Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Chicago Somm - Rachel Driver Speckan



What does the Chicago Somm look like? Whats it like to be a Somm in Chicago? We've asked questions both silly and serious of some of our best and brightest. Here's our first installments featuring Rachel Driver Speckan. New mom, educator, and somehow makes it to every tasting.

How did you start in the wine industry? Which restaurant or person?

I began my adventure in wine after graduating from MAPSS at the University of Chicago with a Masters Degree. As a student of Anthropology with extended time living in Italy studying folks, language and culture, I was enthralled and intrigued by food and wine, as well. I thirsted for more knowledge of wine, and the more I learned, the more there was to learn. I loved the dirt and the culture and the people. I was hooked. And, then, I stumbled upon the opening of LUSH Wine and Spirits. Growing a small business from scratch involves love, passion, challenges, and an intense on the job learning curve. It was an opportunity to crash into the industry and build a career. LUSH was not simply a retail bottle shop, it was an incubator for wine professionals, an event space, a restaurant, and a wine classroom. It was raw and real and edgy. Here I learned how to manage and run a business, manage staff, teach, coordinate events and professionally serve as a sommelier with expertise in wine, beer, and spirits.

I am entirely driven to find the perfect wine to pair with the client and the situation. I strive to provide not just a bottle sale, but to quench thirst and provide a memorable experience. Ideally, the client will take home a tangible connection to the wine and the evening. Rather than fit the client with a bottle that I want to move or sell, I love the challenge of suiting their needs and tastes.



What are you doing now (job, jobs, etc.)?

At the moment, I am the Wine Education Director for City Winery, as well as the Beverage Director at the Chicago location.

Are you currently or have you ever been involved in the court of master sommeliers or WSET? How far did you get in your journey?

I am a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, with the intention to sit the Advanced course in 2015. I also passed the WSET Advanced course with distinction.

What’s the best one liner from a sales rep you've heard?

A one liner from a sales rep. Good question. Hmmm, I'll think and come back. Nope. Nothing. Certain there are some gems hidden in my memory, however, I am surprising them.

If you could go back into time who would you want to make wine with?

Back in time to make wine. Super fun. However, I think that I would be absolutely thrilled to make wine currently with Elisabetta Foradori or Matthew Rorick. Okay, fine, to kick it back old school, I would do anything to make wine with Didier Dagueneau.

What unspeakable act would you commit to drink 1967 La Tache?

For 1967 La Tache, I would figure out a way to acquire clandestine seats at a Prince concert at City Winery. Probably something worse, if it came down to it. I am a rule follower, so this question makes me really nervous.

What’s your favorite dirty would to use to describe a bottle of wine?

A dirty word I would use to describe a bottle of wine is schist-y. Now that is sexy.

If you could transport to any restaurant and city in the world. Where would you go?

The restaurant that I am fiending for is Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain. Woman chef. Starred. Beautiful.


If you were a grape what would you be?

Chenin Blanc.

What wine programs are exciting you outside Chicago?

I love peeking at wine programs across the country. They are exciting. I am a big fan of the ballsy list at Terroir. I loved drinking at Charlie Bird. Blackberry Farm! Press for all the amazing historical American wine selections. I know some folks within Altamarea and really drool over their programs. I think Pascaline Lepeltier is super amazing and has a baller list. I sipped at Reynard this past winter and very much enjoyed perusing the pages of the wine list.

What about within Chicago?

I love drinking in Chicago! The list that I love the most is Arthur Hon's wine program at Sepia. However, the wine list I drink the most is Vera. I love diving into the badass selections at Rootstock. Matty Colston at Parachute is pushing the edge, daring to showcase wild and distinctive wines. I always keep Alpana Singh on the radar and watch the moves she is making. Her list is always solid and extremely conscious of her clientele. Haven't been to new Webster, but loved the old one and their cellar selections. Nico is killing it right now...like the way that kid Bret thinks about wine.

You've got the space to say anything to wine professionals in Chicago. What would you say?

Chicago has a brilliant and exciting wine culture and community. The sommeliers and beverage professionals are immersed in their craft and committed to furthering education and experience. With a supportive community of folks that live and love wine, there is an amazing opportunity to push Chicago into the wine scene internationally. I hope that we remain driven, passionate, challenge each other to be sharper, smarter and more polished. But, to always keep in mind that learning about wine is fun. Drinking wine is delicious. We should play with our profession and love it, not just go to work. We should research and respect wine history and tradition, but also look to innovation, rule breakers, and wild ones. Be a crazy nerd with a penchant for rocks and maps, wines that taste like dirt, but also keep up with trends and popular culture. Attain balance and cultivate a deep, textured and adventurous beverage culture and community.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

WOW - West of West Festival





The highlight of my summer was working West of West Festival in Sebastopol, California. West of West is a group of wineries that are promoting the true Sonoma Coast vitcultural area. Sonoma is a massive growing area with 16 different AVA’s . The true coast is comprised of rugged terrain and is greatly effected by the foggy, blanketing effect of the pacific. David Hirsch was certainly on to something when he pioneered the area some 40 years ago.

2014 was the fourth year of WOW. The group hosts two tastings per year. They were in Chicago the first part of this year and held their California tasting at the amazing new facility in Sebastapol, The Barlow. The Barlow is a redeveloped area that opened last year and is home to wineries, tasting rooms, breweries, cafes, restaurants, etc. and is helping revitalize downtown Sebastapol.

14 somms from across the country, Hawaii to North Carolina were invited to fly to Sonoma to help work for the weekend. The event was three days of non-stop activity. We kicked everything off by each somming a dinner at different restaurants on Friday night with a host winery.

I fortunately got to work with one of the driving forces behind WOW, Andy Peay. Andy’s conviction and dedication to the west Sonoma coast is so serious it can be intimidating at times. He’s also very tall. The dinner was hosted at the Zazu Kitchen & Farm, an iconic restaurant founded in rural Santa Rosa in 2001 that relocated to the Barlow in Sebsatopl last year. The husband and wife team are the undisputed champions of all things pork. Andy hosted a group of his loyal wine club members and treated them to a delicious meal.

For this event I was paired with a very talented somm, Christian Varras. One of the most beneficial aspects of working events like WOW is meeting somms from other cities. It’s fun to network and find out about their programs and wine trends from certain parts of the country. Christian has an impressive resume working and is currently the wine director at River Oaks Country Club, in Houston, Texas.

Day two was a day of seminars. The first seminar, The evolution of California Cuisine and Wine, was a panel of some of the top SF restaurants, and how their food interacts with wine. The restaurants were Bar Tartine, Rich Table, State Bird Provisions.

Following that was a seminar on Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay. A very fitting seminar as the Heintz family pioneered the true Sonoma coast over 100 years ago. The vineyards were originally planted to zinfandel and eventually replanted with apples during prohibition. Apples thrived in the area up until the early 80’s when the chardonnay vineyard was planted. Heintz sells fruit to several wineries, to name just a few: Peay, Littorai, Realm, Ceritas, DuMol, Zepaltas and Flowers.

The focus was a comparative of picking range times in the Heintz vineyard. Ceritas, Zepaltas, Littorai and DuMol were all represented. In addition to picking there were several other decisions made by the winery that effected the wine, traditional or organic farming, stainless or barrel, what size barrel? Each wine was expressive in their own right. The wines that were showcased in this seminar showed the impressive range of styles possible in the vineyard . This was no surprise as Heintz is a big vineyard. It sits about 900 ft above sea level and is around 100 acres large, 50 planted to vine. It’s only a few miles form the coast, situated on the second ridge from the sea.

The underlying theme was high acidity however the weight varied greatly throughout the wines. Ceritas was the leanest and most angular of the bunch and ended up being my favorite. They are adamant about farming organically. The most eye opening was the DuMol. Admittedly I feel like I pre judged this more than any other chardonnay in the group. Andy lets the wine sit on the lees for two winters and ages in hogsheads barrel. He believes that this helps connect the wine to the vineyards. This was the most round and powerful of the bunch but still displayed the Heintz freshness. The oak did not interfere much on the aromatics.

Two months removed I can’t stop thinking about the determination of this group, banned together to promote what they consider to be the best growing area of Sonoma. There was zero competitiveness amongst the group of wineries. Peay believes that promoting their region and each other’s wines will help increase every wineries visibility. Hopefully restaurants will increase their selections from West Sonoma and somms can share the bright fruit it produces. In the end it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes this place so special. I’d like to think it’s a combination of the climactic conditions that make it difficult to ripen fruit and the group of adventurous personalities shaping the future West Sonoma might be not the easiest wine region to farm for pinot noir but it’s certainly the most rewarding.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Serving Temperatures for Wine

I hate it but when I think about wine and temperature, I always think cheap beer.  No beer is too terrible if you make it as cold as possible.  It will be easier to drink and have less flavor, but a great level of refreshment. 

Temperature is an ingredient as wine professionals that we can control.  By changing temperature we can coax different flavors out of a wine to create the best version of it .  If it’s a light red with a little chill the fruit becomes more enveloping the tannin shrinks and the acidity is still present, but less sharp.  If it’s a richer white a little less chill allows the primary, secondary and tertiary flavors to come out.  Nothing will be masked.  The complexities will come out in full force and the light chill will leave the drinker refreshed after each sip.

What are the ideal temperatures for wines?  How do we maintain temperature in the dining room?  What wines deserve what temperatures? How does it effect pairing?

Ideal temperatures generally speaking (in fahrenheit):

Champagne and sparkling wine should be served from 38 to 50 degrees.  The higher the quality of sparkling wine the warmer you can allow it to be.

Crisp, high acid white wines should be served from 44 to 50 degrees, where richer whites can be served from 50 to 57 degrees.

Lighter bodied reds can be served from 53 to 63 degrees.

Full bodied reds should be served from 63 to 69 degrees.


Service:
Where do you keep your wines during service? 
Are they kept in a termperature controlled environment? 
How do you monitor temperature throughout service? 
Who is maintaining the ice in the stations and how do they do it?

Some are lucky to have temperature controlled storage for all wines even those by the glass, but for most of us its refrigerators for white wines, cellar temperatures for red wines that are not by the glass and ice buckets on the floor.  Lots and lots of ice buckets.   

Its easy to shove a bottle of pinot grigio in an ice bucket and forget about it, but what do we do when it’s a beautiful bottle of white burgundy.  Or a red wine by the glass? 

My advice is very simple.  Keep monitoring your wine temperatures.  Keep your ice fresh so that you can lay some items on top of it and dig some deep into it.  Use large buckets for wines by the glass.  Make it look soignee.  What we did for red wines at Ai Fiori which I thought was brilliant was take a linen and lay it over the ice and place the red wines on that linen.  It not only prevented the labels from getting too wet, but it allowed the wine to not slip into the ice as it melted.  This meant that with close attention we could keep reds at appropriate temperatures for by the glass pours.


Ideally in the best of all possible worlds all wines by the glass will come from and return to temperature controlled environments, but due to cost this is unlikely for most restaurants.  It is important to remember that every step of the way this wine has been kept at a specific temperature (fifty degrees) to keep the wines sound during transport to the restaurant and thus the guest.  It is our job to make sure that we show the wines in the best possible way to pay tribute to the producer’s work and not to diminish its quality by serving it too hot or too cold.