09/05/09 - My life as a working Sommelier

Saturday is never my favorite day of the week. The restaurant is always busy (it's Saturday, after all), but it's usually full of non-dining clientele. I just don't get people. If you're miserable, stay the hell home, none of the rest of us want to deal with you. Unfortunately, it seems that most people don't seem to get this, and feel that since it's the weekend, they MUST go OUT! OK, you have to go out? Fine- go somewhere that you'll at least be happy. Don't go to a restaurant you can't afford, and then complain that you're spending more than you want to. Go to a cheaper restaurant, have a *good* time!

Getting the drift of how my night went, and the type of people I was waiting on? Wait, it gets better...

I did sell some wine last night, and I also opened up a couple of nice Zins that a table brought in. Shall we discuss the falling star of Zinfandel? Do lets! It's my opinion that Zinfandel (Primitivo) is a waning force. I see less and less demand for it in restaurants. I find fewer labels in the wine-aisle at the grocery store, and less focus from the wholesale reps. Maybe I was just more inundated with the stuff when I was in California, but I think not. *I* think that the people got fed up with it. I was getting used to seeing HUGE fruit and %ABV zins (16%+), and I think we're developing as consumers (on the whole) to the point where that style isn't as desirable. For proofs of this I'll point at every article on Chardonnay in the last 2 years (just about everyone I can think of is pushing for cleaner expression of the grape). This desire for a clean expression isn't relegated to exclusively Chardonnay- the desire for clean juice is the desire for the JUICE to be clean, REGARDLESS of the varietal. As evidence: one of the few Zin producers I still see *regularly* in the market getting tons of appreciation is Ridge, a winery that has always been about great Zin without a crap-ton of over-oak fruit bombing.

Back to the wine of the night- I only moved one bottle that was part of the mini-contest. The other guy? Oh yeah, he killed it. This evening was incredibly demoralizing for me in the contest, and if it had happened in another week or two, it would be the nail in the coffin for the contest. As it stands, I will have an incredibly hard time coming back from this deficit, not for lack of sales-ability, simply from lack of wine left worth enough! He moved our last magnum of Pine Ridge Stag's Leap District '01 Cab, (3) bottles of the '04 Cardinale, and our last Cuvaison Cab. Should I go cry in the corner? Hell no. Part of it is obviously table placement- getting people in your section willing to drink wine and be open to suggestions. A big part of it is his salesmanship- he really did an amazing job last night, and praise should be heaped on for it. Alright, I won't throw the towel in yet...