Thoughts 06 - Respect
Originally included in the July 2021 Newsletter
Last few days certainly haven’t been easy. Hope you all had a way to make yourselves as comfortable as possible. The temperature hasn’t be nice enough for me to have the brain cells to actually sit and write down my thoughts for the newsletter. Now that we are finally able to take a bit of a breather, I want to share my thoughts around respect in the realm of wines and spirits.
Over the course of my journey, I had numerous opportunities to host tasting sessions, taught classes, consulted for businesses, made wine purchase and pairing recommendations, and met many fellow wine and spirit lovers along the way. I also feel honoured and humbled to have learned that I have inspired some to embark on this lifelong journey too. It has been one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences I have ever had. With the ever-changing horizon, one thing for certain is that I know just how much I do not know and what an exciting thing that is!
However, I do know one thing.
I do know that whether someone truly respects the world of wines and spirits or if they are driven by something else.
Several years ago, a restaurant in construction stage planned for 300+ seats approached me to create a beverage program covering “everything”, but they only have wine storage for 500 bottles. What’s more frustrating is that the owner expected one single sommelier to be the only one to sell and service the wines - not even basic knowledge training planned for the service staffs. They had the blueprint designed by someone who has won Red Dot Award, spent tens of millions of dollars in construction and decoration - but negated the importance of a well thought out beverage program and a compatible food offerings until it is too late.
Back in 2015, I visited a winery in West Kelowna, the winemaker then was quite adventurous full of experimental spirit. They had a flight of ice wines made from different varietals, had a Gewürztraminer Ice wine slowly fermenting in the tank, and a Pinot Noir aging in the barrels just beside the tasting bar under the same roof. Fast forward to 2020, after a new ownership took over, most of their wines had become off-dry to sweet that’s simple and basic. The floor where the barrels used to be back in 2015, were filled with pallets full of packaged cases of wine. I could only assume that these cases were possibly ready to be shipped to markets with high demands for these simple wines - because I cannot find their wines in our own market in BC at all.
Some of the wineries and restaurants I have consulted with spent millions in building out beautiful locations but did not give nearly as much time and effort in creating a high standard and well-balanced customer experience through wines and spirits offerings, which in my humble opinion, are the most important aspects of running a business in the food and beverage industry. I felt sad and rage at the same time for those tremendous amount of lost opportunities, but I had to walk away. To some, wines and spirits will always be just means to get rich, or symbols to represent higher standard of living. However, it will always be very apparent whether their appreciation and respect is genuine.
Having had my fair share of act of disrespect to wines and spirits during my younger years, I also happen to think that to a certain extent, our behaviours towards wine and spirits show how the person approaches everything else.
Just some humble food for thought.