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Yim Soon-Rye, South Korea – Nothing’s going to plan in young Hye-won’s big-city life. On impulse, she puts her unresolved issues behind her and returns to…
José Luis López-Linares, Spain – In the early 21st century a revolution broke out in Jaén, one of Spain’s least-known provinces: Picual, the most emblematic…
Aitor Bereziartua and Ander Iriarte, Spain – At the Basque Culinary Center, five young talented students of cutting-edge gastronomy from all over the world…Diners who refuse to be open-minded about wine or won’t let sommeliers do their jobs. Sommeliers who condescend to diners or push their own wine agendas. Servers who refuse to believe your wine is corked or use nails-on-a-chalkboard clichés. These are just a few of the pet peeves on all sides of the dining equation that can mar an otherwise delightful restaurant experience.
We spoke to 14 sommeliers and chefs from Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winners about the annoyances and irritants large and small they feel in restaurants—both from their guests and their peers—and how to fix them.
And if you want to meet some somms who’ve really got things figured out, say hi to several of the respondents below at our New York Wine Experience, Oct. 18 to 20, where they’ll be tasting to ensure all the pours are in stellar shape. They’ll be donating their time for an event that benefits the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation, which underwrites grants to students and funds educational initiatives in the wine industry.
Wine Spectator: What’s your biggest pet peeve in wine or dining—or one that’s bugging you right now?
Daniel Humm and Cedric Nicaise, chef/owner and wine director of Grand Award winner Eleven Madison Park in New York
DH: I think one overarching thing in general is, don’t have an ego. Don’t have an ego as a chef, don’t have an ego as a sommelier. It’s one of the most annoying things ever when the sommelier wants you to drink something you don’t want to drink. It happens all the time. We’re here to serve the guest and give them what they want, and hopefully make it cohesive. It’s not about me, it’s not about [Cedric]. It’s really about this experience that people come to have.
CN: I remember when I was first becoming a sommelier, somebody told me that at the beginning of every month, you should essentially make a list of all the wines you want to taste that month, and basically sell from that list so you get to taste things you want to taste. And I couldn’t disagree with that philosophy more. I would sell the same bottle a hundred times, if that’s what the guest wanted. The way the wine world is going now, I think it’s becoming more about what the wine you’re selling is than what the guest wants. As chef points out, that’s so about your own ego.
Cheryl Wakerhauser, owner and wine director at Best of Award of Excellence winner Pix Pâtisserie & Bar Vivant in Portland, Ore.
When someone doesn’t believe you or feels the need to “double-check” when you tell them a wine is corked. I am speaking as a customer here, but I always train my staff to never question, just get a fresh bottle.
Once, I was sitting at the bar of a restaurant when a corked glass of wine was served to me. After I pointed it out, the server got me a glass from a fresh bottle, but then put the old bottle on the back counter and motioned to the manager. The manager came over, tasted the wine and shook their head, and proceeded to put the corked bottle back in the ice bucket for serving. I was sitting 10 feet away the whole time. Agh. If you don’t believe it is corked, at least wait until I leave to start serving it again!
Nicholas Stefanelli, chef and owner at Best of Award of Excellence winner Masseria in Washington, D.C.
When people blow their nose at a table. We spend a ton of money on our napkins, and when I see someone do that with a napkin, it’s like, “Did you really just do that?” It’s like, “Please go to the restroom. That’s $7.”
Jon McDaniel, founder and wine consultant, Second City Soil in Chicago; former wine director of Gage Hospitality Group
My biggest pet peeve is lack of communication. As a diner, it’s a lack of communication from the service staff, from the menu and from the restaurant about what it is that I am getting myself into and why. As a sommelier, it’s a lack of communication from the guest about what it is that they are really looking for. If you know that you are really into Merlot and your budget is $50, the sooner that you can convey the information to me, the sooner I can help you select a wine that will exceed your expectations, for $40. Guests are still very afraid to be honest at the table because they think I am going to judge their desires or that I will try to rip them off, but my only goal is to provide over-the-top value and service.
Sabrina Schatz, sommelier at Best of Award of Excellence winner Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City, N.J.
One of my biggest pet peeves in dining is a wine list that only has “supermarket” wines. That happens a lot in South Jersey. You’ll see the same 10 to 20 bottles of wine in every restaurant and store. The wine selection doesn’t need to be super-esoteric either, but a variety is important. Another pet peeve of mine is if I don’t see anything under $100 in a restaurant or under $20 in a shop.
Erik Segelbaum, wine director for Philadelphia-based Starr Restaurants, including Best of Award of Excellence winners Upland, the Clocktower and Le Coucou in New York; Barclay Prime and Butcher & Singer in Philadelphia; Upland in Miami Beach and Steak 954 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Le Diplomate in Washington, D.C.
A lot of my colleagues on either side of the table, whether winemakers, vendors, distributors or—worst—sommeliers, are unnecessarily boring. And I get it. If you’re great at making wine, you’re not necessarily great at meeting with people and translating your passion for, like, soil pH. But if you’re in a capacity where you sell, you need to be passionate and you need to be personable.
I won’t let people rinse my glass with water [at a tasting]. I don’t want to put chlorine in my glass. I don’t care what the wine is, so long as you rinse it with something. I also hate when you have to wait until you’re acknowledged [by someone behind a table pouring]. If you let me pour my own wine, I will pour less, I will waste less of your wine and I will have a better appreciation of what you’re doing—I just wanted a taste of it. And a lot of people think that’s rude.
Jennifer Foucher, head sommelier at Best of Award of Excellence winner Fiola in Washington, D.C.
When guests say that they need to decide what they would like to eat before they order wine. They always end up choosing a full-bodied red; I really would prefer that they make their wine selection first so that I can open and decant it before they drink it. They can enjoy their cocktails while looking at the menu. If everyone was deciding to drink white because it went better with their meal, it would be a different story.
Matthew Conway, wine director at Best of Award of Excellence winner Restaurant Marc Forgione in New York
There are a lot of chefs out there who would never let their beverage directors taste the food. They put up the food, the guy pairs the wine. [Chef Marc Forgione and I] have been places together where we’ve had a dish at very high-end restaurant, and it was like the worst wine pairing in the world, and there’s no way any human could have put those two things in their mouth and said they were going to put it on the menu.
And that happens in a lot of places. Some of it is time constraints, some of it is the back of the house doesn’t think the front of the house deserves it, some of it is cost.
Josh MacGregor, sommelier at Best of Award of Excellence winner DB Bistro Moderne in New York
My biggest pet peeve in wine is when a dry wine is fruit-forward in style and the [drinker’s] reaction is simply, “It’s good … It’s a little sweet, but its good.” It’s totally understandable that fruity aromas can be confused with actual sugar in the wine, but it’s the pejorative nature of the statement that can cause a delicious fruit-forward wine to be aligned with a false negative stigma.
Jill Gubesch, wine director at Award of Excellence winner Frontera Grill/Topolobampo in Chicago
Closed-minded people and grape-haters.
Jenni Guizio, wine director at Union Square Hospitality Group’s Best of Award of Excellence winner Maialino and Award of Excellence winner Marta in New York
Personally, I’d like for “How’s everything tasting here?” to be retired from the restaurant lexicon—but maybe there’s something I say that is someone else’s pet peeve ….
Kevin Bratt, wine director of Best of Award of Excellence–winning Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab locations in Chicago, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.
One would be pairing the wrong wines with the wrong food. Taking [sommeliers’] advice, we can always find a great wine to pair with any dish, but I often find so many people are drinking current-vintage Napa Valley Cabernet with stone crab, and that just doesn’t work. I don’t really vocalize that pet peeve very often. If somebody wants that wine, I will gladly pour it for them and say nothing about it.
Sian Ferguson Nagan, wine director at Best of Award of Excellence winner Alinea in Chicago
Guests and somms alike can be quick to decide that a certain grape or region is inferior or less worthy of attention or dollars. Just consider that our palates, preferences, situations change all the time, and [you should] be open to revisiting something that you maybe didn’t love the first time. I hated peas as a kid, yet bit my tongue (literally) as I was so enthusiastically chowing down on them in the salad today.
Wine is the same: That fiasco of Chianti from that red-and-white-checkered-plastic-tablecloth Italian restaurant in the late ’80s was probably very different than the stellar Chianti options available to you now.
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What’s the purpose of fermentation? What are its benefits to health and sustainability? And how do you make white kimchi? The chef from L’Air du Temps explains
A university in Louisiana is dishing up a class based on the life and work of the late great chef Anthony Bourdain.An investigating magistrate in Bordeaux has placed two well-known wine figures, Philippe Castéja, a négociant and owner of Château Trotte Vieille, and Hubert de Boüard, the former co-owner of Château Angélus and a consulting winemaker, under formal investigation for “prise illégale d’intérêt,” which translates roughly as unlawfully taking an interest. The two men are under suspicion of having used their public roles in the organizations responsible for the 2012 St.-Emilion Classification for personal gain. The case threatens to up-end the classification, calling into question Angélus’ status as one of the four Premier Grand Cru Classé A wineries in the Right Bank appellation.
The St.-Emilion ranking was made official in the 1950s and, unlike the more famous Left Bank classification system, is revised every 10 years. The 2006 ranking was annulled after bitter lawsuits by châteaus whose owners felt the rankings were unfair and biased. The 2012 ranking—which includes 82 châteaus in the St.-Emilion Grand Cru appellation—was painstakingly designed to be lawsuit-proof. It drew headlines when Angélus and Château Pavie were promoted to join Ausone and Cheval-Blanc in the top rung.
The current investigation stems from a criminal complaint lodged in early 2013 by the owners of three châteaus—Corbin Michotte, Croque-Michotte and La Tour-du-Pin-Figeac—who failed to make the 2012 ranking. They have objected to the criteria used in the rankings and have alleged that the judges had conflicts of interest.
Under French law, it is a crime for officials to use their position in a public body for profit or to take part in decisions in which they have a personal interest. In the case of St.-Emilion, the ranking falls under the auspices of the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO), the national body that oversees wine appellations. Both de Boüard and Castéja have long held influential posts within the INAO’s wine section. De Boüard was also the president of the St.-Emilion Grands Crus, the association at the heart of the classification.
Both men deny playing any part in the rankings, however. Speaking for her father, Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, co-owner of Château Angélus, told Wine Spectator, “this is an additional investigation with the presumption of innocence.”
“This is a stage in the judicial process, but they haven’t been found guilty,” said Franck Binard, director of the St.-Emilion Wine Council. “We’ll let justice do its job.”
While they have not been charged and no court date has been set, the move by Bordeaux magistrate Clémentine Chauvin is a serious development for two reasons. First, it means that the gendarme investigators and magistrate believe they have enough evidence to potentially take the case to court. If found guilty, the two men face prison sentences and heavy fines.
As an example of how the law has been used recently in France, the former mayor of the massively popular tourist destination Mont-St.-Michel was found guilty and fined $57,600 for taking an illegal interest while in office when he stationed tourist shuttle stops in front of his businesses. A great deal more money is in play in St.-Emilion: The wine rankings add millions of euros to land values alone, not to mention how much châteaus can charge for their wines.
De Boüard is a consultant, estate owner and former co-owner of Château Angélus (he sold his shares to his daughter in 2016). Castéja is a major négociant and co-owner of several estates with his family, including Château Trotte Vieille, a Premier Grand Cru Classé B. With the 2012 ranking, Trotte Vieille was allowed to absorb the 10-acre Château Bergat, previously an ordinary classified growth.
Both men maintain that they absented themselves from decision-making related to the ranking. They have asked the Bordeaux court to dismiss the investigation.
The second reason that this criminal investigation is so serious revolves around a lawsuit the plaintiffs filed in Bordeaux’s Administrative Tribunal in 2013, challenging the validity of the classification. They lost, and the case is on appeal. A decision is expected by the end of the year.
Pierre Carle, owner of Croque-Michotte, a 33-acre estate, told Wine Spectator that he felt the criminal case would put pressure on the Administrative Tribunal. “They will be prudent when it comes to validating the classification.”
The legal fracas has left the St.-Emilion Wine Council in limbo, even as it should be preparing for the 2022 ranking. Should the classification come through this latest round of lawsuits unscathed, Binard feels confident they could quickly swing into action, and more important, he believes the classification would stand the test of time.
“It’ll have been through the fires of justice,” said Binard.
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