When the First Sip Is the Sommelier’s, Not Yours

A recent article in the New York Times discusses the practice of sommeliers tasting the bottle of wine that the guest has ordered before the guest tastes it.

Inevitably, it's reposted on Facebook and everyone registers their hate for the practice. But based on the comments and the discussion, it's obvious that no one actually reads the article. Everyone has the reactionary stance that somms are pretentious and are trying to steal some of their wine. Here's what I posted in response:

"I'm coming to the conversation a little late, but I'd like to weigh in and agree with Steve. The somm tasting the wine is a QUALITY CHECK of the wine and the specific bottle. It's not much different from cooks/chefs tasting the food before it's plated and sent to the guest.

"For whatever reason, there seems to be a distrust of sommeliers and an assumption that the tasting is done for selfish reasons. Just like the chef is tasting the food as a quality check and not because he's hungry, the somm is just looking out for the best interest of the guest and not trying to steal some of your wine. (More often than not, the last thing he wants to do is have to taste yet another bottle of $12 Sonoma Cutrer chardonnay.)

"It really doesn't have anything to do with "already knowing the wine" -- that is already assumed if it's on their wine list. Indeed, if it's a rare, very old, or an expensive bottle of wine, the somm is better qualified (ie experienced) to judge if the bottle is off or flawed. There can be a lot of bottle variation within the same wine/vintage, and there are a host of flaws that may exist in the bottle -- and this becomes more important to judge if the bottle is rare or very expensive.

"Some people might feel that it's presumptuous for the somm to feel that he's more qualified to judge the wine than the guest. But he IS, and that's why he's the somm. Just as the properly trained chef is more qualified when it comes to food, and your properly trained doctor is more qualified when it comes to your health and your body, the properly trained somm is more knowledgeable about wine and has more experience detecting flaws/variation in bottles of wine.

"When it comes to educating the public about the job and role of the sommelier, I know that there's still a lot of work to be done. I read the article a few days ago, and I really wish that it would have explained the reasons for the practice, and not just raised an inflammatory question."