Aldo Sohm, the aptly named wine director of Le Bernardin, was the 2008 winner of the “Best Sommelier in the World” award given by the World Sommelier Association. He is the man. We talked to Aldo to ask for some basic tips for the person who wants to buy a bottle of wine at the store and doesn't know anything beyond “it should cost more than $15.” (Which, by the way, is not bad advice as far as it goes.)
If you want to meet Aldo yourself, it's not hard—he just opened up Aldo Sohm Wine Bar in midtown Manhattan, and he bops between there and Le Bernardin all night long. (“I don't need a gym membership, I can tell you that,” he says.)
Don't get carried away with prices. A wine can be perfectly marketed and have a horrific price but is worth only a third of the value. Don't worry about big wines—though, you can actually get a good buy sometimes by starting with the entry-level wine of a top producer.
Look for wines that are out of fashion now, but will come back around because they're good. Loire wines are out of fashion, but so what? Chenin blancs are undervalued—and muscadet is wildly undervalued. For French people, you say “muscadet” and they make a funny face because to them it's no good. But if you like Chablis, you can like muscadet as well. You just have to find the right one. There are some awesome Beaujolais out there. You know what's a great pick? Vietti Nebbiolo Perbacco. A great producer, a really good wine, and it's around $25.
It's the wine, not the price. I wish everyone could do blind tastings the way we do. It would make such a difference in the way people buy wine.
As a sommelier, you have a ten second window to figure out what someone's looking for. And they'll tell you something that's different from what they're looking for. They say they want a fruitier style of wine, but really they just want something aromatic. It's hard for a lot of people to order wine; you have to help them get what they want. The guest and the sommelier both feel like they're put on the spot.
People talk about wine values, but is a French strawberry better than a Chilean strawberry? It depends. Chilean wine is often a great value, but does it fit the profile of what you're after? They can be really powerful and overripe. If you want something bolder, stay in Chile. If you want something fresher, more elegant, stay with France.
So much is happening in regions people don't know a lot about—and vintages in those regions. The 2013 Austrian whites are stunning. Just off the charts. I'm so psyched about them. I had a $12 glass of one in Brooklyn, and I was super excited. It's not just because I'm Austrian, either.
You know where some great wines are coming from right now? Santa Barbara. They're getting better and better—probably the most development I've seen lately. Santa Maria, too. The Finger Lakes. Wines from the Douro region of Portugal are really delivering after years of waiting. Those are great values.
Sometimes you can get a great value for a wine that isn't exactly cheap. Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage... I mean that guy is one of the absolute superstars in Hermitage. He's making really interesting wines, and they're really hardy and delicious. Even his Selection Hermitage, which is the cheaper of his two lines, has a concentration and a richness that’s really something, but it also has all this freshness, and these supple tannins, and it opens up really well. I like it with peasant food, like a roasted pork shoulder and beans. That's what seems right with it to me. I'm just digging that wine right now.
Via Esquire.com
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