Origin Story Part 6
Down the Wine Rabbit Hole
Hello! If you are just picking up the Grape to Table newsletter, thanks so much for joining to learn more about wine, food, and travel. But right now we are in the midst of my origin story (haha) – so please see the previous newsletters to catch up on the story.
For those in the midst, we left off the origin story on the brink of publishing the Glass Onion cookbook, Glass Onion Classics: Recipes from a Southern Restaurant. As you must understand by now, I love to write. It has always come naturally to me – from my middle school newsletter (The Horse of Course!) to ghost writing for Emeril Lagasse (to this current Substack). Thus, a cookbook seemed a must, and with the help of my partners and partner’s wife, Suzanne Stewart, we pulled off the feat of self publishing our own in the fall of 2011.
Since we self published, the books were printed on demand, and we could order as many as we liked to start. I cannot remember the exact number I ordered, but I definitely went BIG – like at least a thousand!! (Maybe I even ordered 2,000!) And I distinctly remember snapping the below photo of the brave UPS driver who delivered them.
I have to say that given our grassroots effort the book turned out incredibly well! I still use it years later, and overall I am happy with the recipes. Anyone who has worked on a cookbook can understand that this is remarkable.
We were also blessed with another success that fall when the immensely popular Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives decided to pay us a visit. I have to admit this was a turning point in our trajectory. And I also have to admit that I am actually not a tv person myself! I simply did not grow up watching tv, and even when I worked on Emeril’s shows I barely watched them (crazy, I know). But my point is that I was truly surprised by the email asking us to be on the show AND also truly surprised by the immense impact. And overall, it was a perfectly pleasant experience – a bit crazy and surreal having a camera crew and celebrity in our humble little restaurant – but this did indeed happen!
Other things also happened. Our business partner Charles decided he wanted out and moved back to New Orleans. I decided that I needed to up my managerial skills and attended a leadership course at the famed Zingerman’s in Michigan. (If you don’t know, click on this link and see. Their philosophy has been my guiding star ever since.) I also decided that I did indeed want to learn more about wine and I signed up to take the introductory course/test through the Court of Master Sommeliers in the fall of 2012.
I knew of this organization as I had written an in depth cover story for the Charleston City Paper in 2007 on several local sommeliers studying for various certifications (some through the Court and others through the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET)). I remember being flabbergasted by the amount of study required to pass the tests, and I actually even said to my mother, “I will NEVER do that!” You know what they say – famous, last words…
So throughout the spring and summer of 2012 I found myself deeply immersed in wine study. Like many, once I began studying I realized just how little I actually knew. Like many, I also realized that I wanted to learn as much as possible. I was hooked. Down the rabbit hole. All the things.
At this time, the Court did not provide much in terms of study materials – just this very basic, spiral bound outline of the material we would cover in the two day course leading up to the exam. I also did not know anyone that was also studying. I was a bit of a loner out in the “suburbs” and felt far from the downtown restaurants where I might have found peers who were also studying. So I simply set out to create my own curriculum. (Once again, that Aries spirit going strong.)
Later I found that many go down this path of personal curriculum writing – filling notebooks with mini books on all of the wine regions of the world. Of course, the challenge is to not get stuck in your favorite regions (like France!) and make sure you reach the more far flung regions like Australia and South Africa. Plus you are also expected to know basic information on sake, beer, and spirits. Now, when I give advice to folks taking the intro test I recommend focusing on breadth rather than depth.
In September of 2012 I drove to Greenville, South Carolina, and checked into a hotel that would be my home and study hole for two nights as I attended the intro course during the day and continued to hit the books at night. Perhaps it was overkill (shocking!), but I did indeed pass and drove back to Charleston proud and determined to ignite the same fire in my staff. We offered to pay for our managers and any highly motivated servers to take the course/test. And ultimately I believe three of them accepted the challenge and passed.
For a year, this mentoring was enough to scratch my wine itch, but then in the spring of 2013 I decided to begin studying for the Court’s Certified Sommelier exam. I knew that this would be a major jump in terms of required study and also in terms of stress. The intro exam was simply a multiple choice test, and you could actually miss quite a few and still pass. The certified exam consisted of a much more involved written test and also a blind tasting test and service component. Considering that I was working in a very casual restaurant, I had my work cut out for me.
Luckily, I found a local blind tasting group with folks who had already passed “certified”, and folks who could teach me the art of fine dining service. The camaraderie of a great tasting group is something that’s hard to capture in words. There’s both a supportive and a challenging element. But like most things in life, practice (simple repetition) does indeed help.
I am sure there might be a few chuckles out there now – poor girl practicing tasting wine… Trust me, I get it, that sounds absurd. But there is of course a point to blind tasting. The basic idea is to evaluate the sight, smell, and taste of classic wines from classic regions. Doing this blindly eliminates preconceived ideas and forces you to truly focus on the basic elements of the wine. Through this process, you come to truly understand the attributes of a Pinot Noir from its homeland in Burgundy, France vs. a Pinot Noir from say a warmer climate in California. Clearly, there’s even more to it, but this hopefully gives you the gist of why wine nerds spend countless hours at this practice that might seem a mere parlor trick on the surface. Plus, it’s fun!
I have to admit I also found the hours spent at my desk to also be fun. I would wake up VERY early and study in the quiet darkness with my two dogs at my feet while my partner in crime slept soundly upstairs. Oh yes! I forgot to mention this; along the way I met the most wonderful person on the floor at the Glass Onion. He worked at a neighboring business and was a lunchtime regular. I like to say I won him over with free cookies, but perhaps there was more to it! The bottom line: he was willing to put up with my absurd work schedule and now my obsessive study outside of work – a keeper for sure.
So I studied while he slept, and then I got to work by 7 a.m. to bake, bake, bake. Once again, I admit this sounds absurd (or insane!). But I also have to admit I had strong motivation. I had an inkling that things were not going to work out in the long run for me at the Glass Onion. I was unhappy, and wine knowledge felt like a terrific parachute to have before I jumped out of the plane and into the unknown of my next career chapter.
Thus, I drove to Atlanta in the spring of 2014, checked into a hotel and completed the grueling Certified Sommelier exam. I passed! Then I drove back to Charleston and a few weeks later I announced my departure from the Glass Onion.
I was free! Now what to do next…
To be continued…
P.S. I do have an idea of posting a how-to video one week going through all things you can learn about a wine via sight, smell, and taste. Comment if this would be of interest!
P.P.S. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who made the Glass Onion possible – from co-workers to family to farmers to our devoted customers. Honestly, after leaving I had filed that time away in my brain into “past chapters – look forward, not back,” but sifting through all the old photos, menus, and memories gladdened my heart.
Definitely do the video!
Bring on the Educational Videos!