The most frequently asked questions I get at as a sommelier
And are they frequent questions you have, too?
What if, after all of that studying, I sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about?
It’s a frequent concern I have as a sommelier. My entire job is to know wine and sell it. I help guests find the perfect bottle that will not only go with their meal, but will also meet their specific tastes. The premise feels daunting when you’re first starting out, especially when you’re working at a shop or a restaurant with 600 different bottles to choose from. How do you even choose? Where do you start?
After a year of trial and error, I have learned a valuable lesson that has put some of my former anxiety at ease: guests typically ask the same questions.
Sure, I’ll have a guest come in who gets a little more granular about their wine selection. Maybe they’re well versed in producers of Barolo, or they want to know vintage variation in Brunello and how that affects the taste. I had a guest ask for a rosé Champagne the other day who wanted it to be made from 100% red grapes (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, or a mix of both) made in a blending method instead of a saignée method. Some people know “the language” and how to ask for what they want.
But a majority of the time, the questions I get from guests are similar, and they’re a lot easier to answer than I expected. My assumption is that this is coming from popular tastes and trends. People want to drink what they like to drink! As a sommelier, it is not my job to shame them for having certain taste preferences. (Why blame them for what’s popular in the market? They became popular for a reason!) Instead, the goal is to find wine that will fit those preferences while also giving them the opportunity to discover new wine they love. Here are some of those questions, and how I usually answer them.
Do you have something similar to Sancerre?
Sancerre is that girl right now. It’s Sauvignon Blanc, but she’s French and so much cooler than you. Sancerre is also a great example of appellation consistency—if you’re getting a wine from the same appellation, then you can expect the wine to taste how you want since the winemaker got the grapes from the same area and followed the same rules.
But what if your menu or wine shop doesn’t have Sancerre? Or what if you want to try something new and you know that Sancerre is a style you already like?
If a guest tells me they want something similar, I typically find them something that is light, minerally, and fresh. Unlike Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, which is full of tropical-fruit goodness and tastes like fresh-squeezed passion fruit in a bottle, Sancerre has a fresher quality that makes it distinct. So I find wines that are similar, such as Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi (grape is Verdicchio), Rias Baixas (grape is Albariño), Chenin Blanc (also from the Loire, or even South Africa) or sometimes a well made Grüner Veltliner from Austria also does the trick.
Is the wine dry?
Sweet wine usually comes with a connotation. Something it’s sweet because it’s cheap. Some associate it with a wine that mom or grandma used to drink. Some drank too much of it in college and are trying to avoid it. Some associate sweet wine with headaches and hangovers because, well, sugar does that.
I would say that a majority of the time, a wine on a list or in a shop is going to be dry. This means the wine went through a full fermentation and there isn’t any residual sugar from the grape juice left in the wine. Or in the case of sparkling wine like Champagne, no extra sugar was added to soften the bubbles.
However, even if the wine is completely dry, the perception of sweetness can make things tricky. Some grapes are known for being aromatic and fruity, and some consumers can associate those flavors with sweetness. This can also happen if a wine is high in alcohol (alcohol inherently adds sweetness).
If you’re concerned about sweetness in your wine, I would ask this instead: Is there residual sugar in the wine? The sommelier or person assisting you will understand that you’re looking for a wine that is dry without any residual sugar. And if you’re avoiding fruity, I would also ask if the wine is fruit forward.
Will it give me headaches and/or a hangover?
Ah, a classic. While some think that tannins is what causes headaches or hangovers, it’s actually the residual sugar in a wine that makes you feel that way. Hence why drinking sparkling wine like Prosecco can cause worse hangovers than, say, a dry red wine with no residual sugar at all.
This is also why some people like to distinctly drink European wine, which has different standards of sweetness compared to American wine. The amount of residual sugar left in a bottle matters when labeling it, and of course, America allows for more of it per liter compared to Europe.
Can you recommend me a bottle that won’t break the bank?
Typically this question comes with a clear expression of shame or guilt, which I admit, I find infuriating. Not toward the guest, but the industry as a whole! Why did we make wine so inaccessible that people are actually afraid to order a bottle simply because they think they can’t afford it?
I’m here to tell you the truth: there’s a lot of delicious, affordable wine out there. Even at the restaurant I work at, a good number of bottles on our list sit under $100. When I tell that to a guest, the joy on their face—there’s nothing like it! It almost feels like I’m opening a secret door into the world of wine and inviting them in, even though that door shouldn’t have even existed in the first place.
Yes, you can drink a lot of great wine at an affordable price point. Even as a sommelier, I have never spent over $200 on a bottle at a restaurant because I know I can still get something great underneath that price point.
I always talk budget with a guest so I know a range they feel comfortable with, but not every sommelier is like this. So don’t be afraid to ask the question, and stand up for what you like and what you want.
Wine of the week
A quick 36-hour trip to Chicago meant a few chances to check out the wine scene, and I loved my evening at Le Midi. I enjoyed BLANKbottle’s Moment of Silence 2022, a white Rhône Blend with 65% Chenin Blanc, 25% Grenache Blanc, 10% Viognier from Wellington, South Africa.
Tasting notes
Appearance: Clear, bright, straw yellow, with medium viscosity. Developing.
Nose: Clean with a moderate intensity. No evidence of oak. Textured and complex! All kinds of interesting notes here. Honey and melons, ripe peaches, citrus pith.
Palate: Dry, medium acidity, medium plus body, medium alcohol, moderate intensity with a waxy consistency. No evidence of oak. Long finish.
Final conclusion
A serious developing wine that catches you by surprise. Layers of stone fruit, honey, and citrus pith, but certainly feels more waxy versus fruit. A wine you can’t stop thinking about.
