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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, August 27, 2008

RAISE A GLASS
Of wine streets and wine geeks

 •  All-American pies

By Jason "Cass" Castle

UNDER $40

A sommelier's recommendation of wines under $40 in a restaurant:

  • Caves de circa "Famega" vinho verde, Portugal, 2007 (Awesome wine)

  • Whitehaven sauvignon blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2007 (Super awesome)

  • Louis M. Martini Reserve cabernet sauvignon, Napa Valley, Calif., 2005 (Delicious)

  • Razor's Edge shiraz, McLaren Vale, Australia, 2006 (Sexy-good)

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    "What are you again, a Somalian?"

    "No, I'm a sommelier."

    "A son-el-eh?"

    "No, a suhm-uhl-yey."

    "Oh. What's that?"

    With the ever-increasing popularity of wine dominating fine restaurants, the position of sommelier has never been more misunderstood.

    Now is an ideal time to unveil the mysteries of this potentially intimidating position, and explain what is to be expected in the performance of a sommelier.

    Sommelier means "wine waiter" in French. Incidentally, that is all it means. Many of us are already familiar with the great waiter at the local restaurant who always seems to recommend the perfect wine with your dinner. He is a sommelier, or at least he used to be. It has been only recently and out of necessity that the industry began regulating this title. With the wine world becoming larger and more complex, it has become indispensable to have a guide with professional training to assist in wine selection, especially when the wine list weighs in above 100 choices. There are many organizations that claim to certify an individual as a professional sommelier, but only one that carries the respect of the entire professional community: The Court of Master Sommeliers.

    Established in 1969, this organization endeavored to create a guild of individuals passionate about wine education, sales and professionalism. They succeeded. Coinciding with the American wine culture boom almost perfectly, the Court of Master Sommeliers produced the likes of Larry Stone of Rubicon, Fred Dame of the Sardine Factory and Andrea Immer Robinson of everywhere.

    That barely scratches the surface of all the influential members of this select club. At last count, there were only 159 master sommeliers in the world, a true indicator of just how difficult it is to achieve this title. Hawai'i is fortunate to have two master sommeliers, Chuck Furuya of the Sansei empire and Roberto Viernes of Southern Wine and Spirits.

    Achieving the title of master sommelier is a four-part process of blind tasting, academic examination and service tests. In the middle of this progression is the certified sommelier exam, a level created a few years back and held by a handful of individuals in Hawai'i. A certified sommelier is equipped with the wine knowledge necessary to satisfy most requests, but some do it very differently than others.

    In my usual fashion of polarizing the world, there are only two types of sommeliers in the certified category: wine geeks and wine streets.

    Wine geeks are excellent at academic knowledge. Utilizing their dedicated studies, the wine geek sommelier will always recommend something European and hard to find, using phrases like cigar box, cat pee and the mysterious black currant. You will probably think the wine is pretty good, and will have learned a little bit about the esoteric side of the wine world.

    A wine street sommelier, on the other hand, will do everything possible not to talk about varietal character, regionality or vintage quality. This sommelier focuses mainly on the entertainment side of the restaurant business and utilizes a more populist approach to recommending wine.

    They will simply state: "You absolutely need to try this wine because it is delicious and you're gonna love it."

    No crazy wine speak, and certainly no black currants. You certainly will not learn as much, save the name of the wine you plan on buying at the store because it was so good.

    When presenting this rather rigid dichotomy to the famous Robert Bigelow, the director of wine for the Bellagio, he astutely commented that a master sommelier should have both the characteristics of the wine geek and the wine street.

    His appraisal could not be more accurate.

    Having the opportunity to mix with a great number of master sommeliers at this year's Kapalua Wine and Food festival, I was amazed at their ability to blend both worlds of wine sales.

    I encourage all wine enthusiasts to seek out either Roberto or Chuck locally; both provide the opportunity to learn a tremendous amount about wine without making you feel like you are speaking to an encyclopedia salesman.

    If Bigelow's definition of a master sommelier is indeed correct, I may never make it into this esteemed category.

    Not me, baby. I'm all street.

    Jason "Cass" Castle is a certified specialist of wine and certified sommelier. He is the beverage manager and sommelier for Merriman's Kapalua on Maui.