Written on 29/06/2020
The sommelier is a key player in the little adventure that is wine tasting. Let's pay tribute to him!
Of all the professions dedicated to our well-being, that of sommelier is the perfect combination of comfort and mystery, confidence and pleasure. Everywhere in France, wine lovers are looking for the addresses of serious cavistes who have this extra knowledge and love of good things. As the pleasure of wine leads to ever-increasing curiosity, it's essential to know how to abandon oneself to the advice of a sommelier.
One Saturday morning, after a trip to the market, arms full of food for the dinner party you're organizing for friends, you leave the intoxicating noise of the crowd and the market gardeners. You turn into a side street and, with the tip of your toe, push open the door of a wine shop. He's sitting at the back of his store, calm and serene, just waiting for us. Time stands still for a moment. We're here in one of the last remaining places of magic. All around us, bottles with exotic or familiar labels, on which the names of unknown châteaux promise us a sweet voyage. Nectars with as-yet unknown tastes beckon, that we'd all like to touch and taste; that we'd like to know everything about: their origin, their history, how they're made, their character - was it a good year? The sommelier discreetly glances at the vegetables sticking out of our basket, getting an idea of what we have in store for our guests, adapting to our tastes, our pockets and our preconceptions, without ever judging them. A gentle conversation ensues, and we resist a little to put ourselves at his scientific level; then we follow him towards a bottle...
This is the sommelier's sacred mission. He's the guarantor of the little extras in a good meal: those groans of approval after the first sip of wine, those glances that encourage others to take their turn tasting the wine placed in the center of the table. He makes us perfect hosts. All this revelry he will never witness. Our return home the following Saturday, with new ingredients in the shopping bag calling for a new wine, will be enough for him to know that he was right, that he now has your trust, and that he can take you a little further into the surprise.
And that's just the sommelier-caviste. What can we say about the restaurant sommelier, except that he is to be followed even more blindly? If you observe him a little, you'll see him consulting your order before suggesting a companion in the bottle...
