American Sommeliers
By Marisa D'Vari | January 5th, 2008 | Category: News | 1 Comment »Slate.com just pubished an interesting article on American vs. European sommeliers. While the author mentions Andrea Immer Robinson and Richard Betts, he also speaks about the increasing multi-cultural background of today's sommeliers ...
"And it is not just in the realm of gender that America has changed the sommelier beat: Wine service in the United States is also multiethnic and multiracial. African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans, and many other hyphenated Americans are now pouring Cabernets and Chardonnays professionally. One of the country's brightest young sommeliers is Indian-born Rajat Parr, who oversees wine for San Francisco chef Michael Mina's restaurant conglomerate. Parr, 35, says he didn't encounter any resistance when he was breaking into the sommelier trade and that the business is open to anyone with the knowledge and desire to hack it. "Just come and prove yourself," he says. Here, too, the contrast with France is vast. France may be a multicultural country, but wine service there is still a strictly Caucasian affair, and the few exceptions are made to feel their exceptionalness. Hideya Ishizuka, a Japanese sommelier who spent a decade working at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Bordeaux and who now owns a restaurant in Paris, recently told me that many French clients simply refused to accept the idea that he had wine advice worth heeding."
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Marisa,
Interesting point you make France being so tolerant of race. I find it rather puzzling that they might conceive one;'s taste buds might differ by racial background, I guess it is the old ethnic adage of "The only good wine is made in France", hence for the Sommelier he must be French too! I imagine being French and Female, Black or Asian would not qualify either… Well some things continue despite intelligence!
Good Point!