Warner
Strejan: I was always fascinated with wines. I lived in Central
California's gold coast, where I was exposed to local wine makers
once I was old enough to drink. At 22 years old, I was pouring sample
tastes of wine for local wineries during the day and working as a
waiter in town (Bob's Big Boy in Atascadero!) at night. When I moved
to Los Angeles during the mid-eighties, I was able to bluff my way
(Bob's was not the best of preparation for the demands of fine dining)
into working as a waiter for Elka Gilmore at Brentwood's Chameleon.
It was there that I was first inspired by 'food as art' and by the
role that wine plays in the food world.
SC:
What separates an outstanding sommelier from the rest?
WS:
Knowledge tempered by service. The guest's experience is the only
thing that matters. The greater the sommelier's knowledge, the greater
the need for humility and caring.
SC:
Using the I
Ching to create categories for your wine list is such an innovative
and entertaining method of presenting the wines. Are you partial to
any one category, and why?
WS:
I love the wines of Thunder. They're wines of experimentation. They're
obscure little grapes, although there are some very fine wines among
them.
SC:
Do you feel like people are beginning to experiment with wines from
lesser known regions and grape varietals in a sustained way, or is
it just a fad?
WS:
When you say "people", notice that you are expressing a
cultural bias. I don't need to recommend a Refosco (an obscure Italian
grape) to an Italian having lamb. If we narrow "people"
to Americans, I would say that yes, we are experimenting. We are a
young and curious nation. Wine as food is a movement that has yet
to begin here, but I believe that this is the future. Look at the
wine trade through a different lens for a moment. There are two sides
to wine-collectors' wines and wines that are part of the meal, or
part of life. Dual aspects of the same event. I love both. As we continue
to discover what goes with what, our tastes in wine will evolve.
SC:
Any unfortunate wine tasting incidents you'd like to share with us?
WS:
I brought my wife with me to a tasting, and as we finished one floor,
I turned to go upstairs for the Bordeaux, and I noticed that she was
lagging behind. "There's another floor?" she slurred. "You
have been spitting haven't you?" I said. She says - "You're
supposed to spit?" with her most sheepish of grins.
SC:
Do you own any indispensable wine books?
WS:
The Oxford Companion to Wine by Robinson and Zen Mind, Beginner's
Mind by Suzuki.
SC:
How have you applied what you learned in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
to wines?
WS:
This is a paraphrase, but on the first page of Suzuki's book it says
something like, "In the expert's mind, the possibilities are
few. But, in the beginner's mind, the possibilities are endless."
I think it's important to maintain a "beginner's mind".
We're in a constant state of not knowing. Every year, every wine is
a new wine. I start over every year. That's one of the things I like
about wine. There's always something new.
Interview
with Warner Strejan