Decanter often has a short interviw with a UK sommelier in their
restaurants section, and I found the one in the Oct. 2007 issue of
more than usual interest. Frederic Brugues is is sommelier at Sketch
in London. He was asked about the oddest request he ever received.
Years earlier when he worked at another restaurant, a customer asked
for ice and lemonade to be put in her glass of 1978 DRC Montrachet. He
said he complied then. Today, he said he would smile and bring a free
spritzer. Otherwise it would be too painful for him.

"cwdjrxyz" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Decanter often has a short interviw with a UK sommelier in their
> restaurants section, and I found the one in the Oct. 2007 issue of
> more than usual interest. Frederic Brugues is is sommelier at Sketch
> in London. He was asked about the oddest request he ever received.
> Years earlier when he worked at another restaurant, a customer asked
> for ice and lemonade to be put in her glass of 1978 DRC Montrachet. He
> said he complied then. Today, he said he would smile and bring a free
> spritzer. Otherwise it would be too painful for him.
>

I read that as well. I also read somewhere that a sommelier was serving
soccer players' wives who demanded Chrystal, not because they liked it but
because it is fashionable and expensive. He served them one bottle and then
re-filled it with cheap stuff for their subsequent orders.
Graham

graham wrote:

> I read that as well. I also read somewhere that a sommelier was serving
> soccer players' wives who demanded Chrystal, not because they liked it but
> because it is fashionable and expensive. He served them one bottle and then
> re-filled it with cheap stuff for their subsequent orders.

Perhaps I am just overly sensitive about this, but I find that story
highly offensive. How exactly did the sommelier conclude that none of
the party liked the Cristal? What he did smacks of fraud and nothing
more. Did he also discount their bill to reflect the fact that he was
serving them cheap stuff? If not, I would cast a jaundiced eye on his
motives, too. Roederer, the house that makes Cristal, got into hot
water a while ago for openly criticizing the hip-hop stars who routinely
showed bottles of Cristal, label prominent, in their music videos.
Would these same people also refuse sales of First Growth Bordeaux to
those East Asian millionaires who drink it diluted with soda?

This is one of the very few cases I've seen where the term "wine snob"
seems appropriate. How the patron chooses to enjoy wine seems to me to
be neither here nor there in a purely commercial transaction.

Curmudgeonly yours,
Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
...
> graham wrote:
>
>> I read that as well. I also read somewhere that a sommelier was serving
>> soccer players' wives who demanded Chrystal, not because they liked it
>> but
>> because it is fashionable and expensive. He served them one bottle and
>> then
>> re-filled it with cheap stuff for their subsequent orders.
>
> Perhaps I am just overly sensitive about this, but I find that story
> highly offensive. How exactly did the sommelier conclude that none of
> the party liked the Cristal? What he did smacks of fraud and nothing
> more.

I agree, it was fraud!!!!!!! I just reported it! It is also a case of
snobbery, just as the OP's tale from Decanter was!
Graham

"Mark Lipton" in :
> graham wrote:
>
> > ... I also read somewhere that a sommelier was serving
> > soccer players' wives who demanded Chrystal, not
> > because they liked it but because it is fashionable and expensive.
>
> How exactly did the sommelier conclude
> that none of the party liked the Cristal?

A good point, the answer wasn't in evidence in the story. But if the claim
was accurate, it would not be the first time people demanded a wine (or that
wine) for such reasons. My wine-merchant friends report calls for the "most
prestigious bottle of [whatever type] that you have on hand, Price No
Object." They accommodate these requests well, with wines prestigious and
famous and expensive. For customers who want to talk about it a little, and
listen to suggestions, and are less concerned with brand recognition, these
merchants often have other wines, comparable in the glass and MUCH less
expensive. (That in a nutshell is why some people learn about wine.)

I agree there's fraud if the somm. passed off a cheaper product. That issue
is distinct from the point above.

(There's a classic old short story -- wish I had the reference handy.
Skilled and cultured career butler and other servants work for an
ostentatious, difficult employer who shows off his expensive wines at dinner
parties. Finally in the dénouement, the household staff give notice, and
the butler calmly explains how the staff had all along been drinking the
exquisite contents from the bottles, which the butler had been decanting,
substituting cheap wines and listening to the praise these evoked from the
unsuspecting owner and guests, who enjoyed what they were served and never
noticed the difference.)

In message >
Mark Lipton > wrote:

> graham wrote:

>> I read that as well. I also read somewhere that a sommelier was serving
>> soccer players' wives who demanded Chrystal, not because they liked it but
>> because it is fashionable and expensive. He served them one bottle and then
>> re-filled it with cheap stuff for their subsequent orders.

> How the patron chooses to enjoy wine seems to me to
> be neither here nor there in a purely commercial transaction.

> Curmudgeonly yours,
> Mark Lipton

I agree, but I can‘t help regretting the waste!

It also puts in perspective the argument that price alone should be
the determining factor in formally classifying a wine — an argument
which raged in Decanter‘s letter columns after Figeac was refused
promotion to PGCC ”A• on price grounds alone.



Tim Hartley

”What life is then to a man that is without wine? for it was made to
make men glad.”
"Bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis"

graham wrote:

> I agree, it was fraud!!!!!!! I just reported it! It is also a case of
> snobbery, just as the OP's tale from Decanter was!

Graham,
I certainly hope that I didn't leave you with the impression that
_you_ had in any way offended me. I don't shoot the messenger, so
neither am I in any way put out by Decanter reporting the story.
Rather, I'm just offended by the sommelier's attitude and behavior,
which to me smacks of snobbery and lack of integrity and professionalism.

Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
...
> graham wrote:
>
>> I agree, it was fraud!!!!!!! I just reported it! It is also a case of
>> snobbery, just as the OP's tale from Decanter was!
>
> Graham,
> I certainly hope that I didn't leave you with the impression that
> _you_ had in any way offended me.

No, you didn't!

> I don't shoot the messenger, so
> neither am I in any way put out by Decanter reporting the story.
> Rather, I'm just offended by the sommelier's attitude and behavior,
> which to me smacks of snobbery and lack of integrity and professionalism.
>
To call this man a sommelier is a bit of a stretch, I think. He struck me
as being more of a barman and that occupation is rife with fraudulent
activity at all levels from fiddling at the cash register to serving cheap
scotch as Chivas. My son supplies and installs electronic and computer
systems and software to bars and nightclubs and he has told me of the
enormous amount of cash that somehow misses the books.

Graham

On Oct 24, 1:46 pm, cwdjrxyz > wrote:
> Decanter often has a short interviw with a UK sommelier in their
> restaurants section, and I found the one in the Oct. 2007 issue of
> more than usual interest. Frederic Brugues is is sommelier at Sketch
> in London. He was asked about the oddest request he ever received.
> Years earlier when he worked at another restaurant, a customer asked
> for ice and lemonade to be put in her glass of 1978 DRC Montrachet. He
> said he complied then. Today, he said he would smile and bring a free
> spritzer. Otherwise it would be too painful for him.


During the last ignauguration here in Washington, DC, the Texas ladies
drink of choice was "Merlot and 7-Up". I pour a decent merlot in my
restaurant, so this was a $15 drink. OK. I have been asked to pour
Dom Perignon into orange juice. OK. I have served people Marquis de
Laguiche Le Montrachet with the wife spooning ice cubes into it all
night. OK. I was asked recently if I would decant a bottle of Turley
Cellars Old Vines Zinfandel through a coffee filter and I said "WHY?".
The guy said, "Because I do that at home". Um, I have decanters and
filters, that should suffice. I have a friend who is a well known
winemaker in Australia. On his last visit to China, his very high end
Shiraz was served with Coca-Cola. I have another friend who is a
diplomat in Hong Kong. He was at a reception where they were serving
red wine and Coke. He asked the server for straight red wine and was
given a glass of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1990 (the wine being
served minus the Coke). Yes, we see lots of funny things.

Mark Slater
Chef Sommerlier, Michel Richard Citronelle
Washington, DC

> During the last ignauguration here in Washington, DC, the Texas ladies
> drink of choice was "Merlot and 7-Up". I pour a decent merlot in my
> restaurant, so this was a $15 drink. OK. I have been asked to pour
> Dom Perignon into orange juice. OK. I have served people Marquis de
> Laguiche Le Montrachet with the wife spooning ice cubes into it all
> night. OK. I was asked recently if I would decant a bottle of Turley
> Cellars Old Vines Zinfandel through a coffee filter and I said "WHY?".
> The guy said, "Because I do that at home". Um, I have decanters and
> filters, that should suffice. I have a friend who is a well known
> winemaker in Australia. On his last visit to China, his very high end
> Shiraz was served with Coca-Cola. I have another friend who is a
> diplomat in Hong Kong. He was at a reception where they were serving
> red wine and Coke. He asked the server for straight red wine and was
> given a glass of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1990 (the wine being
> served minus the Coke). Yes, we see lots of funny things.
>
> Mark Slater
> Chef Sommerlier, Michel Richard Citronelle
> Washington, DC
>

Well that's rather sad, but I'm sure it happens. There is no way to control
how people spend their money. But I'm beginning to understand why
DRC wines and 1st growth Bordeaux wines are priced the way they
are.

Jim Mehl



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:27:33 -0800, "Jim Mehl" > wrote:

>> During the last ignauguration here in Washington, DC, the Texas ladies...

What was your first clue?

>Well that's rather sad, but I'm sure it happens. There is no way to control
>how people spend their money. But I'm beginning to understand why
>DRC wines and 1st growth Bordeaux wines are priced the way they
>are.

Yeah...to keep them out of the hands of the wrong people! If there
were only a way to let the vintners know we're the right people...
maybe they'd give us a much-deserved break. (As if! LOL.)

It's an unfortunate spin-off of "The customer is always right." Even
if they're not.

Btw, speaking of coffee filters, here's a tip for the tequila drinker
who can't afford high end añejos. Run your cheap tequila through a
Brita water filter system. Hey, don't shoot! I didn't come up with
this! A guy at my hotel in Mexico did, and for some reason the filter
vastly improved the flavor of his cheap mixtos. It'll probably work
with reposados, too.

Fortunately for me, I don't own a Brita system. Guess I'm resigned to
high end reposados and añejos.

JJ