Erin O'Shea Evan Williams

About the author: Bruce Schoenfeld has been writing professionally for nearly 25 years. First for newspapers, then magazines, with books and television projects along the way. These days, he writes most often for Travel & Leisure about wine and food (he is the Wine and Spirits Editor there), and also for many other national and international publications. He has been visiting Spain annually since 1987. Visit Bruce's website at www.bruceschoenfeld. com.

SECRETS OF THE TRADE:
HoW toP soMMeLIeRs seLL sPAnIsH WIne

By Bruce Schoenfeld industry consultant who previously worked at New Spanish wines seem ideal for leading diners from the known to the unknown. “They bridge the gap between New World and Old World,” says Evan Interior of Press, courtesy of Press restaurant

Erin O’ Shea is the sommelier at Press, a steakhouse in St. Helena, California, that sources wine exclusively from the Napa Valley, which is like playing the bass drum when you used to conduct an entire orchestra. As the former wine director of Ken Oringer’s three Boston-area restaurants, she constructed eclectic collections that provided liquid accompaniment to dishes from ham croquetas to raw sea urchin. Now she longs to sell Spanish wine again. “The wine geek in me really got into the different varieties,” she says. “Everybody’s sort of tasted the gamut of California Chardonnay, but nobody knows Txakoli. I miss the excitement of introducing them to it.” When a customer arrives at Press with his own bottle of something Spanish, O’Shea will get wistful, like she’s seen a snapshot of an old sweetheart. “I’ll say, ‘Oooh, look at that,’” she says.

Selling wine is a sommelier’s job description, but the best of them sell different wines in different ways. Two decades ago, Spanish wine was barely in the conversation at most American restaurants. You’d find some sherry or a Rioja here and there, but mostly California wines, and Bordeaux and Burgundy, and a little Italian, and maybe a bargain Chilean or Australian. Spanish restaurants? They served sangría – if not margaritas.

Now Spain has arrived as the source of some of the world’s best wine, and the go-to country for many top sommeliers. Want a match for oysters or sushi? Try Albariño. An older vintage for under $100? Rioja Reserva. A pairing with lamb or beef that isn’t overly jammy or alcoholic? Look to Ribera del Duero, even Priorat. But selling Spanish wine is also challenging. It may seem hard to fathom for a sophisticated consumer living in San Francisco or New York, but a significant number of America’s fine diners show up at the table with the expectation of drinking (a) California Cabernet or Chardonnay; (b) Bordeaux, Burgundy, or something Italian; or (c) Yellowtail. So what’s a well-rounded sommelier do?

What follows are six secrets of the trade: 1. Relate it to something they know. Many patrons turn to Napa Cabernets because that’s all they’ve ever drunk. “There’s a good opportunity when people say ‘I really like Cab,’” says Fred Dexheimer, an

2. sell them on value. In the supermarket or wine shop, an explosion of bottlings from previously unknown regions has helped Spain gain a reputation for good value. “People will try a $10 Monastrell at Whole Foods and be blown away,” says Green. They’ll come to him seeking that wine, but thinking of the whole country in a different way.

The economic downturn has helped push customers toward wines they might never have considered. “Consumers are more open to value than ever, even if it means wines outside their comfort zone,” says Jorge Mendoza of Cioppino, in the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne. “I work the floor every night, and I’ve never heard so many guests ask me for advice rather than just order what they usually drink. They’ll say, ‘I’m looking at this price point. What do you