Sommelier Jenny Benzie
|
Café
Boulud
at the Brazilian Court Hotel
301 Australian Ave
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Tel 561.655.6060
Fax 561.655.5060
|
Featured Sommelier Jenny Benzie, CWE
By Jim Clarke
An interest in the sociology of winedrinking
may seem an unlikely start for a sommelier, but it brought
Jenny Benzie from would be grad-student to a position at
Daniel Boulud’s Palm Beach outpost, Café Boulud.
As a server at various restaurants, Jenny took to wine and
eventually it took her to the Virgin Islands. There she
began taking courses, eventually racking up certifications
from a number of organizations including the Court of Master
Sommeliers, the Society of Wine Educators, the International
Wine Center, and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust.
Jenny has worked in several sides of
the wine industry including tasting rooms at wineries in
the Willamette Valley, retail sales, and, of course, on
the floor in restaurants like Michael’s in Santa Monica
and the Caneel Bay Resort in the Virgin Islands.
Now, at Café Boulud, Jenny oversees
a selection of about 450 bottles, focused on American and
French wines but with well-picked selections from other
parts of the world; the international part of the list is
called the “travelogue,” hitting highlights
from Spain, Austria, Italy and so on. Space is at a premium,
so there’s no room for wines that don’t carry
their weight in working well with the menu and adding to
the diners’ experience. Jenny says their guests are
quite knowledgeable and respond well to the quality wines
by the glass and that half-bottles are becoming increasingly
popular.
