She was also accompanied by another woman who was the wine queen from a smaller region. Together, they provided color commentary in English about the drizzly landscape as we sped past in our uber-designed German bus. They also excelled at photo ops which I gather is part of the job description. For the record, I also have to mention that there was a grape queen at the spring wine ball that night pictured below. Her costume was pretty amazing. It probably weighed a ton as well.

It’s Spargel Season 

It’s spring in Germany and that means it’s time for spargel or white asparagus. Spargel is truly a delicacy, far more subtle than its aggressive green cousin. The Germans obsess about spring and Spargel. How do they enjoy it? Simply steamed and served with Hollandaise sauce accompanied by Speck (thinly sliced cured ham) and roasted potatoes. Wine pairing? Silvaner from Franconia is ausgezeichnet (excellent)!  Han Wirsching’s Spätlese Trocken would be a perfect match. Does eating spargel make your pee stink? Yes it does, but not nearly as much as green asparagus. However, eat enough spargel over a period of several days and everything about you, from your clothes to various aspects of your fabulous physique, will indeed have a delightfully pungent vegetal air. That’s not a bad thing. I think it’s called personal terroir.

The Shower Challenge

What’s the greatest road challenge when it comes a hotel room? Remembering your room number? Not quite, although that certainly makes life a bit easier. It’s not figuring out the thermostat either. That’s a close second because some of them are either so arcane or so complicated as to be unworkable. When it doubt, turn it off unless it’s either freezing or boiling in the room. In which case, call the front desk and make them fix it.  


The greatest hotel room challenge of all is the shower, specifically figuring out how the shower works. I’m firmly convinced that there are completely evil and/or monumentally stupid individuals who design hotel bathroom showers; hotel showers so utterly lacking in functionality that it’s almost as if the job of designing them was handed to a herd of goats. Allow me get beyond my rant for just a moment by providing the following bit of sage advice: make sure you know how the shower works before you actually have to use it—as in the following morning. I say that from more than one tragic experience.
 
Unless you’re one of the compulsive types who gets up two hours before they actually have to be anywhere, the last 20 minutes of your morning routine—as in when you shower and actually get ready—are crunch time. There’s absolutely no room for error and that’s exactly when the unsuspecting bather is waylaid by the dark gods of poor hotel bathroom design. That’s when the panic-stricken bather, not unlike the newsprint besmeared victim of Psycho, realizes that it takes ten minutes for tepid—not hot—water to appear from the faucet; that the drain doesn’t work and one is quickly up to their knees with water that looks like toxic waste; that the towels are not in the bathroom as they should be but are, in fact, in another room as in Fiji;  that there are multiple lethal shower heads that will attack with shocking force from all angles with ice cold water if the precise combination of several dials is not applied. Showers, my friends, can be dangerous. Test-drive them the night before needed use. You will be glad you did.

One of my core beliefs about wine is that it’s the great connector. Wine connects us in ways that no other thing, substance, or small household appliance does. That for thousands of years, since the time Cro-Magnon man first started decanting young Bordeaux blends for aeration purposes, we humans have shared meals with members of our clan. Nothing could be truer in my life. 

I grew up in a household with six kids in the 1960’s. Dinner time could only be described as barely controlled chaos. With four boys awash in more testosterone “than you could shake a stick at,” as my Mom used to say, it was not uncommon to have a dinner roll ka-tonked off the side of your head when you requested bread from the other end of the table. Asking for butter (which was actually margarine, of course), was likewise completely risky business. In short, dinner was a Darwinian affair requiring sleuth, cunning, and dexterity. Any and everything was passed around the table only once. If you didn’t get enough on that first shot, you weren’t getting more. A gallon of milk barely made it around the table. The oldest three of us quickly figured out that the only way to get more was to pour your glass full, drink half of it, then refill before passing it on, causing an inevitable and immediate firestorm of protest from my younger brothers and sister. It was also imperative that you quickly identify and skewer the biggest-ass pork chop/ham slice/slice of meatloaf on the platter when it came your way, because it was your one and only shot at sustenance for the evening. My school mates, needless to say, were always a bit taken aback by the carnal frenzy that defined our family meals. They soon learned to adapt or went home hungry. It’s also worth noting that my then future brother-in-law did not return to our house for over six months after his first Easter dinner at the Gaiser table. Enough said. 

Eventually, with the patience of a saint and the aid of blunt instruments, my Mom managed to instill some semblance of table manners in the six of us. That in itself is a minor miracle. Beyond that, she also managed in a very sneaky way to instill the dining ritual in us as a family, and not because she and my Dad were raised in the European tradition of fine dining with candle lit extravaganzas and lengthy erudite conversations. That was as remote as the Dog Star. Instead, it was the mere act of gathering the entire herd once a day so we could sit down and share something. That even if all hell had broken loose during the previous 12 hours, we had the certainty of knowing that we as a family would share a meal, for better or worse. 

Years later when Carla and I first moved to the city and were both bartending, the dining ritual continued. On our rare nights off together, we either went out or stayed in and cooked dinner for one another. Explorations into the Byzantine menus of Gourmet magazine often ensued with the kitchen getting completely trashed and us limping to the dinner table like stunned livestock after vigorous and sometimes pyrotechnic experiments in the kitchen. Such is the stuff of magic and memory. 

The dining ritual continued unabated after our lives went from “man on man” to “zone” in terms of having kids. Looking back on those years, I’ve come to believe that one of the greatest things Carla and I have given our kids is our many years of the dining ritual. Maria, literally graduating from UNC Chapel Hill this past week, and Patrick, soon to be 19, have grown up their entire lives with the dining ritual. That means when it’s dinnertime, life comes to a screeching halt; that once dinner is plated and hits the dinner table, everyone gathers regardless of whatever else on the planet is going on. Maria has told me many times that the thing she missed most about home after going back east to school was dinner time, especially the hours of hanging out at the table after dinner was over, chatting about everything under the sun.

Does the dining ritual guarantee a happy family or a long relationship/marriage? No guarantees here as all the conversation in the world may not be able to address your shocking dysfunction. But take heart, because the dining ritual is a primo number one opportunity to learn how to communicate with your partner/significant other/spouse or whatever the term is at the moment. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s worked for me for 40 years. It might work for you.