Over a year ago, this M.O.F. and France’s Best Sommelier published Mille Vignes – Penser le vin de demain. A book that questions our certainties as oenophiles, and opens up a whole new world of possibilities. From New York, the beverage director of TriBeCa’s Chambers restaurant looks back on her work, on this book that has become a benchmark and, through it, on her commitment to living wines…
How has the sommelier profession evolved in recent years?
In New York, where I work, a post-Covid effect has clearly been felt. Wine lovers were able to study their favourite subject at their leisure during the period of confinement. As a result, we’re dealing with a much more sophisticated clientele than before, highly informed, connected and sensitive to environmental and social issues. People who drink better. But less… Clearly. Regardless of their profile. As a result, there is less room for error. More than ever, sommeliers need to find wines that change, that speak, that deliver…
It’s pretty exhilarating, isn’t it?
Yes, I think so. Even if it requires more personal investment. The days of « I buy, I open, I serve » are over. I’m still talking about New York. Faced with a more demanding clientele, you have to get the job done. Especially as Covid has been accompanied by a real exodus of talent. Those who have stayed have more tasks. They are now managers and sommeliers. So they’re wearing two hats. I think that’s a fair return. I think it’s only right that sommeliers should be more involved in service at all levels. We are one of the few professions in the restaurant to have to establish a truly intimate relationship with the customer, to understand their tastes in just 2 or 3 minutes, and to advise them on the wine they should like. And to do so with the same attention to detail. I find that fascinating…
In the same way that you strive to meet the expectations of all your guests, whoever they may be, you have written a book about wine, Mille Vignes, aimed at the widest possible audience. Yet you explain that you wrote it for yourself…
The idea for this book came to me during my courses and seminars. I realised that we teach concepts that are taken for granted, but that need to be questioned more. Explaining why is often missing from the picture. I was really interested to see if I had understood these concepts and if I was capable of explaining them myself, in a simple and readable way. Besides, I was a long way off doing my master’s degree on Henri Bergson’s philosophy of language and I’d always dreamt of doing some research. Finally, this project came at just the right time. It was a difficult time in New York, in the middle of Covid. I needed to make sense of all the good practices I was trying to put in place at Chambers. So I took the plunge. I started writing, reading, talking to fascinating people… It really gave me a huge boost of love for wine!
Starting with living wines, which you’ve long championed as a sommelier and now as an author. Why this commitment? In what way are these wines, as you write, a particular source of emotion, sharing and energy?
The magic of wine, the fruit of the careful work of the winemaker, from the vineyard to the cellar, lies in its ability to capture, in a relatively stable beverage, a snippet of the life that surrounds it and to share it. It’s this energy that I’m looking for. Experiencing it reconnects you, consciously or unconsciously, to the living, in the moment. I often use this metaphor to explain what I mean: take a piece of fruit of an old variety, growing naturally in a garden, untreated. Pick it and bite into it. It will taste very different from what an ordinary variety offers but, above all, you will experience a different kind of unconscious life. Beyond the speeches of great anthropologists like Bruno Latour and Philippe Descola, culture and nature are one and the same when you taste this fruit as you would a living wine. The traditional dichotomy between the two no longer holds. It’s this experience of taste, which every one of us can have, that drives me.
The book is divided into three parts, covering everything from vines and wine to the concepts of climate, geology and terroir, which are grouped together under the heading of landscapes. These are sensitive issues here in Burgundy. In your opinion, nothing in this field is set in stone…
In the face of climate and societal change, we need to adapt. However, we keep hearing here and there that it’s going to be difficult to implement them, on the grounds that a given practice or concept has always existed and that it’s not going to change now, with a wave of a magic wand. But this is not true. The world of wine has never stopped adapting over time. Take the AOCs: it seems unthinkable today to change their specifications. You’ve forgotten that a century ago, appellations didn’t exist, and that over the last fifty years, their specifications have evolved considerably. Why should new adaptations be impossible today? This prevents us from thinking properly about a better tomorrow. This is also one of the aims of my book. So, to answer your question, it’s not a question of saying that climates or terroirs aren’t important – certainly not – but it is a reminder that, in this field as in others, nothing is set in stone… And it’s not me who’s saying this, but a whole series of renowned researchers, since Burgundy is fortunate enough to be one of the most studied wine-growing regions in the world on these issues.
What solutions do you envisage to better meet the challenges of the future?
As far as AOCs and terroirs are concerned, I think it’s vital that they take greater account of the notion of microbiota. How can we say that a wine is qualitative and representative of a region without mentioning the bacteria and yeasts living in its soils? This would make it possible to preserve these bacteria and yeasts and continue to enjoy their benefits: berries capable of being transformed and expressing the identity of a place. With this in mind, it would be a good idea to call on people like Marc-André Selosse and other agronomists who think about soil life.
Are you optimistic about our ability to mobilise?
We need to radically change our approach: move away from the systematic pursuit of short-term profits, which depletes our resources, towards a more long-term vision, focusing on the preservation of living things. It’s not an easy task. I’m well aware of that. It requires more humility. An enlightened winemaker once told me: « It’s not man that makes wine, it’s the yeast and bacteria! In fact, this also means considering the vine not as a production tool, but as a living companion in the work. It’s not the same thing. But I’m confident. All over the world, people are working to find solutions. And beyond these sometimes isolated cases, it’s true, each of us can act, in our own way. The relays are legion. Take the Athenaeum, for example. The fact that you support books on wine, both French and international, that you invite their authors to present their work, and that you offer, on the cellar side, bottles from attentive and committed winegrowers are all part of this dynamic. The same goes for us as consumers. We all have the opportunity, through our purchases, to become supporters in our own right.