Why Winemaker's Like Nantucket.

I sent this out to some friends in the industry and got some great responses, which I have listed below.

Why Winemakers Like Nantucket
Five-day island event draws 160 winery participants
by Hugh Tietjen

Nantucket, Mass. -- The 12th annual Nantucket Wine Festival, held on the scenic Massachusetts island May 14-18, was as big a success with participating vintners as it was with its estimated 3,000 attendees. The elaborate event this year drew some 160 wineries from the U.S. and Europe, including several top Burgundy producers--Beaune, France, is Nantucket's sister city. "Consumers here are not just drinkers--they are here to learn," said Laurent Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy. There are only four events that count, Drouhin told Wines & Vines. "Aspen, Vail, Naples and Nantucket. Only one of those do we do every year--Nantucket."The schedule for the five-day event is a dozen pages long; highlights include "Great Wines in Grand Houses," in which local residents open their homes to 12-20 guests for sit-down tastings. Some of these include meals prepared by top East Coast and local chefs. California vintners pouring in the "grand houses" included O'Shaughnessy, Rudd, Fisher, Steele, Arrowood, Coturri, Freeman, Four Vines, Calera, Far Niente, Cliff Lede, Baldacci, Kendall-Jackson, Silverado, Hess Collection, Shafer, Rosenblum, Steltzner, Taylor Family, Chimney Rock and Robert Sinskey.A trio of Luncheon Symposiums featured Spanish wines, a Burgundy Master Class, and The Stars of Stag's Leap, with winemakers or principals from Baldacci, Cliff Lede, Silverado, Pine Ridge, Shafer, Ilsley, Robert Sinskey, Steltzner, Taylor Family, Clos du Val, Chimney Rock and Stags' Leap. Throughout the event, winery lunches and dinners were hosted by local restaurants which paired their cuisine with wines from one or more winery, with principals in attendance from Elyse, Trinchero, Napa Cellars, Folie à Deux, Fisher, Rudd, Freeman, Rombauer, Wente, Peay, Bridlewood, Shafer, Steele, Newton and Michael Mondavi's Folio Spanish collection.

The Grand Gala, held at the White Elephant Hotel on Nantucket Harbor, featured at least 30 stations, each pairing a winery representative with a chef, with a silent auction to benefit the Nantucket Historical Association.Charles Krug Winery poured at the gala. Krug proprietor Marc Mondavi called the festival, "A wonderful event," and commented that it "really works to sell wine."Ray Coursen from Elyse agreed that the "Marketing exposure is great," and said he's participated in the festival nine times. "It's that good," he said. Josh Jensen, proprietor/winemaker at Calera Wine Company, was a newcomer. "This was my first time," he said. "I'll be back next year.""I've done eight events in five days," said Dave Guffy, director of winemaking at Hess Collection. Like many of his colleagues, Guffy believes that the Nantucket festival is "the biggest and best on the East Coast."

Virtually every participating winery representative echoed Duffy's sentiments. Given its location in this traditional New England vacation spot, the Nantucket Wine Festival draws from a huge market of high-demographic and knowledgeable wine consumers. In fact, positive responses were universal. The only negative for winery reps was the sheer number of events in which they could participate: it was a lot of work, but the loyalty of attending wineries seems to show that Nantucket in May is the place to pour.In addition to the Historical Association, proceeds from the wine festival benefit the Nantucket New School, Boys and Girls Club and Community Sailing. For details, visit nantucketwinefestival.com.

• Dan Thomas: "No mention of blacking out drunk or riding around town with a crazy cigarette smoking Georgia Girl."
• Kevin Foran: "First off, what a blatant lie!!!! "consumers are not just drinkers" Laurent knows better than that. :)"
  

The Industry.

"When are you going to get a real job, " she asks me, while we lay on the beach one July day that I wasn't working a lunch shift at the Galley, "you are so smart and could really make something of yourself if you tried."

It's conversations like these that make me think that even though we are stereotyped as the irresponsible gang of boys and girls who never want to grow up, career restaurant workers are closer to reality than the "real" people: the nine-to-fiver's and the commuters, the housewives who secretly hate their lives, and the like. And who the hell says that to someone?

I will be the first to admit, it is not the field for the faint of heart to enter without warning . You start by "paying your dues", which in management, means you work the shifts that senior management does not want. My first management job was around 90 hours a week over a 6 day week, and I was responsible for exciting projects such as the hostess schedule and loss prevention. One also must be nocturnal, able to walk in uncomfortable shoes for 12 hours at a time, deal with irrational people without becoming irrational themselves, tolerate their employees ever-so-dramatic lives, do their employees payroll without becoming disgruntled, and sit thru meetings with upper management often telling them they are not doing any of the above correct.

Take a female service manager in a resort town for example. She is probably college-educated, speaks at least one second language, and probably travels in Europe and skis in Colorado, in between seasons. She mostly likely didn't start into college with the goal of working in a restaurnat, perhaps she interned with MTV or spent a year after college doing zip-line tours in Costa Rica while "finding herself". She owns a car that is paid for and a townhouse in a metropolitan area or a condo in another resort town. Day-to-Day though, She is much like a conductor in an orchestra; She stands in the shadows and directs service, planting birthday candles in desserts and dropping 3 K diamonds in glasses of Veuve Clicquot for engagements. She spends more on her dry cleaning bills than She pays in Federal taxes, and She is dressed nicer than most of the guests in Her dining room. She stands back and gives credit to Her staff for great service, until a situation heads south and then steps out and takes blame for anything that went wrong, from not having a black napkin available to a gluten intolerance.

Now, the Chef. The Chef is in the back, behind the scenes chopping, dicing, sauteing, pureeing, and carving out the amuses, appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Most Chefs in resort towns feed about 200+ adults a day in each meal period (bearing in mind 3 days weekends, holidays, etc...). I have worked in many restaurants in 10 years, and have seen Chefs that I had to pick up every morning to ensure they worked and Chefs who arrived on their own at 5 am; Chefs who prepared "family meal" of potato chips and Macaroni and cheese to Chefs who would prepare anything I wanted for dinner; Chefs who refused to speak to you during service and Chefs that insisted you communicate guests needs; and Chefs who would scream at the top of their lungs while flinging china and hot broth to Chefs who never raised their voice, regardless of how bad their ship is going down around them. Your Chef probably spends his time off doing staghs with other Chefs. This is when they go work in other kitchens to learn a little more from their colleagues in the industry [like Jeremy from TOPPER's coming over to work with me for a night]. I know Chefs who go to France, Carmel, New Zealand and New York for even as little as a week at a time to experience another kitchen. And your Chef is most likely fluent in Spanish, Portugese and speaks certain dialects of Creole French and other Carribean languages that are necessary for him to communicate with his staff. In addition, these guys are not the freshly shaven baby-faced waitstaff that female service manager is working with. His staff is a rough and tough band of misfits with names like Pinch, Big D, Heavy and Flava Flav....they are the people who have been hand selected by the Chef to work on the line. Only in fairy tale restaurants like French Laundry is there a line of CIA grads behind the line (and as a note, those guys work for free, just for the experience). These guys and girls are the backbone of the restaurant, as you certainly will never see Female Service Manager and Wine Director in the back preparing your meal.

As for me, the tiny scratches on my hands from opening wine caps, the calused thumbs from hot plates, and the ability to watch people without hearing them and conclude their mood and attitude have proven to me that I have made "something of myself", regardless of what that friend on the beach said that hot July day. And while the grass may always be greener, and I occassionally envy those folks who are driving home from work around the time I am feeding my bartenders Advils for their hangovers and unloading a palatte of Bud Light, the Industry has a hold of me and won't let go.

Apples and Wine.

Sent to me by Leslie, a friend and fellow oenophile...

Apples and Wine

Women are like apples on trees.
The best ones are at the top of the tree.
Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.
Instead, they sometimes take the apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.
The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they're amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who is brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree.

Now Men.... Men are like a fine wine.
They begin as grapes, and it's up to women to stomp the shit out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Kerosene with a cork.

"Michelle, we need to talk" said a man I will call Mr. A for the sake of his privacy and to save him face here [not that I will be sharing my blog's address with him any time soon]. "What is going on with this wine list?" he continues to inquire.

Seeing as how my name is printed along with the other sommeliers on the list, it is pretty ignorant to screw it up, especially since Mr. A is unfortunatly a regular in the bar and dining room. Many of my regular guests and I are on a first name basis, and I have new wines for them to try set aside as soon as their reservation hits the book, but he and I aren't quite on those terms yet and aren't likely to be in this century.

"Good Evening Mr. A" I respond with my plastered smile. "So preceptive of you to notice" [sometimes flatery is your best option]. "I broke the entire list down by AVA, AOC, and other regions and added all of the winemakers name's from the United States." This was my winter project for the maintence of the wine list and was no small feat, considering that over half of my selections are American.

"Yeah, yeah, looks nice." he grumbles, in his Hoboken dialect. "Why don't you have X chardonnay for God's sake?"

Because it is Kerosene with a cork I refrain from screaming at him. "We have decided to focus more on single vineyard production for the Chardonnay selections than multiple vineyards," I reply thru gritted teeth. "But I am sure that the Darioush Reserve will be a nice replacement for you this evening [as a small disclaimer to the good folks at Darioush, I do not believe your wine tastes of Kerosene, I needed to throw something at this man that he has never had to make him leave me alone for 5 minutes]. "Shall I open a bottle for you?"

"Is it cold?" he replies?

"Straight out of the Euro-Cave at 43 degrees" [too cold for me] but I know what is coming next...

"Well, bury it in ice. I guess that will have to do" he mutter about the $95 dollar bottle as a chill runs down my spine similar to the one that occurs when I watch people ruin things like short ribs, Kobe beef and the like by cooking it too much.

To move this story along, Mr. A did not feel that the wine would ever be, in fact, cold enough for him, and had me pour a glass into a cocktail shaker over ice and serve it table side. While I wasn't surprised by this occurance, I was shocked that he decided to take it this far. Not that he can taste the wine anyway: he constantly reeks of cheap cigars and pounds 3 Single Malts at the bar prior to gracing the dining room with his presence.

We later agreed that I would order X Chardonnay and keep it off of my list and in the wine room for him only.

The moral of the story: Money can not by you class or taste.

When Legends Go.

Yesterday afternoon, Robert Mondavi passed away at the age of 94. I was sharing a late night cig after a few too many glasses of wine last night with a friend and wine maker and made the mistake of bringing it up. He was very reflective on Mr. Mondavi's work, saying more than once that "his work and efforts in California put it on the map and made it possible for us little guys to do what we are doing today."

(AP) — Robert Mondavi, the pioneering vintner who helped put California wine country on the map, died at his Napa Valley home Friday. He was 94. Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville, Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm said.
He was 52 and a winemaking veteran in 1966, when he opened the winery that would help turn the Napa Valley into a world center of the industry. Clashes with a brother that included a fistfight led him to break from the family business to carry out his ambitious plans with borrowed money.
At the time, California was still primarily known for cheap jug wines. But he set out to change that, championing use of cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, all commonplace in the industry today. He introduced blind tastings in Napa Valley, putting his wines up against French vintages, a bold move.
Always convinced that California wines could compete with the European greats, Mondavi engaged in the first French-American wine venture when he formed a limited partnership with the legendary French vintner Baron Philippe de Rothschild to grow and make the ultra-premium Opus One at Oakville. The venture's first vintage was in 1979.
The success of the Mondavi winery allowed him to donate tens of millions of dollars to charity, but a wine glut and intense competition gradually cost his family control of the business. In 2004, the company accepted a buyout worth $1.3 billion from Fairport, N.Y.-based Constellation Brands.
Mondavi was an enthusiastic ambassador for wine — especially California wine — and traveled the world into his 90s promoting the health, cultural and social benefits of its moderate consumption.
Born in Virginia, Minn., Mondavi got an economics degree from Stanford University in the 1930s and went to work at the Charles Krug Winery, which his Italian-born parents had bought after moving to California from Minnesota.
He married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie Declusin, in 1937, and they had three children, Michael, Marcia and Tim.
For 20 years, the winery was a family business. But Robert clashed frequently with his younger brother, Peter, who had a more conservative approach the business. According to Robert Mondavi's autobiography "Harvests of Joy," matters came to a head with a November 1965 fistfight.
"When it was all over, there were no apologies and no handshake," wrote Robert Mondavi.
In the late 1970s, Mondavi's first marriage ended; in his autobiography he wrote that his single-minded pursuit of the wine business was partly to blame. In 1980, he married a second time, to Margrit Biever, a native of Switzerland who had worked at the Mondavi winery since the late '60s.
By the mid-1990s, Mondavi had turned over operation of the company to his sons. But like their father and uncle before them, Tim and Michael clashed over management styles.
More troubles emerged as a grape glut soured the wine market in 2002 and lower-priced wines in the Mondavi portfolio faced tough competition from cheaper Australian imports and domestic brands like California's Two Buck Chuck.
Also a problem were the millions in charitable donations Mondavi and Margrit had pledged, including helping found Copia, The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, in Napa and giving $35 million to the University of California, Davis.
In her 2007 book, "The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty," author Julia Flynn Siler wrote that declining stock prices later left Mondavi in danger of not being able to cover the millions in gifts he and Margrit had promised.
A corporate restructuring in August 2004 boosted the stock price, but undercut the family's control of the company. By time it was bought out, Michael Mondavi, who disagreed with the board strategy, had already left the company, and Tim Mondavi had loosened ties.
Later there was a bittersweet family moment when Robert and Peter Mondavi, aided by members of the younger generation, made wine together for the first time in 40 years. Using a 50-50 split of grapes from Robert Mondavi and Peter Mondavi family vineyards, the brothers made one barrel of a cabernet blend that sold for $401,000 at the 2005 Napa Valley wine auction.
The auction lot was called "Ancora Una Volta," or "Once Again."

Putting the "Champ" in Champagne.

Jess on the clock
Mel & Cohen at Water Street
Mel & Jen @ Mel's

Josh & Mel @ the Pearl
DL at undisclosed location

The Sheppards at the White Elephant

Jess & Tuck at the Galley
Chris & Aimee at the White Elephant
The Sheppard's at the Pearl
Mel & Kel at the Pearl

Wine Festival

The 12th Annual Nantucket Wine Festival is being held on the front lawn of my hotel right now and the island is crawling with winemakers. While I enjoy spending time with them, I quickly discovered that I am not the varsity drinker I always prided myself on being. These guys (gentlemen, you shall remain unnamed of course) were on a 5 day bender that would rival Spring Break in Daytona. In my defense, it could be the 18 hour days in 3 inch heels, and the fact that the last thing I ate that came close to meeting the food pyramids criteria for a balanced meal was a sushi roll on the 13th (only because there was avacado in it).
And while the island will experience a Fernet shortage for a while, and also see a decrease in random men wandering aimlessly down the cobblestone streets with umbrellas, or getting ill ouside of a tent at the Grand Tasting over a slice of Steamboat pizza, their memory will live on thru my blog and late night stories among industry indivduals.

Dinner in the Ivory Room.

When: May 16th, 2008

Where: The Ivory Room of the White Elephant Hotel
What: Dinner and Wine
Who: John Arns, Chris Berry, Amy Canepa, Peter Daunis, Dennis Gilligan & Aimee, John Hafferty, Kelly Hulme, Sean Larkin, Tuck Meyer, Paul Mullen and Leslie & Pete Sheppard.

Wine started making it's way into my office around Thursday afternoon, and by Friday at 4 there was a nice colleton waiting for this dinner. I had unknowingly scheduled myself to somm the floor that night, but left at the end of dinner service to join in the fun and relax for the first time since the beginning of Wine Festival.

10 years and counting.

I have worked in this business for 10 years now (please bear in mind that I started as a dishwasher, so I am a big fan of working your way up) and people never cease to amaze me.
I took a $32,000 per year pay cut to get my first management job. Then later, moved to Nantucket and started waiting tables again, only to get another pay cut when I moved to a different job with better possibilities career wise. I was promoted twice with in 6 months, so my gamble paid off for me, both career wise and financially. But I have watched people make some ridiculous mistakes in the 10 years.

My first gig was in a little place in where I grew up in Georgia. I worked alot, and rarely got paid with checks that cleared the bank on the first try. I was a dishwasher and the bartender would make a bourbon and Coke in a 44 oz cup and give it to me halfway thru my shift. [I later fell in love with him, then back out after I moved 500 miles south to live together.] I was given a battlefield promotion (read: a waitress got too drunk to show up or call and I was given her job). I later bartendered, barista'd, hosted and sort of managed. It was one of the shadiest places you have ever seen. It was open from 6 am- 2 am, and the owner had the worst ear, nose and throat problem [read: cocaine] you could imagine. For the record, this restaurant no longer exists, thanks to those kind folks at the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I moved down to south Florida with the aforementioned bartender, who was an artist of sorts [read: unemployed] and stumbled into the hottest restaurant on the island. Literally, I was trying to find one place for an interview and accidentally walked into a different place and got hired. The hiring manager later confided in me that, while my experience certainly wasn't where it should have been for the position, I was a shoe-in with my Southern accent [Sweeney, I will never forget this, as that Southern accent has gotten me out of more tricky situations than I care to count]. She essentially took an able body and molded a capable, knowledgeable server out of it. I stayed there for just over 3 years. I had medical, dental, 401K...all the bells and whistles. They couldn't beat us with bats and make us quit our jobs. The money was great, the food was terrific, and we were slow in the summers and had ample vacation time. After realizing that I shouldn't be supporting a 35 year old drug addict when I was 22, I packed my stuff, and moved out on my official "own". With in 1 week of moving out of said boyfriends, I met a new beau at a bar and we have been together for 5 years and counting. My apartment was 300 yards from the beach, which I visited frequently with my best friends Catie & Katie (swear to God...I can't make this up). Life, was in turn, good.

Ambition got the best of me, and I longed to get away from the heat and humidity of South Florida. I moved to Charlotte NC to work for a new restaurant group, essentially committing corporate espionage according to the Human Resources division with my previous company. After giving Charlotte 6 months to work out, Tuck and I decided to move to Nantucket, as the season in PB was closing on it's end and Charlotte was proving to be a large city with a highway system that couldn't support it's ever-growing number of residents.

After my management stint in CLT, I decided that I wanted money, and lots of it. I landed a job at Nantucket's only beach front restaurant, which was only open from May 15th to October 1st. This suited me just fine, and gave me a nice long winter to read, study and drink wine [this is know as R&D].

After 2 sweet years staring at the sunsets and north shore of Nantucket, I became restless again and outsourced a new job, as the part time sommelier at the White Elephant hotel on the harbor. After the season ended, my mentor and boss left and moved to some undisclosed location in Western Mass, and left me his job.