Vineyard & Winery Management

November/December 2013

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END POST TYLER COLMAN Somms are the New Critics 126 V I N EYA R D & WINE RY M ANAGEM ENT | critics. At walk-around trade tastings in New York City, I've been told more times that a certain sommelier is featuring a wine on a list, than I've been told what score the wine received from any publication. It wasn't like that five years ago, when distributors circulated printouts of critics' scores. The reasons for the decline of influence in "The Score" are various, but foremost among them is point fatigue. It used to be that 90-plus-points actually meant something. But with 92 the median score for Northern California wines in issue 198 of The Wine Advocate, all the wines seem to be from Lake Wo b e g o n : a l l are above average. An importer wrote to me, "90 points means nothing today unless the wine is under $10." Daniel Posner, a retailer in White Plains, N.Y, wrote to his e-mail list about point inflation with the release of the Barolo 2007 vintage: "Who is buying 94-point wine these days? 94 points is for chumps … If you love Barolo, you are buying 96 points and up." Sommeliers have stepped into the void with bold actions and selections. Consider Paul Grieco, who four years ago declared that riesling would be the only white wine available by the glass at Terroir, then his only New York City wine bar (there are now four Terroir outposts). The "Summer of Riesling" was born. The idea spread and is now a national movement. Another example: the wines of Jura, which the sommelier class has embraced. Sherry appears on the rise in a loosely coordinated move. Nov - Dec 2013 Many U.S. sommeliers are so knowledgeable and enthusiastic (and mostly young) that they are even turning heads in France. Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac in Burgundy told me, "Wine service in New York City is better than it is at 99% of top French restaurants." In comparing them to critics, he added that sommeliers "are moving markets like no one in New York." In a poll on my drvino.com site earlier this year about the most influential people today in the world of New York City wine, two sommeliers finished in the top five (Grieco and Daniel Johnnes), while sommeliers came in slightly behind media in terms of overall influence (35% to 31%). Even in terms of being communicators in a narrow sense, sommeliers seem poised to surpass some members of the media, as Raj Parr, Evan Goldstein, David Lynch, Kevin Zraly and Andrea Robinson have written successful books. And their use of social media glamorizes the sommelier lifestyle as a parade of irresistible bottles and exciting locales. Certainly there are possible threats to their ascendancy, such as restaurants becoming more casual, and the rise of tablet wine lists. But this is their moment, so raise a glass to sommeliers – just make sure it isn't a tastevin. (Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of Vineyard & Winery Management.) n the movie "Somm," there are no tastevins nor tuxedos. But there are beards, woolen caps and, yes, double Windsor knots. The role of sommeliers is changing. While these men and women hold the keys to the cellars in their restaurants, sommeliers have become the new tastemakers. Their collective star has risen to such heights that they have displaced critics in recent years to become arguably the most important arbiters of wine in America. How did this happen? It's thanks to a confluence of factors, including pricing, power and derring-do. Prices for the world's top wines have been climbing. This has pushed the top Bordeaux wines off of most wine lists. How many restaurants can move a lot of Latour if it costs $3,000 per bottle on the list? Not many. Even though Burgundy remains expensive, the high acidity of its reds and whites can make them more food-friendly, and thus sommelier favorites. Further, the Burgundy connection between a specific parcel of vines and the person who works it remains a powerful attractant to somms, and it's being imitated elsewhere. Rising prices have led sommeliers to search out wines from off the beaten path. In the discussion of their roles as gatekeepers, when somms select wines from little-known grapes or regions and feature them on their lists, it can provide a big boost. The second factor behind the power shift: the relative decline of Tyler Colman, author of the wine blog Dr. Vino, teaches wine classes at New York University and the University of Chicago, and wrote the book "Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink." Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. w w w. v wm m e d i a . c o m

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