Good friend Doug Frost is the second among only five people in the world to have passed both the Master Sommelier and Master of Wine exams. Author of several books, including "Uncorking Wine," "On Wine," and "Far From Ordinary: The Spanish Wine Guide," he is also host of Check Please!, a weekly public TV show filmed in Kansas City and the wine and spirits consultant for United Airlines worldwide. He is a founding member of the spirits and cocktail educational organization, BAR, (Beverage Alcohol Resource).Cheers magazine selected BAR and its founders as Innovators of the Year for 2007, and Frost as Beverage Innovator of the Year 2009. He runs two wine competitions, the Mid-American Wine Competition and the Jefferson Cup Invitational, the latter which is now in its seventeenth year. He also judges in more than a dozen other competitions. In his spare time, Doug listens to his massive weird music collection and continues to try to raise two (adult) daughters.

Doug and I tasted together in June of 2012. We used the 2009 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Riedel Vinum Zinfandel/Chianti Classico glasses.

Overall Tasting Goals 

TG: When you are tasting what are you trying to accomplish?

DF: It depends on the client for whom I’m tasting. The context changes per client. In tasting this wine I’m trying to decide if it’s delicious, how well made it is, what sort of ageability it has, and for whom is this wine made.

TG: By that you mean …

DF: Who is the best customer for this wine?

TG: If the context changes, if you’re just going to pick up a glass of wine and enjoy it, what are your goals then? 

DF: It might be food, it might be mood as in what style am I in the mood for. There can be times where a wine is perfectly well made and even delicious, but I’m not in the mood and really don’t give a damn about it. 

TG: What’s necessary for you, in terms of environment and equipment, to have a good tasting experience? 

DF: Spit cup! (One is missing from the table) Smell free and smoke free and not much other than that. But I really do have to spit to concentrate. 

TG: Is it more important for you to spit in order to assess vs. having a sip?  

DF: The latter doesn’t work as well for me. It’s the way I’m going to assess texture and volume, the structure. 

TG: And you do that better by spitting?

DF: No, I need to get a big mouthful and am just not in the habit of swallowing the wine at any hour much less this hour (9:00 am). It’s certainly part of the concentration process. It helps to provide a more concentrated environment, but I really have to mix a lot of wine with saliva in my mouth and you really can’t do that with sips.  

TG: What else in terms of equipment do you need?

DF: Some kind of white background that I can look at the wine against; good lighting.  

TG: What about glassware? 

DF: I’ll use glasses like these on occasion (Riedel Vinum Chianti Classico/Sangiovese), but most of the time I use the INAO because it’s a pretty cruel glass.  

Sight

TG: When you look at a wine, what are you trying to assess? 

DF: I really just want to see its youthfulness, the volume, how much alcohol it has, how much extract it has, and what the condition of maturity is at this point. My mentality is that I’m always looking at the rim first and then my eyes will linger down into the bowl to see how much color differentiation there is. With this wine, there’s some pretty significant color differentiation, and there’s a watery meniscus and a pink rim to it. So this wine is showing a bit of age to the coloring and it looks like it has a lot of alcohol volume and extract volume to it.   

TG: If I were you, how would I know how to compare the color in this wine to other wines I’ve tasted before? Is there some way that you bring up colors of previous wines to compare? 

DF: I think it’s a matter of trying to decide what colors are in front of me. Is there some purple in the glass? In this wine yes, so there would appear to be some hint of a hot climate. I’m looking at a series of colors as wine shows a color gradation down into the bowl. I’m looking to see how well can I see through the bowl and with this wine there’s quite a bit of extract; but the quality of the colors and the value of the colors and what that means in terms of outcome.  

TG: If I had to be you, how would you compare that to previous wines in terms of memory? 

DF: Just intellectually, I’m not carrying images of other wines in my head when I do this. 

TG: How do you know?

DF: I’m just not aware of that and that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just looking at a sheet of color and trying to decide what that sheet of color is. It’s like looking at a color chart.  

TG: So is there an actual chart you see? 

DF: No, I really don’t. I just look at what I would regard as a color chart like you would do when you select a font color. I look at art a lot, so I look at colors so I’m comfortable staring at colors and calling them by name.

TG: Practically everyone I’ve spoken to has some kind of visual device that they compare colors to. Do you use anything like that? 

DF: I cannot say that that is happening with me because there are multiple colors. It’s not really like that for me. But I’m also not real clue into color the way some people are. 

TG: How do you know when you’re done looking at a wine?

DF: When I’ve been able to draw conclusions; in this wine there’s a pretty significant amount of extract and alcohol and it looks like warmish climate; when I can draw conclusions of what I think about the wine, how young it is and what climate it is, of what grape and what extract. 

TG: Great. Could you actually demonstrate how you look at wine? 

DF: White background, tip the glass all the way over and get the wine almost to a 45 degree angle, get some light somewhere so I can see it.

Nose

TG: What are your goals when you smell wine? 

DF: I have a set of Master Sommelier familiar goals that I take a look at. Other than that, I’m just seeing if anything else feels familiar. I’m very much of the training. 

TG: So you’re trying to assess the wine for quality …

DF: Quality, character, various categories of fruit, herbs and all those things. I’m looking at all those categories.

TG: How do you know you’ve accomplished that? How do you do that? 

DF: As long as I’ve filled all those boxes I’m content. Like everybody else I’m looking for some kind of conclusion. I’m also trying to figure out which of those boxes is important to me. Then I’ll spend a lot of time talking about that because it’s something I’m hanging my hat on.  

TG: Is that something like an initial impression or is it something you get as you progress through the wine? 

DF: It could be either one. I would love it to be an initial impression but half the times it’s not. 

TG: When you smell the wine, in terms of the grid, is it something you see and periodically check in with?  

DF: Sometimes I’ll imagine it as it is on the slide. Other times it’s just dialogue. I know in my mind what I’m supposed to do because the slides don’t exactly sync up with where I want to go.  

TG: So how do you do that? 

DF: It’s just like saying the rosary: do flowers and then do spices. That’s how you do it? 

TG: OK but I’m trying to figure out how you do that. So if you smell this wine what is the first thing you check for?

DF: Whatever it smells like, in other words that first impression. The first thing I’m looking for is fruit and then probably flowers. But that’s completely contextual as I was drinking Riesling last night. Had I been drinking Bordeaux I wouldn’t have been looking for flowers.  

TG: I’m just trying to get back to your seeing slides. How do you do that? 

DF: Sometimes I remember the slides as they set up on the screen. But most of the time I’m just doing it again, like saying the rosary, almost automatically.

TG: If I was you, where would I see the slides? 

DF: Not anywhere particularly, I just go into a memory; I just remember what that slide looks like. The only thing that would perhaps be interesting to you is that the slide I’m looking at is just as likely to be an overhead as it is anything else (laughs). It’s old school.  

TG: OK, so I’m watching your eyes when you’re talking about the slides and they go pretty consistently in three places, here , here and here (the positions are literally slightly left, center and slightly right in front of his face). Where are you looking? 

DF: I think I told you that one of my daughters has said since she was six years old, “watch me, I’m Dad drinking wine.” And her eyes go back and forth like mine.  

TG: True because you’re processing a lot of different things. Back to the overheads. Are they out in front? To the sides? Where are they? 

DF: Again, it’s a particular memory and it might well be just the screen in front of me. I’m so used to looking at the screen. But it’s not consistent. Most of the time I wouldn’t need to draw on it because I would just go in a particular order.  

TG: It almost sounds like it’s auditory as well. Are you saying things to yourself? 

DF: No, it’s not auditory.  

TG: As you smell the wine what do you do? Your eyes consistently go several places in rapid succession. But for today it would be great just to pick out a specific fruit or other element in the wine and try figure out how you do it.  

DF: My eyes do go back and forth but they settle in once I get something. The first thing is savory.  

TG: Savory such as …

DF: Right now the wine is minty, basil and wet and dried leaves—some sort of herbal origin.  

TG: If I had to be you, how would I do that? How do you know you’re smelling those things? What do you see? 

DF: I’ll try but I really don’t get any particular images. I did read your article and thought about it, but images is not what I’m working from.   

TG: I think you probably do it but at micro-speed. Your eye movements are the fastest of anyone I’ve ever seen. So if we can just slow one of them down I would be curious to see what’s there.

DF: The whole thing for me, even now as I think about the fruit in the wine I didn’t envision a black cherry. I’m more likely to see the label on a can or jar when I try to picture black cherries. I don’t necessarily see a black cherry.

TG: So there’s a label? 

DF: As I call it up I can do that, but I’m not sure that’s how I’m associating aroma. But to your point, I don’t know that.  

TG: But if I ask you, for instance, what does a tangerine smell like? What do you do? Do you see the color orange? 

DG: Yes, definitely. 

TG: Do you see a picture of the tangerine?  

DF: Eventually. Let’s switch it out. For a blueberry it’s not very strong recall, I’m more likely to … It’s certainly the fruit I’m trying to imagine but it’s more like the color or a slice of that fruit. I’m trying to go through the process now in my mind to get an idea of what the process looks like. As I think about pineapple I’m more likely to think about sliced pineapple then a whole fresh pineapple—so I’m not looking at a whole pineapple.  

TG: To a great extent though the content is not really that important. You do seem to bring something up.

DF: Yes, sure.  

TG: So with the canned or sliced pineapple, if you get that can you show me where it is? 

DF: It’s pretty much right in front of me.

TG: 2D or 3D picture? 

DF: It’s three dimensional.  

TG: So is this framed or just sitting there in space? 

DF: I’m switching out fruit now and thinking about blueberries. It’s right in front of me and I’m looking at a close up of a blueberry.  

TG: So what happens if you take the close up of the blueberry and move it right up in front of your face? Does the intensity increase? 

DF: No, same.

TG: What happens if make the image tiny? 

DF: The whole process doesn’t make any sense to me. Make what tiny? I know what you’re saying but …

TG: OK so make it black and white. Take the color out of it. 

DF: It doesn’t have aroma then. 

TG: OK, at least we know that. What happens if you make the blueberry enormous? Like a billboard.

DF: Again, that doesn’t make any sense to me. In other words, the image I’m working on doesn’t change shape, it’s the same size.  

TG: Can you change the shape? 

DF: That would be something different.  

TG: Doug, make it a giant blueberry. What happens? Do the aromas get stronger or weaker? 

DF: I understand, I’m just trying to give you legitimate answers. It doesn’t change. I suppose if we’re making it really big it becomes more two dimensional and not real.

TG: I want to go back to the idea of picking out something in the glass and how you know it’s not something else. Is there a system where you compare it to other things? I’m still trying to figure out your eye movements. I have to tell you that your eyes just go nuts when you’re smelling. Your eyes are constantly going back and forth seeing and comparing different things.  

DF: (laughs) I don’t know. But certainly I was never aware of the eye movements until my daughter starting mocking it about eighteen years ago.  

TG: But how could you possibly be aware of it? 

DF: Because one is self-conscious at time when you taste with other people. So maybe I had been aware of it but not really until my daughter pointed it out.  

TG: Right and that’s also part of how you think in terms of eye accessing cues. Your eyes move to help access parts of your brain and your memory. Go ahead and smell the wine and let me know what you pick up.  

DF: It’s definitely funky. What is that? There’s also something that like olive paste mixed with black cherry goop and then there’s that savory element too.  

TG: What’s that right there? That’s the first time you’ve held your eyes in one place for longer than a few seconds.

DF: Right. I’m trying to sort it out, focus on the wine and now how I’m actually doing it.  

TG: Most people have a starting eye position and it seems like you have a starting sequence of about three different positions in rapid succession. Right here, here, and here. I’m just trying to figure out what you do. How do you figure out what things are? If you put your nose in the glass, how do you know it’s blackberry and not a garage door? If I had to be you, how would I do it?

DF: Well, I’m not sure and this wine is a bit funky. I’ll have to work harder to dig more out of it. So, how many people do you taste with that taste with their eyes closed?

TG: Not many, but you can still watch their eyes move with their eyes closed.

DF: Just wondered. 

TG: I will tell you that almost everyone looks down when they smell wine because that’s where most of us look when we talk to ourselves. But getting back on track, let’s see if we can’t figure out more. It sounds like since we’ve been trained, you go off the grid. 

DF: Right.

TG: So how do you see the grid? How do you know you haven’t forgotten anything? 

DF: It’s a little bit oral. 

TG: Are you talking to yourself?

DF: It’s an audible cue because I’ve said it to myself.

TG: So you’re internally saying, what about fruit, what about earth, etc.

DF: Right. With red wines I typically have to force myself to floral so at some point when I’ve stopped receiving information, or believing that I’ve stopped receiving new information that is important, I’ll say, “come one, let’s get on the grid.” Somewhere in my brain I’ve made that mental command.  

TG: Once you’ve received the information, does it go somewhere so you don’t worry about it but still know it’s there? 

DF: No, I try to capture it in some way. I’ll be taking notes and writing but instead I’m trying to mentally recall this. It’s almost as if it’s a Scrabble board and I put black cherry over here. 

TG: Not to be a pain in the ass, but when you say “put black cherry over here,” what do you mean by that? 

DF: I put the word black cherry over here (motions chest high to the left). But not an image.

TG: Interesting, so you deal with images of words and maybe not the actual thing you’re smelling.  

DF: Right. I chalk it up again to being a city boy and seeing a package of black cherries and not a black cherry.  

TG: But there sounds like a system where if you smell something you generate a word that represents whatever it is. 

DF: Yes and I can shift the words off to the left and right as I get new information. 

TG: That’s a really interesting system—it sounds as if the words hang around to the left and right of your internal field. So you can look at them again when you go to make a conclusion or to just think about the wine. True?

DF: Right, but it’s very much like speaking, as it were; like when you’re trying to give a talk and you’re trying to remember to talk about this, this, and this.

TG: So it’s like a check list.

DF: Right. To me it’s a very similar experience where I have to put the black cherry over here so I remember to say it. 

TG: But it also sounds like the images of whatever you smell then become words. Is that how it works? 

DF: They’re very much words.

TG: Which is why when I talk about images it sounds like Martian to you? 

DF: (Laughs) Yes, it’s fairly Martian to me although color even though it is a real concept just doesn’t work that well for me. I honestly think it’s because I have a very pedantic notion of what smells are. They’re still kind of new to me.  

TG: Pedantic meaning …

DF: That I’ll smell it, try to figure out what it is, give it a name and put it over here (motions to the left with his left hand about chest high). I have to dig deeper before I’ll find some kind of image. But the words are first (pauses). But you know they couldn’t all possibly be words. Some are words and some are images.

TG: I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all images initially and then they turned into words--and that’s your system for finding things.  

DF: Possibly.  

TG: Because maybe seeing the word triggers something else.  

DF: Seeing the word is definitely part of the process. I was thinking about the olive note in the wine and probably briefly saw some olive tapenade. I wasn’t going to say tapenade but then it made me think of ground up olives. Then that turns into the words black olives.

TG: If I wanted to be really picky about it, when you see the image of black olives, is it close up or far away? Where is it? Does the location have to do with how strong the intensity is? 

DF: I can’t generate any truthful answer to that. For me I’m too busy trying to figure out what these other funky smells in the glass are. There’s some kind of swamp gas going on here. 

TG: I’m not sure why I picked a Rhône wine as both of these have been funky (note the first bottle opened was corked). How do you know when you’re done smelling the wine? 

DF: When I find myself repeating the same things over and over. Then I’m done smelling the wine. Most of the time with a wine like this I don’t think I’m ever done. Last night with a Dönhhoff Riesling I just had one descriptor, grapefruit pie. That’s all it was with diced pineapple candies. But every time you back to a wine like that you do get more information or at least you hope you do. And if you don’t, then you get bored. 

TG: Well let’s taste it. 

DF: I don’t want to taste it yet because I haven’t identified everything (smells the wine again). So it’s like a black cherry, red plum; there’s a little bit a blueberry to it. Then in terms of flowers there’s nothing to worry about. There’s also nothing to worry about in the American oaky kind of a thing. I definitely do try to draw up an image surrounding a barrel; the outside of the staves and the inside of the staves. I literally try to picture that.  

TG: Where’s that? 

DF: Over here somewhere (points out front and slightly to the right). 

TG: Does the size of the image depend on the intensity of the aroma? 

DF: No, just my point of reference.  

TG: Just to get some detail, is this image on some kind of screen? Is it in 3D? What’s it like? 

DF: It’s just a partial image of a barrel.

TG: Flat? Three dimensional? 

DF: Three dimensional.

TG: We could play with this and ask what happens if you brighten up the image or make the colors really intense. Does it change the intensity of the aroma? 

DF: It just seems artificial; I can’t make any sense out of it. I’m changing something that’s supposed to be a representation of something real and it becomes not real. I don’t know what to do with that.  

TG: In other words, it doesn’t make any sense and kind of screws it up. OK, what about everything else, the earthiness, and the funkiness? 

DF: Just picturing herbs, grasses, and leaves; both edible and inedible. They’re kind of all over the place here (motions in front just above waist level).  

TG: OK.  And they’re all out in a field …

DF: No, I’m just referencing images out in front of me, like single leaves or a handful of leaves.  

TG: Do they become words? Do they need to become words or are they just there? 

DF: I have to name them so I guess it’s the same process with the fruit. I have to smell it, try to figure out what it is and then it becomes a word.  

TG: OK and just to be picky again, when you recognize something do you internally say to yourself, “oh that’s tarragon,” and then the word happens?

DF: Yes, the word happens after the recognition.  

TG: So there’s almost an auditory command like, “this is X.”

DF: Yes (after a long pause), it’s definitely auditory. 

TG: And it’s your voice saying, it’s X. 

DF: Yes, it’s an internal voice but it’s not necessarily mine.  It’s like sometimes you’ll talk to yourself in your own voice and sometimes in a different voice.

TG: Anything else in terms of the nose of this wine you want to mention? 

DF: Not really much else. There’s a little bit of a vegetal thing going on as well as the olive paste. I keep looking at various versions of the fruit now so the red cherry might be the pit. But I think I’m making a conscious effort to sort through these visual cherries in terms of what they actually look like. 

TG: Is it like trying to calibrate the quality of it or the age? 

DF: Yes, but the motivation and the mindset are just that I’m trying to smell and identify things and then I can understand what the conclusion can be from that. But right now I’m just trying to give myself to the wine and see what’s in it. 

Palate 

TG: Let’s do the palate. What are you goals when you taste the wine? For me, I’ve done 80% of the work when I smell the wine so the only thing I’m trying to do with the palate is confirm everything and then calibrate the structure.  

DF: I’m anxious to get into it and see what the weight of the wine is; so it’s very much like I want to have physical contact with the wine.  

TG: But you also go through everything you’ve smelled. 

DF: Yes, I’m trying to decide what’s going on. I have got all the cherries in a row with the plums and the currants. There’s a little bit of cranberry juice going on but those are all real physical sensations. I don’t even drink cranberry juice.  

TG: Do you need to check in with the list of words or the pictures to confirm all these things? Is that necessary or what do you do? 

DF: I’m not aware of a list of words so it’s more like it’s a list of 100 questions where I’m asking, is that currant?  OK, there’s currant, so is there cranberry? 

TG: So it’s auditory and you’re asking yourself those things? That’s got to happen really fast.  

DF: I guess so. 

TG: If you’re asking yourself if there’s any cranberry, are there any images? 

DF: If it’s cranberry, yes other things come up because I’m in the habit of bringing other things up. I’ll ask, why isn’t there strawberries? Or dried strawberries? It’s pretty much associative which is a sequence built on habit and not logic. Or maybe it’s built on logic but it’s not on what’s coming out of the glass. That’s because I’m one of those people who has to stay disciplined or else go off on a tangent.  

TG: As in stream of consciousness?  

DF: Or unconsciousness. And right now I’m getting a note of raisin maybe because I looked for it but I’m not seeing an image of it. I can call it out by saying it but the first thing that happened was a word and not an image.  

TG: Does the list of words change at all when you taste the wine? Or do the words just hang out there? 

DF: Hopefully but some of them are fading away. I’m trying to pull them back up again but with limited success.

TG: So you build the list of words as construct with the nose and then when you taste it and something’s not strong it just goes away or you forget about it.  

DF: Yes.

TG: So when you taste it, it might confirm it and reinforce it? Or is it not that important? 

DF: Well it is important but it might be an addition image of the word black cherry as opposed to the original word getting bold and big. 

TG: So when you say an additional image of the word, would it be positioned somewhere else?

DF: (Motions in front and left of center) No, it would be positioned right next to the other image. Visually it’s as if there are two images of the word black cherry literally right next to each other. So I’ll go, “Wow, there’s a lot of black cherry.” 

TG: Got it. 

DF: I’ve had that physical sensation before that there’s five words “black cherry” in front of me. This is of course what we do when we try to grid a wine.  

TG: True, if you think about it that’s exactly what we try to do. If four or five of us say one thing then we think it’s important in the wine. What about structure?  What do you do when you taste for structure?  

DF: I’m going to start the process over again. So I’m just tasting for sensation. I’m not even thinking about structure at this point. And then I can start physically feeling the tannins or there are literally seed tannins which I’m interpreting as more painful than fruit tannins and skin tannins. The fruit keeps coming in and there’s a little bit of an image there, some kind of juice. For me the whole structural thing is an intellectual decision. I’m just taking the information I have and saying that must be medium plus tannins.  

TG: How do you know it’s not just medium tannins? 

DF: Well I don’t know that it’s not medium. I have to make an intellectual assessment. I get too much physical sensation on my tongue and in the back of my tongue—in this case I think it’s more seed tannins—for it to be medium. So I’m still getting more of the physical pin prick of tannins. Certainly a very dry flavor in my mouth. And I look back at those fruits and go, well it’s moving more towards cranberry along with black cherry and raisin. It’s medium acid and it’s as if somebody has a couple of different wines in here because some of the fruit is desiccated, dehydrated, and raisinated and some of the fruit wasn’t—it’s very red cherry. It’s like somebody put a couple of different wines together.  

TG: In terms of calibrating, if you have to give someone an answer about structure, just like we make our students do, how do you go about giving someone an answer? 

DG: I’m medium acidity and medium plus tannins with this wine.

TG: Yes, but how do you know? How do you get precise about it? 

DF: It’s just an intellectual decision that I would expect more pain with high tannins. I would expect not to be able to notice raisins with more than medium acidity. On the other hand, I would understand if somebody said that it’s medium plus acidity. I might argue with them but it’s completely intellectual for me. 

TG: Not to be a pain in the ass, but what do you mean by completely intellectual? 

DF: It must mean that if anything, I’m looking at the grid, really more at the slide that has the low, medium minus etc.

TG: Do you actually see these things and then point to something and say, “it’s medium.”

DF: Yes. 

TG: That’s exactly the way I do it. I see almost a kind of slide rule with a red button that moves and finally stops at the right level of acid or whatever.  

DF: My moves but you hope it starts in the right place and often it doesn’t.  

TG: Got it.  

DF: With tannin I might say that it’s not painful enough. But that’s a very intellectual decision in comparing all the other wines with high tannin I’ve had and then saying, “this one doesn’t hurt.” 

TG: The scale is really interesting to me because I think most people need some kind of visual construct to be able to calibrate well; especially if a wine is acidic and tannic at the same time.  

DF: Absolutely, we always struggle with that and I don’t know that we have the answer either because we are tasting pH and not acid.  

TG: Home stretch. If you were going to describe to someone what you do when you taste the wine, what would it be like? You take a sip … what do you do?

DF: Very much trying to pull flavor out of it the whole time. I pull it in to try to get the physical sensation of tannin but now I’m sitting here comparing it to things. And probably comparing it to visual images than words. I definitely feel more of a black cherry paste and that was probably prompted by the vision of black cherry paste, whatever that is. Maybe in a pie. But maybe it’s not in a pie, somebody’s screwed up that fruit and I’m envisioning a mortar and pestle like fruit and sort of an olive paste image comes up as well.  

TG: In going back to these images, or they jars or cans or what? Or just smears of things? 

DF: More smears. Getting some black pepper and I see some peppercorns and not a pepper grinder.  

TG: If you had to take any of these images and we start changing the structure of any of them, what happens? Does it make it artificial? 

DF: Yes it does. It doesn’t make any sense. I tried to do it with the black peppercorns, make them bigger and my reaction is, “what the hell is that all about?”It takes me off task I guess is the more important thing there.   

TG: So it changes the experience so completely that it doesn’t mean anything? 

DF: I think that if there’s a value, as you’re describing it, in changing the size of the word “black pepper,” then that doesn’t alter anything at all because it’s a different process. I’ve this sort of array of words in front of me, and if you want me to make the words black pepper bigger then it’s no problem. It doesn’t seem weird or destructive at all. But if I try to make the image or the black peppercorns bigger, then I feel like I’ve been taken off task.  

TG: OK, so that’s the system. Let’s finish up. How do you know when you’re finished tasting a wine? 

DF: I don’t think I’m ever finished tasting a wine although there are some boring wines. There’s always information that I’ve screwed up and missed.  

TG: One thing I skipped over at the very beginning that I’d still like to ask: when you make a conclusion, what are you trying to do? 

DF: Describe it appropriately; describe it in a way that others would recognize the wine. That’s my conclusion and hopefully I’ve described it correctly. But as we talked about previously, I’m also trying to decide, is this wine going anywhere? Do I give a shit about this wine? It’s the first thing I do and I’m convinced that it’s because I was a salesman. I wasn’t into wine until I was selling wine. So the first thing I think about is, who would I sell this to? Who would like it? Who would get this wine? But I always think in those terms of who would get it versus who would like it. Or I guess I do. I tend to think that certain people tend to understand certain things and others don’t. We all understand different things. I get this wine we’re tasting but I don’t really care about it. Does that make sense? 

TG: Sure it does. The last thing before I let you get out of here and head to the airport is, what are your beliefs about yourself as a taster? 

DF: That I’ve got some skills that are very useful; that I have to be very disciplined intellectually to be consistent because consistency is my biggest fault.  

TG: Does being at the level you are and being considered a great taster, does that matter when you sit down to work?  

DF: Does it matter to me? 

TG: Yes, does it matter?

DF: Yes, it does. It’s like I feel like I have to be more disciplined because I know the truth is that I’m not a great taster.  

TG: What? 

DF: No, seriously, that’s how I feel about it. I can do things because I’ve figured out some stuff.  

TG: You’ve figured out, what, how to pass exams?  

DF: Yes, and I figured out how to intellectually take these things apart. But I don’t consider myself a great taster at all. I just know that I’ve managed to figure it out so that I can act as if I’m a great taster.  

TG: True. It’s amazing what you can do if you just pretend.

DF: Of course it’s not all pretense, but it’s definitely a little bit of a role play because I have some things that I’m good and some things I’m not. Most of the times you don’t know which is which. 

The Certified Sommelier Examination was introduced in December of 2005. Previously, students who passed the MS Introductory examination could apply directly to the Advanced Course after waiting the required years’ time.  More often than not, first time students did poorly on the Advanced Exam for any number of reasons. Each student is unique so the three parts of the examination will always pose different challenges to different individuals. Historically the major challenge was the service exam where the combination of lack of appropriate preparation for dealing with nerves—sometimes extreme—in an audition situation doomed most first timers. Exceptions to the rule usually came in the form of students who were working the floor of upscale restaurants where they performed service to MS standards night in and night out, and who were also used to the pressure of being “on stage” in a top level venue.

Several years prior to 2005, the CMSA Board had discussed the possibility of an intermediate level between the Introductory and Advanced Courses; a level that would accomplish several goals: first, to provide the hospitality industry with a much-needed basic sommelier certification; second, to introduce students to the three-part MS examination format; third, to give us a first look at their individual service skills.

Between 2004 and 2005 a team of Masters from the CMSA created the Certified Sommelier Examination with the help of UK and European Masters. After beta-testing, the exam went live at the end of 2005. While the content has changed from year to year, the format of the exam has remained basically the same:

• Theory: a 40-question written test combining multiple choice, short answer, and matching questions.
• Tasting: a blind tasting of two wines, one white and one red, with the student filling out a grid based on the MS Deductive Tasting Method.
• Service: sparkling wine service with students being asked questions about various beverages that might be served during the course of a meal as well as questions about food and wine pairing. 

Since that first exam in 2005, the Certified Sommelier Examination has, to a great extent, accomplished its goals. With that, I’d like to offer some advice to students who are preparing to take the Certified Exam, especially those taking it for the first time. 

Disclaimer! The following is my personal advice to students and in no way a reflection of the policies of the CMSA or its Board of Directors.

Theory Examination

The CMSA philosophy of theory curriculum has a lot to do with what a sommelier theoretically could be asked tableside by a guest about any beverage served in the restaurant. Emphasis is placed on wine, but beer, spirits, sake, and aperitifs are important as well. Therefore, it’s important to realize that geography is vital to a sommelier’s body of knowledge; knowing where a wine is produced down to a single vineyard (if necessary) is paramount to success in the MS program.

Example: if a guest is asking about a vintage of Savennières “Clos de la Coulée de Serrant” from the producer Nicholas Joly, the sommelier/student should know the following about the wine:

• It’s a dry white wine.
• It’s made from the Chenin Blanc grape.
• The Coulée de Serrant vineyard is located in the Anjou region of France’s Loire Valley, specifically in the AOP of Savennières.
• The Coulée de Serrant vineyard is actually an AOP itself.

Further, if the guest asks about the biodynamic symbol on the bottle, the sommelier/student should be able to explain what it means and also provide some information about the philosophy of biodynamics, how it can affect wine quality, and some growers/producers that farm biodynamically in other regions of the world—all without burying the guest in a mountain of useless and confusing verbiage.

Once again, it’s important to note that MS theory exams focus on geography and being able to connect grape varieties to styles of wines made in specific geographical locations. From there students also need to study country and regional laws, classifications, terms about grape growing and winemaking, and major producers for important wines such at prestige cuvée Champagne.

Tasting Examination

The Certified tasting examination consists of tasting a white and a red wine and filling out a written grid based on the Deductive Tasting Method, which is first taught in the Introductory Sommelier Class. The grid requires the student to input information concerning a wine’s aromas and flavors, the presence of minerality and/or earthiness, and the use of oak. Further, the grid asks that students assess the structural components of the wines; the levels of residual sugar, acidity, alcohol, the finish, and tannin in the red wine. Finally, the student is asked to deduce the best possible conclusion about the wine, which includes the climate in which the grapes were grown, Old World vs. New World style, the actual grape variety or blend of grapes, the country of origin, and the vintage of production. 

It goes without saying that a good deal of practice is needed to become proficient at using the grid, not to mention tasting in general. The good news is that the grid can be downloaded for practice from the CMSA website at any time (here). The grape varieties used in the exam for both white and red wines are listed on the grid so the student can focus his or her tasting practice. Otherwise, here is further advice in preparing for the Certified tasting exam:

A word about practicing tasting: make sure you are working in a tasting group as the dynamics of a good study group are essential to learning and improvement, not to mention the camaraderie and shared experience. 

Finally, I’ve written about tasting and preparing for the MS tasting exams extensively on my blog. I’ve found that smelling and tasting wine is completely based on one’s memory; not only the memory of the various aromatics and flavors in wine but the combination of these components that make up the complete profile of a grape or style of wine. If memory is the key, then students can—and absolutely should—work with their own personal memories of these components and varietal profiles apart from actually tasting wine. I strongly believe that practicing memory of the components and profiles of grapes and wines is just as important and beneficial as actually tasting them. 

Service Examination

The MS title is about being a world-class sommelier and thus service and working the floor are the essence of what we do. The service component is also important to an employer in terms of wanting to know if a potential hire knows the basics of correct service and can open a bottle of sparkling wine without inflicting bodily injury to themselves or those in the immediate vicinity. Safety is key in sparkling wine service. There are any number of ways to open a bottle of bubbly incorrectly—even dangerously—but only one way to do it right. Here are some vital pointers to do just that:

Mise-en-Place—Setting Up:

• Fold two—and ONLY two—serviettes for service. One will be used for opening the bottle and the other will be left on the bucket tableside if a bucket is used for service. In other words, don’t fold all the napkins on the service station.
• Make sure the glassware is clean and polished. 
• Always line the tray with an unfolded cloth napkin; no fancy origami folds as they result in an uneven surface almost guaranteeing you’ll lose glassware in a spectacular fashion.
• Place the glassware consistently at each cover; at the point of the knife is the most straight forward method.
• Place glassware starting with the host or the person to the host’s left. Placing glassware is NOT gender specific so one trip around the table will suffice.
• Place two under-liners or coasters to the right of the host, one for the cork and the other for the bottle, if the host decides to keep the bottle on the table.

Opening the Bottle:

• Never take the top of your hand off the bottle when opening. This is utterly crucial to opening the bottle safely and properly. BEFORE loosening the cage, place a folded serviette over the top of the bottle. Then with a firm grip over the serviette and top of the bottle, loosen the wire cage and slowly remove the cage and cork at the same time by twisting the bottom of the bottle back and forth. Remember: the cage is NEVER removed before the cork. 
• Watch where you’re pointing the bottle when opening. Don’t point the bottle at the table or anyone else in the vicinity. Doing so is dangerous and cause for major deductions on your score.
• Always place a serviette over the top of the bottle when opening. As mentioned above, use a serviette over the top of the bottle when opening to prevent spilling any wine if the cork exits the bottles suddenly and tragically.
• Open the bottle as quietly as possible. A no-brainer. This is proper wine service and not the end of a Formula One race. Opening bottles of sparkling wine quietly is a matter of practice and repetition.
• Wipe the bottle with your serviette after you’ve removed the cork before pouring a taste for the host.
• Present the cork to the host on an underliner which is placed to the host’s right.

Serving the Bottle:

• Hold the bottle with a still wine grip. Do NOT hold the bottle with your thumb in the punt of the bottle when pouring; this method does not provide enough control and stability and the odds of dropping or losing control of the bottle increase significantly.
• After presenting the cork pour a 1-to-1.5 ounce taste for the host. Wait for them to approve the wine and then serve the table in the following order: serve lady guests first and then men. If there is a guest of honor seated to the right of the host, serve them first before lady guests. Serve the host last regardless of gender.
• Fill the glasses at least ½ to ¾ glass full with a maximum pour of an inch below the top of the glass.
• Fill the glasses one at a time with a maximum of two pours for each glass; partial pouring and/or going around the table multiple times is not allowed.
• Make sure the pours are even!
• Gage the pour level/amount based on glass size and number of glasses to be poured so you don’t run out of wine.
• It’s not necessary to empty the entire bottle of wine; in fact, there should be a little wine left in the bottle.

General Service Points

• Remember to serve from the right and to move around the table clockwise—ALWAYS—even if just returning to the service station.
• Don’t reach across a guest’s space to place or clear glassware or serve wine--even if the chair is empty.
• PRACTICE CARRYING A TRAY. This is the one part of service that cannot be faked. If you don’t regularly work with a tray, lots of practice will be needed for an exam setting. Odds are you will be nervous. Practice!
• You should be able to carry a tray comfortably with either hand. However, proper service dictates that the tray should be carried in the left hand and glassware placed with the right hand.

Service Exam Theory:

• Work on major cocktails, aperitifs, and after dinner spirits. Study cocktails and aperitifs by category, i.e., vodka cocktails, gin cocktails etc.
• Food and wine pairing: Have specific wine recommendations with producer and vintage in mind.
• Be able to take a specific style—be it a high acid red wine or a white with residual sugar—to multiple places in the wine world.   
• Above all, know why the pairing works! Be able to explain why a wine works well with a specific dish in terms of the structural components of the wine (i.e., high acidity, lack or oak or smooth tannins). It’s the entire point of selling a specific wine with a certain dish. 

General Service Advice:

• Taking care of the table is paramount. Even though you’re in an exam setting, remember that you are a sommelier and your job is to take care of the table—NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. In a real life service situation you do not have the luxury of freaking out or giving up on a table or “failing.” Your job again is to take care of the guest and give them great service. The exam should be no different. Take care of the examiner(s) as you would any guest in your restaurant. To do so will translate into success. 

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. 

Recently, I was listening to Michael Krasny interview wine importer extraordinaire Kermit Lynch on a local Bay Area NPR radio affiliate. At the end of the interview Kermit took calls from listeners. One of the callers complained bitterly about wine writers and how they describe wines in florid detail using terms that, according the caller, were complete nonsense. Kermit soft-pedaled his answer saying that yes, writers can sometimes go off the rails when describing wine, and that yes, everyone’s palate is different so you can’t expect to agree on everything you read in a wine review. Lynch’s response made me pause because I’ve heard this complaint all too often; that wine descriptions and reviews are in some form or other nonsense and that wine writers frankly make things up. So I’d like to address this personally, even ecumenically, if you will.  

As much as you may want to believe it, wine writers are not making things up. Sure there may be the odd hallucination now and again, but usually they’re simply trying to tell you what wine X, Y, or Z smells and tastes like to them. Emphasis on THEM. Beyond that, we often hear the phrase “everybody’s different” when it comes to wine and that is correct across the board. Here’s how we’re different. In short, here’s the deal:

We all have the same hardware in the form of our brain and neurology. After that, all bets are off. What’s different? Simple answer: everyone’s memories. Your take on Meyer Lemon is going to be different than mine because my memory in the form of internal pictures, movies, sounds, and feelings associated with Meyer Lemon throughout my lifetime is unique--and it’s definitely not yours. While we may agree that there’s something sour and citrus-like in the wine we’re sharing, we’re never going to have an identical experience known as Meyer Lemon. You may think it smells more like pink grape fruit or a catcher’s mitt or a freshly painted garage door for that matter. Further, the wonderful bouquet of flowers I adore in a glass of glorious Grand Cru Alsace Gewurztraminer may utterly repel you because it’s entirely too close to your memory of a tragic drive-by at a Macy’s perfume counter at some point in the distant past. Personal likes and dislikes are important and those are based on memory too.  

Context is also important. The how’s, who’s, why’s, and when’s you taste/drink a wine collectively form the trump card in any wine experience. That magic bottle of whatever you enjoyed when your boyfriend proposed will forever be your favorite wine in the entire universe. The mere thought of it will send you around the moon and back to that magic moment--until the break up.  Then it becomes the most cursed s#@*&% bottle of wine in the history of mankind. Yes, friends, context is important. Remember that.

Remember also that wine tasting is marginally about actually tasting. It’s primarily about SMELLING as smell accounts for over 85% of the sense of taste. So if you’re passing by the nose on your evening glass of Cabernet going right in for the big slurp, the proverbial cow is already out of the barn. In fact, the cow is so far out of the barn that it took your car to SFO and is now headed to Fiji. On your credit card. Moo. 

Olfactory memory is the most powerful form of memory we have because aromas from the glass or any other source go right up our nasal passages to be transferred directly into the cerebral cortex. That means when such-and-such wine writer rambles on about how the pepper and herbal notes in a Chateauneuf-du-Pape remind him of the cassoulet his grandmother used to make when he was a kid during the holidays, guess what; it probably does and that means you shouldn’t wig out over said writer’s musings but should instead try to get to your own memories of pepper and savory herbs to better understand what the writer is trying to express about the wine. Hopefully the next time you taste the same wine or a similar wine you might experience them too. Unless, of course, you find something completely different. Because after all, it’s what the wine smells and tastes like to you that actually counts.

As for the sense of smell, we as a culture generally suck at olfactory memory. It’s not important to us so we don’t practice it and we’re not very good at it. Other than a smack-me-on-the-side-of-the-head tsunami of cow pasture, raw garlic, or did somebody left the burner on the gas stove on, we’re generally not tuned into the olfactory world. There are definitely exceptions and those individuals tend to be in the perfume, wine, and spirits worlds or other professions where one’s expertise is largely determined by smell memory. Thus it’s not surprising when someone with a highly developed olfactory memory writing about their subject is viewed with great suspicion by the public at large.

On the other hand, it's easily understandable that the poetic meanderings and or descriptions of wine writing can sometimes leave one puzzled, forlorn, and even verklempt. Wine has no inherent vocabulary leaving us as wine professionals to borrow, often tragically, nomenclature from completely unrelated fields. Adjectives such as “murky,” “bold,” “dense,” and even something comical like “explosive” find their way into wine descriptions, not to mention any number of fruits, herbs, and spices (road tar is among my favorites). But when you read that tasting a rare old vintage made some famous wine writer start weeping you should definitely have serious misgivings. I would.

Know that wine professionals taste a lot of wine, some of them thousands of bottles a year. If someone is tasting that much odds are they’re pretty good at it and they should also be proficient at communicating about it in a meaningful way even if they are limited to nomenclature that may seem like Martian to the novice. Keep in mind that this is tasting and not drinking. A professional tasting may sound like fun to you but it’s hard work requiring a hell of a lot of focus, concentration, and inevitable palate fatigue. Still think it sounds fun?  Imagine tasting 45 different coffees in 90 minutes, taking notes and then writing about the qualities of each one. I rest my case.

Finally, if the florid wine descriptions still give you agita, consider giving wine writers a break. Even with the zillions of wine blogs and everyone pretending to be a wine expert these days, there are more good writers than ever. Find one whose prose you can live with—even like—and follow them. Chances are their likes and dislikes in wine are similar to yours. But remember that your palate—and what you like to drink—is the bottom line.
 
Because after all, I made all this up.  

Just kidding.

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.

For a country about half the size of Texas, Italy is a land of extremes. In the south, Sicily is closer to Tunisia than Rome with Mediterranean and African influences visible across the cultural spectrum. In the far north, Alto Adige is almost as equally removed from the universally held stereotype of a Tuscan landscape of misty hills lined with Cyprus trees dotted by the occasional terracotta topped villa. The region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of WWI. Bolzano, its major city of some 100,000-plus, is just a leisurely 90 minute drive from Innsbruck Austria, site of the 1976 winter Olympics. It’s no surprise that over 70% of the people in Alto Adige primarily speak German and rarely Italian. 
 
Several times during my recent stay I overheard one of the local winery contacts say that they had gone to school in “Italy” or were about to head south to vacation in “Italy.” I would remind said person that we actually were in Italy only to be met with a shrug and the briefest hint of a smile. Regionality, as it does elsewhere in Italy, runs deep. I can’t blame any of them. One look at Bolzano and its surroundings and you’re definitely not in mainstream Italy, much less Kansas. Take, for instance, the remarkably steep hills encompassing the Santa Magdalena DOC that jut up dramatically from the northwest section of the city you’ll know why. With its black diamond slope terraced vineyard, one could easily be in the Wachau of Austria or the Mittel Rhein of Germany.  
 
In terms of wine production, Alto Adige is one of the Italy’s smallest regions with just over 5,000 growers farming some 13,000 acres. Napa Valley, by comparison, has over 39,000 acres under vine while the Chianti DOCG has over 41,000 acres planted. But quality here is king with over 98% of the wines produced of DOC level. The region’s climate combines alpine influence with warm temperatures during the growing season. That’s because the Dolomites and the Swiss and Austrian Alps in the north act as an enormous rain shadow protecting the area from temperature extremes during the winter. Mediterranean influence from the south makes for some of the hottest temps in Italy during the summer. Together both create wide diurnal shifts with a marked separation between high daytime and low night temperatures. For viticulture, that means the fruit—both apples and grapes--achieves good ripeness levels and yet retains high natural acidity, a magic combination that makes the wines versatile and in some cases lends considerable potential to age. 
 
The Alto Adige region is patchwork of valleys and mountains with vineyards planted between 600 and 3,300 feet. The soils range from calcareous and limestone near the ever-present Dolomites, to volcanic porphyry and moraines, the remains of glaciers that retreated from the region some five to six million years ago. The region is home for over 20 grape varieties with the soil largely determining the variety planted; whites on the chalk and limestone closest to the Dolomites and red grapes thriving in the Moraines and porphyry-based soils.

Geography: the Flux Capacitor

Think Back to the Future movies and the Y-shaped circuit that enabled the stainless steel DeLorean to journey through time (http://backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Flux_capacitor). The comparison works. Alto Adige’s three major valleys form a letter “Y” with Bolzano as its hub. 

To the northeast is Valle d’Issarco, just minutes away from the Austrian border. Chiusa and Bressanone are the most important towns and the historical abbey, Abbazia di Novicella, is one of the leading coops - producers. The abbey dates from the 12th century and the Santa Maria Assunta is one of the most beautiful small basilicas I’ve ever seen—it’s a must see. Here in the Valley d’Issarco the soils are mainly granitic and white grapes predominate with some excellent Schiava produced as well.

The Val Venosta lies to the northwest with Merano the major city. The Venosta is the driest region in Alto Adige and also one of the centers for apple production. It’s the most scarcely planted valley of the three with poryphry and volcanic soils; whites predominate plantings. The region is also known for its mild climate and Merano has long been regarded as an excellent spa town. 
 
The Oltradige valley in the south is the largest of the three valleys and the heart of Alto Adige wine production. Appiano and Caldaro are the most important villages. Limestone and porphyry soils are found as well as moraines. White wines account for 56% of the production with vineyards planted between 1,000 and 2,300 feet. The village of Tramin, a spiritual home to the Gewürztraminer grape, is also located here.

At the center of the flux capacitor is the city of Bolzano, one of the warmest parts of the entire region. Here the vineyards of the Santa Maddalena DOC rise steeply out of the northwest part of the city. The soils are poryphry-based and perfectly suited to Schiava-based reds as well as Lagrein.  
 
Coops: a Reality Check

One belief I had to quickly shed while in Alto Adige was a long-held notion that coops are mere factories cranking out oceans of wine mediocre in quality at best. Over 70% of the wine in Alto Adige is coop-produced and a lot of it is very good to outstanding. In talking to winemakers, I learned that the region’s vineyards are severely fragmented in terms of ownership just like Burgundy. Thus, like Burgundy commercial winemaking on any scale can only exist in a cooperative context. Vineyard owners are generally non-wine professionals and have had the vineyards passed down to them by older generations. The relationships between coop winemakers and vineyard owners were closer to a négociant/owner in terms of the emphasis on quality fruit and lower yields. Terlano is a perfect example of one of the several Alto Adige coops making exceptional wine.  

The Grapes

Here’s a quick survey of the major varieties from the region.

Whites

Pinot Bianco: grown throughout the region. Pinot Bianco isn’t usually a grape that gets everyone dangerously excited but I was surprised, no make that shocked, at how well it can age give the right conditions. To point, Klaus Gasser of Terlano opened bottles of the winery’s Pinot Bianco from 1982 and 1955. The ’55 was deep golden in hue and still very fresh and alive. So much for the belief that whites don’t age well. Old wine aside, Alto Adige Pinot Bianco shows bright citrus fruit with white blossom notes on the nose and steely minerality on the palate. It’s a delicious shellfish wine.

Pinot Grigio: there’s an ocean of Pinot Grigio made all over northern Italy, much of it unremarkable. The best wines from the variety are definitely from Alto Adige and combine bright green pear/pear skin, and juicy citrus fruit with wet stone minerality.  

Gewürztraminer: it’s interesting to note that in Jancis Robinson’s just published and completely brilliant tome “Wine Grapes” (over 1,200 pages and weighing in at 6.7 pounds) a listing for Gewürztraminer is missing in action. Searching the index one is pointed to the Savignin entry with the explanation that what we call Gewürztraminer is actually a genetic mutation of the other Alsace grape. Not sure what that does to the village of Tramin’s claims to be the ancestral if not spiritual home for Gewürztraminer but there you are. In terms of style, Alto Adige Gewürztraminers have all the pungent floral and spicy fruit qualities one expects from the grape without the blowsy quality. At best, the wines are luscious, spicy, and
perfumed. They’re also delectable with soft-ripened cheeses.

Riesling: the few Rieslings I tasted during the week reminded me of scaled down versions of Austrian bottlings with tart citrus fruit and stoney minerality.  

Grüner Veltliner: one comes across Grüner in the north near the Austrian border. Here the style resembles the lighter versions from the Austrian Kamptal region versus the richer Federspiel and Smaragd wines of the Wachau. Still there’s plenty of the peppery and slight vegetal notes that make Grüner so delicious.

Kerner: another grape that usually goes under the radar and for good reason—it’s not exactly riveting. But I did find several wines, most notably the Praepositus from Abbazia di Novacella, to be delicious, with ripe Fuji apple and quince notes and a wonderful floral quality.

Sylvaner: I’ve long thought the Silvaners from Franconia (especially those from Hans Wirsching) to be the best on the planet. Now I’m more than willing to concede that there are several producers making outstanding Sylvaner in Alto Adige with all the smoky succulent apple/pear and tart citrus fruits one could hope for.

Sauvignon Blanc: here is really the only instance I found a bit of identity crisis among all the Alto Adige wines. Not really a surprise given that Sauvignon Blanc suffers the same wicked fate in California as well--not knowing whether to emulate New Zealand or Sancerre, and sometimes heading directly in between with unique, sometimes bizarre results. The best Alto Adige Sauvignons were sharply etched and citrus-dominated while others suffered from either too much sulfur or too much oak. However, there is great promise for the grape here.

Moscato Giallo: thought to have been brought to the region by the ancient Romans. Dry and succulent, fully dessert sweet versions are
made.

White Blends: blends based on Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio are a long-held tradition in Alto Adige, and they can be quite good as well as age worthy. In particular, Manicor’s Reserve della Contessa and Terlano’s Nova Domus Riserva are outstanding. 

Reds

Schiava: I’ll go out on a limb here by saying the next uber geek hipster red wine will be Schiava. It’s a wonderful combination of Pinot-elegance and tart Barbera acidity with unique savory qualities. Light in color, fairly concentrated, and Beaujolais-like, it can be served chilled and goes with any and everything. You might see it also labeled as Vernatsch or Edel Vernatsch (remember the German influence!). The best Schiava-based wines are from the Santa Maddalena DOC where they are blended with a maximum 10% Lagrein. Try one—it’s delicious!

Lagrein: other than ease of pronunciation (it rhymes with wine), Lagrein could also be the next total geek wine. Malbec-purple in color but with Merlot-soft tannins and a tart, savory, and floral character all its own. Another must try.  

Pinot Noir: the Pinots I tasted during the week reminded me of Spätburgunders from Germany with tart cranberry/rhubarb fruit, and beet, tea/herb, and earth notes. Elegance and finesse are common hallmarks.

Merlot: primarily grown in the warmer south closer to Trento; bottled both as a single varietal and blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. The best examples have lush black fruits, herbal notes and minerality.

Cabernet Sauvignon: ditto above, with the best examples showing vibrant blackcurrant and herb notes with clay earth.

Moscato Rosa: my new favorite sticky. Moscato Rosas are luscious, just-right sweet, and spicy. Chocolate wine!

Random Thoughts

Apples! Alto Adige is the center of apple production in Italy and one of the major suppliers to the European continent. The valley floors are filled with apple orchards with vines on hillsides and terraces. However, a high bounty is placed on top orchards grown on steep hillsides.

Foods: when in Bolzano, makes sure to try the local dumplings called knödels, made from cheese, beets, speck (local ham like prosciutto), or spinach. The crunchy unleavened bread called schüttelbrot is also delicious.  

Restaurants: Patscheiderhof is an old farmhouse restaurant outside Bolzano built in 1776 that serves traditional local fare including delicious knödels.

Favorite Wines of the Trip

1. 2012 K. Martini & Sohn Pinot Bianco, “Palladium”
Lots of intensity and ripe fruit for Pinot Bianco with vibrant acidity and a touch of chalky minerality.

2. 2012 Castelfeder Pinot Grigio
Racy citrus and Pippin Apple fruit with notes of bitter almond and mineral.

3. 2012 Erste Neue Pinot Grigio
Sleek, supple texture with tart acidity; flavors suggest green pear, citrus blossom, and chalk.  

4. 2011 Abbazia di Novacella Sylvaner “Praepositus”
Ripe pear, green melon, key lime, and citrus blossoms with mineral underlay; focused, concentrated, and racy with an intense mineral mid-palate. Outstanding.

5. 2006 Cantina Terlano Sauvignon Blanc “Quarz” (from magnum)
Tart citrus, restrained grass/herb notes, and pronounced salty mineral; the palate is racy and seamless; wonderful balance and length.

6. 2010 Cantina Terlano Nova Domus Riserva
A blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Bianco. Vibrant Fuji apple/green pear and white flowers with bright lemon citrus notes.

7. 2011 Cantina Val Isarco Gewürztraminer “Aristos”
Ripe peach, tangerine, and ginger spice flavors with pronounced floral notes.

 8. 2012 Elena Walch Schiava
Tart cherry and cranberry notes with savory herb and a touch of earth.

9. 2011 A. Egger-Ramer Santa Maddalena “Reisegger Classico”
Richer than regular Schiavas with more depth of fruit and earth/mineral notes. Juicy, ripe, and forward with tart finishing acidity.

10. 2011 St. Michele Appiano Pinot Nero
Smoky cranberry and sour cherry fruit with beet root, tea, leather, and spice; lots of mineral on the mid-palate with older wood and tart
acid on the finish

11. 2011 Castel Sallegg Lagrein
Ripe black fruits with violet, anise/herb, green leaf, and earth/mineral notes; more restrained on the palate than expected, but still very juicy and fruity with tart acidity and minerality on the finish.

12. 2009 Kellerei Kaltern Passito Moscato Giallo “Serenade”
Fruit dried for 4-5 months and then aged in wood for two years; 210 grams residual with nine grams total acidity; crystallized pineapple and preserved lemon with honey; luscious fully sweet with honey, dried flower and anise notes; utterly delicious.

Recently I was in the UK for meetings and had a couple of hours in Heathrow before getting on my flight to head back home. After catching up on e-mail, I strolled about looking for a place to grab a sandwich. As I wandered through the food court, I spotted a cafe called Giraffe whose motto “live eat live” was boldly posted in multiple locations. Just as I hit the perimeter of the restaurant ,a petite young woman in a bright red Tshirt walked directly up to me, called out a bright sing-song “hello!” and offered a menu along with a huge smile. How could I refuse? She then proceeded to sit me next to an enormous plant.

After a few minutes, my server showed up. Like the hostess, she was short, petite, and with a big smile. She spoke excellent English with the slightest trace of an accent. I placed my order for lunch and she returned momentarily with drinks in hand. I said thanks then asked where she was from. Her name was Anna and she was from Kraków, Poland. She went on to say that Kraków was a beautiful city and that I absolutely had to visit at some point. I told her I was from San Francisco and she said she’d always wanted to go there but it was extremely difficult because a visa was required and that was very expensive. 

Small talk accomplished, she took off for to scour the rest of her station; I turned my attention back to the restaurant at large. The bustling Giraffe restaurant sat at least 120 people, and was an incredibly busy place with an endless stream of singles, large parties, and moms with small squawking kids ensconced in various Dr. Seuss-like vehicles guaranteed to block any and all transit. The turnover was frightening with everyone needing to be served right NOW so they could make their flights. (By the way, why is it that they never post the gate in Heathrow until 10-15 minutes before boarding? To add even more excitement to the travel experience?).

Amidst all this dining frenzy was Anna. After watching her work for a short time, I quickly realized two things: first, she was bionic. Second, and no big surprise, she was a mighty mite (see blog post from May 18th). Anna moved quickly and effortlessly from table to table taking orders, serving and clearing, all the while smiling and conversing with diners as if the whole thing was no big deal and just an easy dance. I had fantasies about cloning her and negotiating a huge contract with a big corporate restaurant group back in the states.  Visions of a massive pile of cash danced in my head. With an army of Annas I could, dare I say it, rule the world.

I sat back and thought about Anna and what made her such an all-star at her job. What made her so great? Why was she so different from most people who work in airport fast food places, who seem like they’ve been condemned to the cocktail lounge in hell with no promise of a return shuttle? The first thing that came to mind was that she was utterly unafraid of hard work. OK, I thought, so a lot of people are that way, but the wrong person in this particular job would end up hating life almost instantly because it was so insanely busy and the pace never let up. Aside from that, what else made her so different from the endless herd I’ve seen working in fast food joints over the years? Why was she such a valuable employee regardless of whether the management was clued in or not? After further observation I came up with several reasons:

First: She made genuine eye contact with everyone she spoke to. She didn’t fake looking at or communicating with anyone. She was, in short, completely HOME.

Second: she really focused and actually listened to what I was saying even after the order had been taken. Even though she was constantly moving like a hummingbird, whenever Anna stopped and chatted with me she came to a complete halt and put all of her attention on listening. Mind you, she probably had a zillion things going on in her head at the same time. At first I thought it was my irresistible charm, but then quickly realized that she did this with everyone at every table. 

Third: really two things, but they are very, very subtle and could the key to Anna’s magic. Every time I asked her a question she smiled in response and leaned in very slightly when answering.  Combined, those two responses gave the impression that she cared about what I was saying. Aha! That last point is perhaps the key. She not only cared about what I was saying, but she probably cared that my experience at the fabulous Giraffe restaurant was a good one. That alone, meine freunden, sets her apart from everyone else and makes her an all-star. Game, set and match.

Not convinced? Allow me to explain via contrast, one of the most powerful tools for learning. Imagine what my experience would have been like had Anna done the complete opposite: not making consistent eye contact, not really listening carefully (itself a recipe for disaster), and not making any effort to smile while moving slightly back and away when answering a question. The difference would be radical as in someone completely disconnected from the moment, the experience, and the job. 

For years I’ve preached the idea of taking care of the table when doing service demonstrations in Master Sommelier Intro Courses. I think the concept of caring and taking care of the guest is what sets great sommeliers apart from everyone else. I go on to tell the students that in an exam—and on the job—if the table catches on fire, you take care of it. If a herd of goats somehow finds its way on to your floor, you take care of it. If the host wants to taste the Haut-Brion out of his daughter’s plastic slipper, then you need to figure out how to make it work (true story). 

Taking care of the guest also presupposes one very important thing: that the sommelier or server is secondary and never the most important part of the dining equation. The very idea of serving requires putting one’s self second to the needs of the guest. Period. On that note, fellow MS Madeline Triffon in a recent conversation spoke to me about the “joy of serving,” literally the times when one is in the zone and having a great time doing the job while making people’s dining experience wonderful. She was speaking from personal experience. She was also describing our friend Anna.

As I left busy confines of the Giraffe I said good bye to Anna and told her that she was doing a heroic job, which elicited yet another huge smile. I wished her the best of luck and hoped that she would someday get a chance to visit San Francisco. Then I tipped her six pounds on a 12 pound check. She was worth every pence and more. 

Not long ago, I had a lengthy phone conversation with a writer who was putting together a piece for the NY Post. During our chat he happened to mention how difficult it was for him to get a good bottle of wine in a restaurant. My reaction was somewhere between “Doooooo!” and “really?” I was surprised given the guy lives in New York, dines out regularly, and knows more than a bit about wine. But after a few more questions from my end it quickly became apparent that his comfort level with wine in restaurants simply wasn’t there; that dealing with a sommelier or huge wine list was a major challenge. 

He’s not alone. Dealing with what I call “wine ballet” or the “being handed the wine list in front of my friends/colleagues/future ex-spouse” is a source of major stress for practically anyone. I wouldn’t quite put it up there with the fear of public speaking, which according to some sources is even greater than the fear of death (must be a tough audience). Being put on the spot with a wine list the size of the Gutenberg Bible can definitely cause personal anxiety. No surprise that the writer didn’t believe me when I told him it was no big deal. So I gave him my own strategy on how to get the best value wine from any given list. Then I promised him I’d share with all my closest friends. Here it is:

Prelude

There are some things you definitely must know before you darken the restaurant’s door. These would include the following:

a. Know the style of wine you like to drink. Go into a restaurant armed with the knowledge that, “I like a red wine with soft tannins, not too much oak, and that listens to NPR;” or “I really like big, oaky Cabernets that remind me of a monster truck pull.”

b. Know what you don’t like; arguably even more important than knowing what you do like. Know that you absolutely loathe oaky wines or you break out in hives if the alcohol in a red wine gets to be over 15%, which is not all that uncommon these days.

c. Have a couple of examples of wines you’ve enjoyed in the past that can be used as points of reference. Once you know exactly what you like and don’t like, it’s good to have some wines in mind that you’ve tasted in the past that can be used in discussions with a server or a sommelier.

d. Price: know how much you want to spend within $15-$20. Wine prices on restaurant lists can vary dramatically, but chances are you already have a good idea of how much you’re willing to spend in future dining excursions. 

The Main Event

Now you’re ready to go. You’ve just entered the restaurant with the man/woman of your dreams. When the hostess races you both across the dining room, seats you next to the kitchen, and gives you one of those “adios amigo” smiles before racing off leaving the glassware on the table spinning, don’t panic. Keep breathing. Feel good. Feel confident. It’s going to be alright.

1. The Wine List: as you pick up the wine list head to any section and check out the pricing. Spot the highest price you can find and the lowest price as well. Drag those to your mental trash bin and discard.

2. Find the average price: get a quick eyeball average of where most of the wines are priced. That could be anywhere between $40 and $150 depending on your location and the style of the restaurant. After all, there’s a huge difference between a corner bistro and The French Laundry in terms of the cost of operations, infrastructure, and the rest. You might also keep in mind the fact that most restaurants do NOT make money by selling food alone, but only manage to survive and hopefully thrive by the selling alcoholic beverages. 

3. Find the sweet spot: set your sights on the 50-60% price range of the restaurants’ pricing scheme. That’s usually where the best values are and that, meine liebchen, is your sweet spot. 

4. Your server: when your server arrives and asks if you’d like wine with dinner (wrong question), smile and say something like the following:

“You know, this is a really great list.  I’d like to talk to the sommelier and or the wine buyer if they’re available (or whoever gets stuck with doing the wine buying).” 

Just kidding on that last one point. But you should know that what you think of as the glorious task of creating a wine list is often relegated to whatever poor soul is the assistant manager, a position that in many instances can only be described as one of the s**t jobs of the universe.

5. The buyer: if the buyer is on the floor, that’s great. Hopefully they will be over in short order. Once said buyer makes appears at your table, be sure to relay the above pertinent information to them as in:

a)  “This is the style of wine I really like.”

b) “I hate XX kind of wine.”

c) “Here are some wines I’ve enjoyed in the past.”

6. Pricing: give them a price range to work with as in, “I’d like to spend $50-$60,” or “please suggest something great under $75.”

Be specific about your price range, but remember that part of their job is to SELL and that means they will probably start in your price range and then suggest something a bit more expensive. Don’t be put off. Listen politely and smile. If their suggestion makes sense in terms of your personal favorite wine style and it’s within your budget, consider it. However, if their suggestion is hideously expensive (meaning they either didn’t listen to you or they’re completely clueless), smile again and say something like the following:

 “You know, that’s really not what I had in mind. I’m sure you probably have something more in our price range. Could you please make a recommendation in the XX price range?”  

Likewise, if their suggestion is completely obscure don’t hesitate to ask about the wine. Pacherenc du Vic-Bihl, anyone? Good questions to ask about any recommendation would include the sweetness/dryness level, the amount of oak, or the amount of tannin if it’s a red wine recommendation. Ultimately, ask yourself if the recommendation fits your favorite wine profile. If not, don’t hesitate to ask for something closer in style as in a wine with less tannin, oak, or cosmetic flaws.

7. Discourse: a bit of back and forth is always good. Being mindful of the magic combination of your likes, dislikes, and desired price range should be more than enough for practically anyone to help you get a delicious bottle.

Coda: Magic Questions

If in doubt, ask the following questions. You can always feel free to skip everything above and head straight to these.

“What are your favorite VALUES on the list?”

“Is there anything you’ve just gotten in that you really like and think is a must try?”

“Is there anything you’re pouring by the glass that you really like and think is a great value?”

If you’re speaking to the buyer/sommelier, chances are they will get dangerously excited at this point or they should be checked for a pulse. This is the moment every sommelier dreams about, the moment when someone is asking their opinion about the coolest wines on the list that they have toiled long hours to put together. What more could they want? Odds are they will blurt out the best/ coolest/ greatest/most amazing wine in nano-seconds of the question leaving your mouth. They may even get all verklempt on you. This is how it should be. If the wine is being poured by the glass, by all means ask to taste it. Otherwise, if the price is right, give it a spin. And if you really like their recommendation, be sure to let him or her know it and even throw a bit of cash their way. It’s always greatly appreciated.
 
Cheers!

Believe it or not, my first food and wine epiphany was in high school. I was seriously enamored with a clarinet player in the band. She was a senior and I was a junior. I boldly asked her to join me for a picnic at a local park.  She said yes. I was shocked that she accepted my invitation, but delirium quickly turned to panic. How could I possibly convince her of my worldly ways at the ripe old age of 17? I desperately needed help and quickly engaged the assistance of my older sister Tina, who was a junior in college at the time. I requested a loaf of French bread, a bottle of French wine, and a French cheese. She went to a delicatessen in a local shopping mall and returned with bread that resembled sponge cake, a half bottle of white, and a wedge of strange looking cheese with blue dots. I had no clue about any of it, but threw everything into a basket with plastic cups, paper plates, napkins, and then went to meet up with my date.  

At first the picnic went well. Lots of well-thought out lines on my part (your eyes are like two limping fools …). I sliced the bread, unwrapped the cheese, and somehow managed to get the cork out of the bottle without bodily injury. I had just poured two plastic cups of the wine when my date took a bite of the cheese and practically spit it out in disgust. “It’s awful!” was the only thing she managed to say. All thoughts of dancing pastel unicorns in my head quickly faded. I took a big sip of the wine (completely surprised that it was sweet) and then took a bite of cheese. What followed was one of the cosmic moments of gastronomy in my life. Time stopped. Angels sang. I was completely alone. The combination of sweet wine and moldy weird cheese was the single most amazing thing I had ever tasted in my seventeen years. In that moment, dear and respected readers, everything changed for me. I had crossed the line between “eat to live” and “live to eat.” Life would never be the same. 

I quickly poured my date a cup of the vino and urged her to try the cheese again. It took some serious convincing but I succeeded and she, too, was astounded that two things so strange and completely different could taste so incredible when paired together. The picnic finished in grand fashion. I can say no more. As for other details, the wine in question was a late‘60’s vintage of Barsac from B&G, a botrytis dessert wine similar in style to Sauternes. The cheese was a true Roquefort from the south of France near Soulzon.     

That experience made me an instant and lifetime member of the cult of botrytis dessert wine and blue cheese. It’s a food and wine pairing ritual that I have experienced many times since and one I try to repeat as often as possible. My current favorite version is matching an German Auslese Goldkapsul Riesling with Stilton, a salty blue cheese from the U.K.  The combination of honey and stonefruits in the Riesling with the salty and pungent notes in the cheese is somewhere between a frat party and Angels frolicking on your palate. Try it. It will momentarily change your life. I guarantee it.