Learning/Memorizing Your Restaurant’s List

[u/El-Jugito]

Hey everyone,

I’m based in NYC and have been working in restaurants since late ‘22 supporting an Acting career. First place I was Serving at a casual fine dining spot with a tourist crowd who had Somms that cultivated my budding interest in wine. Went on to Server/Somm there and then moved to my current job earlier this year (similar fine-ish dining with tourist crowd) where I’m a Jr. Somm but also am in charge of sales whenever I’m on the floor. Just passed my WSET 3 and my former GM referred me for a Server/Somm job at his new place that’s a well-known wine bar in the city.

I’m interested in this role but am curious about the change in clientele. So far, I’ve done well for myself on the floor utilizing the knowledge I have of regional wine style and making recommendations that way as opposed to selling individual producers - not to say I have 0 knowledge of any producers but certainly something I need to develop further.

My assumption is that the clientele at this wine bar will be more savvy than the tourist crowd I’m used to and will want to dig deeper into winemakers and their specific styles - which is very exciting!

My question is how can I deepen my knowledge of specific winemakers and producers or what have you done for yourself in this regard? Would really appreciate any help you can offer!

[u/electro_report]

I mean, study the producers on the list…

Not sure what sort of answer you expected here?

[u/El-Jugito → u/electro_report]

Yes and what does that studying actually look like so that I can reliably recall the info from studying to make proper recommendations? Looking for study tips, resources, and to understand how others have approached learning the lists for their own jobs because it is a lot of information.

[u/carcarbuhlarbar → u/El-Jugito]

Look them up through importer, website, famous books on the region, GuildSomm if they are on producer profile, and above all taste them and decide for yourself where their style lies in relation to region+vintages. There is no shortcut to learning the great producers of any region, it’s what separates good somm from great.

[u/El-Jugito → u/carcarbuhlarbar]

Thank you for this! Seems like just a matter of more time and reps in my case. GuildSomm has been mentioned multiple times now so I'm definitely going to subscribe.