Dealing with a Sommelier

[Explorer]

We've all had great and bad experiences with sommeliers, and it's sometimes tough to tell whether it was their fault, ours, the wine or the interaction itself. Do you personally have any specific advice on how to best manage the sommelier relationship in restaurants and vice-versa, them dealing with us in order to maximize the benefits of their knowledge?

[Andreawine]

I believe that the first way to have successful dealings with sommeliers is to patronize places with a proper service attitude. It appalls me to think someone might ever feel at "fault" for a poor sommelier experience. Such experiences should not exist unless the guest is patently rude or demeaning, and then it's the sommelier having the bad experience.

If you have a poor experience with a dentist you probably bear some responsibility (brush and floss better). If you are reasonably polite in public you should not. That doesn't mean you'll always get wine nirvana (it's like food - the selection may not float your boat).

Aargh! Now let me say that most such icky experiences stem from insecurity on the part of the sommelier. Yikes! So go in knowing that you may well both feel similar levels of intimidation. Some sommeliers make up for that by "knowing everything," and there's your bad experience. If you are getting this vibe, order a bottle of bubbly in your price range, say "we drink bubbles with everything" and call it a night. Bubbles DO go with everything (you'll see!).

Here's to the all-too-few good restaurant wine experiences!