Scanning the New York Times online this evening I found this interesting article on the shortage of sommeliers across the country.
Eric Asimov writes that with the rapid growth in wine culture in the U.S., restaurants all over are having a hard time finding qualified people to serve wine. Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible , recounted being served a bottle of Madeira on ice at an Atlanta restaurant. Being qualified means more than knowing the business end of a corkscrew; it also means loving serving people, not being pretentious and having an appreciation for a broad range of wines.
I took a couple things away from it: I'm energized about my own goal to become a wine educator and pursue certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Secondly, with the shortage of good wine servers in restaurants, it behooves every intelligent woman (and man) out there to do your own personal wine education. Get a group of girlfriends together and go to a wine tasting or try something new next time you go to a restaurant. Tasting lots of different styles of wine is the only way to learn what you like and what to ask for. That way, we can all be our own sommeliers!
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Yes, that article was an eye-opener. All the sommeliers I've experienced in NYC are quite sophisticated, but then again, they're five star restaurants.
At other places, fun and upscale, sometimes the waitress did not know how to open wine! At first we thought she was underage and a bus boy had to do it for her. But as it turned out, it was her first experience.
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