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Did the sommelier overstep?
A tempest in a tastevin was reported in New York last week: A young couple reported they had enjoyed a wine at a restaurant and ordered it again on their return but were disappointed in the taste, Not to worry, the sommelier announced, he had tasted the wine and there was nothing wrong with it.
Ew yuck. Had the sommelier stolen some of their bottle, worse could he have breathed cooties on it?
A debate ensued, with several sommeliers saying they did sip after the bottle was opened as consumer protection and education to make sure the bottle wasn‘t flawed, had not been damaged in storage and that the wine was true to form. That duty was enshrined in their emblematic tool, the tastevin used by their predecessors to assure milord and milady that a vintage was fit to drink (and not poisoned).
Balderdash..
2007 M. Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone Belleruche
The New York Times did not identify restaurant or sommelier but it did name the bottle, the 2007 Chapoutier Cotes de Rhone Belleruche. That may sound fancy to some folks but you and I know it’s an entry level CDR under $15 and an exceptional one (89WA, $9.99 at B-21 and we won’t open it). It’s a fine “alternative red” fleshy and spicy, that I’m thrilled to find on a wine list, where it shouldn’t be marked up much past $30. In short, it’s the kind of everyday wine we should drink more of — with a lot less fuss. The sommelier is overweening to magnify his importance.
I appreciate good sommeliers who can answer questions and make recommendations, like good waiters. To me their chief role is to influence the wine list, ideally to more diversity and reduced mark-ups. At the table diners are supposed to be the stars. So open the bottle for them with a minimum of to-do (I don’t need to smell the screwcap) and retreat; if we don’t like the bottle please replace it and take the other away. Backstage you can taste it, share it or put it in the chef’s pantry.
That’s me.
What does a pro think? And do sommeliers take sample sips at Tampa’s wine temple, Bern’s Steak House? I asked our friend Brad Dixon:
“The policy of Bern’s is to not taste the wine before pouring. We feel it is the customer’s wine and they have the right to taste it first. That being said, we will always smell the wine. (in the decanter of course) If we detect a problem we will not pour, but instead get another bottle. On occasion a customer may ask a Sommelier or a Server to taste the wine for them. If asked to taste we would taste the wine at the table.”
About those disco-days tastevins, Dixon says it would spoil his street cred as a Gen-X sommelier, and he hadn‘t seen one on the floor in Bern’s. A tattoo of the Cote de Nuits, perhaps?
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