Good Morning!

I am just wrapping up a really great read about wine and the career of Rajat Parr and many other Master Sommeliers and Chefs that have worked with him. The book is written by Jordan Mackay who is an acclaimed writer, and well entrenched in the wine world himself.

Reading Rajat’s bio as a kid in Calcutta his whole family experience was about food and he spent his childhood in the kitchen with mom and grandma and this led him to go to cooking school in India. One summer visiting family he had his first taste of wine. It was 1993 and his uncles’ wine collection was quite vast and it really got him thinking about how each grape had a different flavor and sent his mind thinking about all the wines he had yet to try.

He was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America CIA in New York and he had to go to school starting at 7 AM and when he was done, take an hour ride home, then worked at night in an Indian restaurant. ( I think this is a point of interest, we all have worked, gone to school, no sleep, eating Totino’s pizzas and ramen noodles). Rajat ended up winning a Wine Spectator Scholarship and spent the next year learning all aspects of the business, front of the house, line cook, sous chef, etc. He read about and saw a picture of Larry Stone in the Wine Spectator and at one of his interviews, a guy says call Larry Stone in San Francisco he might have something for you….Rajat borrows $2K from his best pal and flies to the Bay and Stone hired him and he ends up being an apprentice under Stone.

This book talks so much about the “legacy” of who has helped “Whom” in the wine biz it is awesome. It talks about which of Rajat’s teachers, trained with Stone and which one worked with legendary sommeliers and wine personalities like Daniel Johnnes, Kermit Lynch, Peter Mayle, Kevin Zraly, Fred Dame and all the great chefs who were part of this club as well, Thomas Keller, Michael Mina and other wine celebraties like Claudia Harris, Madeline Triffon, David Lynch, Paul Grieco and the list of all the folks who are important for making the wine and food scene what it is today.

This book reads part like a novel and then it reads part like a biography and then it is a pure wine information book. Rajat is not only a Sommelier for the Michael Mina resturants like RN74 in San Francisco and Seattle, he is in charge of all Mina’s resturants including Vegas and the rest. Rajat also is now making his own wine along with his daily duties and he is a ROCKSTAR in the wine world.

Like me get to the part of the book that got me hooked…He says several things in the book that rang out through my soul…

1. Ultimately, the decision about what is good is a personal one.

2. When tasting Be curious. Never assume.

3. Taste what’s in your glass, not what’s in your mind.

4. If you want to be a good taster, you have to have reference points.

5. To understand Pinot Noir, begin with Burgundy. If you want to understand Merlot, try wines from Pomerol.

6. The key to comprehending wine styles from classic regions is to establish a single benchmark wine that represents a region or style. This becomes the definitive wine, the textbook version of what a wine is in a good vintage and from a particular location should taste like.

7. How he takes tasting notes….I am trying to better define how I arrange my notes so that I can have a more organized approach to the wines I try all the time….this is a big section, so I will not bore you with details!

8. He discusses why you have to travel in regions and very surgically get to know each vineyard and it’s producers if you want to understand french wines at the level he does….(I don’t want to know the wines that well, but I’d like to go back to France and spend time in the vineyards)

9. He says something so beautiful about food and pairings, they do not have to be so serious/rigorous but if you love both things, what you love to drink is never better than when it’s drunk with what you love to eat. He mentions Zuni Cafe in SF and having roasted chicken with a big northern Rhone Syrah.

10. He says when you are picking up a bottle of wine, understand you are drinking history!

Those are just a few points that caught my mind and I wanted to share them with you. He breaks down wines, producers, best bargains, best pairings, how to buy, order wines…very well written book and it is not a quick read. I have learned a lot about networking in this book, I have learned much about wine biz in general and I have learned much about the role of the Sommelier. I enjoyed this book and will use it as a reference for years and years to come.

PS. The photos in this book are rustic and beautiful, I felt like I was with him!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi