u/lizzayyyy96

On the bad days, it feels like I’m selling overpriced, old grape juice to rich assholes who just want to flex and don’t actually give a fuck about what they’re drinking.

On the *good days* however, it feels like I get to bring people together to experience an ephemeral piece of art.

It’s only here, in this moment, and then it’s gone! And I find that incredibly beautiful.

Any other somms feel the same way?

I have a coworker that I think is firmly in Dropout’s target audience: he’s kind, nerdy, into D&D and cosplays with his girlfriend. I’ve been telling him for a few months now that he needs to check out Dropout. So when I saw a short on YouTube today of Sam encouraging people to share passwords, I decided to write down my login info and give it to him.

I hope he gives it a chance! I told him it’s the one subscription every month that I always feel good about paying.

I just want to spread the joy that Dropout has given me to other people who I think will appreciate it 🙃.

I’m a sommelier and I just finished writing a presentation about Produttori del Barbaresco ‘Pora’ 2020 that I’m presenting tomorrow in front of my fellow somms and mentor.

When I was doing research I found these awesome videos on YouTube of Aldo Vacca walking around and talking about all of the different vineyards. It made SO much more sense to me, seeing him talk about elevation, microclimates, etc while actually looking at the landscape.

So what if, instead of looking at flat maps of wine regions (or even those raised elevation maps) and reading about the elevation, etc, we could actually look around a region and see it on a headset? Of course, going in person is absolutely the best way to see and learn. But I’ve got limited finances, and can’t travel to every region.

Idk! There’s probably some logistical, money reason why it wouldn’t work. Like, it’s too niche and would cost too much money to develop.

Tomorrow I’m meeting with about 7 other somms from my company, the master somm (and my wine mentor) and a few managers that want to watch the presentations. We’re all presenting a Barolo from our lists, and this is what I’ve written up. I’m getting in my head about it, so I’d like some advice and feedback on what y’all think about my presentation. I’m not going to repeat it word for word, but this is my basic idea:

I don’t know what all of you were doing at 24 years old, but I was slinging eggs at a 24hr diner in Texas. Giulia Negri however was taking over the wine production of her family’s 150 year old estate and making it her own.

Her family’s land is in the heart of what’s known as Serradenari, which she defines as “keep the money.” During the plague people in lower elevations were looking for healthier, fresher air so they traveled upward with all of the money and belongings they could carry, and settled on the highest elevation point in the area (536m).

The land has been in her family since the 1870s, but honestly, wine production wasn’t really a focus for them. Historically 16.5 hectares were forest lands and only 2 being vineyards. In fact her grandfather tore up all the vineyards to focus on artificial white truffle farming: hence the name of this wine, “La Tartufaia.” The truffle farm venture however did not pan out, so in 2001 her father replanted 6 hectares of vineyards and hired a consultant to make wine under the name Serradenari.

Giulia had been in the biomedical field, researching cancer cures, when she went on a trip to Burgundy that changed her life and gave her a passion for wine. She came back to her family’s land in 2010 and started making wines by blending what was already available in her family’s cellars.

In 2013/14 she officially made her first wine under her name, and in 2017 her parents gave her the estate and she merged their existing brand with her own.

What she started to do that was different: first she changed the aging from small barriques to large Slovenian oak casks. Next she started farming organically and was officially certified in 2019.

This is a very small production, only 4 people help to create her wines. All of her grapes are hand harvested, vinified using native yeasts, go through a long gentle maceration (45-50 days), and she minimizes filtration.

She says that the most important terroir aspects of this wine are the high altitude, and the nearby forest land.

The high altitude leads to a lighter more elegant and delicate Barolo, with softer tannins. The vines that produce La Tartufaia are a little bit lower in elevation and the soil is mostly clay with a little bit of marl and is loosely packed. This soil leads to a thinner skin and a fruitier wine, and produces a wine that can be enjoyed young (or aged).

2021 was a great year for Barolo particularly because of the winter snow. Due to the clay soils that La Tarufaia grows in, they retained this moisture but enjoyed a fairly dry growing season, so the grapes thrived.

I would describe this Barolo as elegant and fruit-driven with silky tannins. Notes of ripe cherry, red currant, dried flowers, and mint.

The three principles she says that guide her craft are “cleanliness, simplicity and passion.” And I think that will be evident when you taste this bottle.

(Tasting + Questions)

Thoughts?? Anything I need to add or take away? Thanks for reading, I know this was long!

I’m currently a sommelier but until February of last year I had been serving for a long time.

Tonight was an absolute shit show. I work at a nice upscale place, not quite fine dining but close. It’s in a trendy area of NYC, and we are the flagship restaurant for my hospitality group.

We were understaffed and I honestly feel embarrassed about the service we provided tonight.

For a lot of these moms this was probably the one gift they were getting from their family: a nice meal out. And it felt like we had a hand tied behind our backs being understaffed.

They’ve been doing this staggered in time thing, to save on labor costs. So for the first 30-40mins of service most of the servers were on break. So it was me (the somm) and the two new managers taking tables, while also grabbing bottles for tables and doing my somm thing. It was a lot.

And of course because it’s Mother’s Day, the first turn at 5pm is the busiest! Last week I warned upper management that they should staff today differently because of this, and they didn’t listen.

On top of it all, the kitchen wasn’t keeping up and ticket times for entrees were like 45mins-1hr. And because as a somm, I’m dressed like a manger in a blazer, every table was flagging me down to complain (I may be dressed nice, but I’m an hourly employee and in the tip pool at the same exact rate as the servers).

I was a somm, server and manager lite tonight and it just sucked. These moms deserved a better night out, and I feel crappy that I couldn’t make it happen.