The Wines and Wherefores by Justin Toh
Honi Soit
Issue 18, August 2000
Justin Toh interviews a sommelier.
Food and wine are supposed to go hand in hand, and while each certainly has its own enthusiasts, it's surprising how few foodies are really wine buffs, and vice versa. Even among the non-fanatical out there, marrying food and wine seems to be a matter of applying general rules, aided by some inspired guesswork. Why is that? It could be a result of our upbringing: while we grow up with food in the form of everyday meals and occasional extravagances, our wine education is left until our teens, when it most likely begins as cask wine and improves from there. So, since we are raised to see food as a necessity and wine as an intoxicant, it is no wonder that their combination is a little strange at first. There have been inroads into this area though: recipes that come with suggestions for matching wines, liquor stores that suggest meals to accompany their wine, and we're slowly starting to learn.
One place where food has always lain side by side with wine is in the restaurant, and the person whose job it is to supervise all aspects of the restaurant's cellaring and selling the wine lies with them. I recently spoke to Franck Crouvezier, the sommelier and co-owner of bel mondo about his views on Food and Wine.
What factors do you take into account when you're choosing a wine?
There
are a number of things, for instance the weather, how I'm feeling at the
time, the time of day. You have two ways of choosing: you can choose the
food before the wine or you could allow the wine to help you decide the
food. I'm also looking for value for money, whatever price bracket it's
in.
So I take it that it is part of your job to know every wine that's out there, every vintage?
More or less, I'm not saying I would know everything, but if I didn't know a particular vintage, I would have come across most of the other vintages of that wine, and then judging by how that year was for that area, I'd have an idea of what that wine would be like.
What is important for a sommelier is for in a very few words in whatever way a person says what they like in a wine, to be able to translate and understand what people want. At first people when asked: 'I don't know about wines', but it doesn't matter, just give me a few words.
How would you look for cork taint, how would you suggest the readers look for it?
Mustiness first of all; it smells like wet cardboard. As soon as you get it you say that would be bad. Then when you taste it it's a bit bitter at the back. That's for the beginners, to pick up cork taint. But it could also kill the flavour of the wine, so one is perfumed the other is bland, that is the fault of the cork. It's much harder to pick, it's not a hard smell on the nose, it just becomes a bland flavour.
How did you get to be where you are now: in bel mondo? What were your beginnings?
I
started work in the hospitality by selling ice cream by the beach in France,
at a friend's restaurant. I started helping in the restaurant, and after
two years I began as an apprentice at a one star Michelin restaurant.
As the only male in the dining room, I was sent to the cellars and the
bar. So from the age of 16, the cellar and wine list had become my area.
After that I worked in Plymouth of all places, then London, Paris and
Spain, and arrived in Australia twelve years ago. I haven't always had
jobs related to wine, but I've always been in hospitality mainly in Italian
Restaurants when in Australia. I stated working for The Restaurant Manfredi
in Ultimo and then in 1996 we moved to the Argyle centre to open as bel
mondo.
So how has the food scene changed in this period?
In the 70's the service had heaps of attention, it didn't matter what you were eating, at places like the Hilton Hotel. Then it went to the small French restaurant opening around the corner and making millions, then to the Italian restaurants like Beppi's. There were very few restaurants, and dining out was based on a theatre. The level of food was limited. In the 80's you then had new generation, like Stefano Manfredi, with inspired new chefs arriving. As opposed to the theatre of the restaurant, it became the culture of the chef. It didn't matter if the waiter was arrogant, or where the cutlery was from. As long as you knew the name of the chef who was cooking it, then it was fine.
In
the 90's it has changed again, people want more service. We're starting
now an era of maturation, an evolution of a process of gaining responsibility
and knowing how to dine. Australia is one of the most knowledgeable countries
per capita about food and wine. We want to learn, we feel like we don't
know as much as other culture, so we're even more eager to learn. Other
cultures end up losing their backgrounds and knowledge because they take
them for granted.
So that has been the way that fine dining has changed. How about the less expensive restaurants and cafes?
What is very interesting is the influence The Restaurant Manfredi has had on cafe culture in Sydney. Biscotti, panforte and olive oil served on a plate with bread started at Manfredi, even rocket salad. Manfredi is the best restaurant I've ever worked for, I had so much fun because the spirit was always to keep moving ahead, not because you have to but because you feel like it: for fun.
How has the wine changed within Australia, within the wine industry?
It
has evolved. A lot of small wineries have improved in particular, but
some are getting a bit greedy and charging too much now that they enjoy
a reputation, in part provided by restaurants. The mid-eighties to early-nineties
gave support to little-known boutique wines, and the restaurants could
charge anything, so the wineries upped their price to match what people
would pay. Ultimately all wines became more expensive and worse value.
Big wineries have the facilities and technology to take care of the grapes,
so you can get great value from them. Now big wineries are grabbing the
market back a bit. I'm saying we've got to change our snobbery from avoiding
them: sometimes the flagship of a wine from a big winery will be better
value because it's subsidized by the cheaper wines.
How has the nature of wine service changed then?
I've started a wine service society with some friends about 10 years ago, which has become national. There are 400 members now, but when we started it was during the recession and the first jobs to be scrapped were those of the sommeliers. There were only the three of us and our aim was to boost the position so we created the association, very well supported by the wineries, and then the restaurants eventually.
Now there are many people in the industry who call themselves a sommelier. So this year the first national sommelier competition will be held. My aim is to keep bring up awareness, play to the knowledge and the service skills and communication. A sommelier is also a salesman and must be able to express what he wants and what someone else wants. The consumer is the one at the end of the day who decides whether he enjoys his experience.
The sommelier is the last agent of two lines of passionate people: the food line of chef, farmers and fishers; and the wine line of wine maker, grape grower and viticulturist. There's a chain of so many people working to one person. The integration of food, wine and sales - that's the focus I'm trying to bring up.
So if someone wanted to become a sommelier, what should they do?
Come and see me, and say 'I love wine'. I'd say you have to start as a wine waiter or waiter, for 5 or 6 months, learning about servicing the customer, aspects of service, getting to know the wines, the possibility of trying wines. Most has to be done by your own personal experiences. I say some to me because at this stage there's very few new positions, many people with the passion for wine end up as wine reps since they have few opening for this job at this stage.