Advice I wish someone had given me when I was thirty. Just be more curious, and less certain.
Every time I do start a new sommelier course or a sensory analysis workshop, I do quote the following
- We should be curious, to be good
- We have to create and set up our library of senses, Flavours, scents, reminiscences and savours the first. Typicity (terroir) comes after.
- This library will stay with us on all our professional path. We cannot forget it. Never ever.
- We are lucky ones. Gifted. But to be good in our job we do have to learn something 'more'. To be ready to share what we got taught. Not to keep our talent only for us. As one of the most famous Chefs of the last 4 decades, Ferran Adria (ElBulli restaurant) used to say...'recipes alone do not teach cooking'. Sharing experiences, inspiration, methodology makes the difference.
- The gifted sommelier lives with his own pairings. Maybe it is not about matching the wine with the ordered food but to choose the wine and to pick up from the menu list the best item to enjoy the wine.
To be a good sommelier we also do understand that to be certain is not a good way to improve. Uncertainty goes with curiosity. Two in one.
- The most of the aviation crashes were caused by the non acceptance from the pilots that there was something wrong in what they were doing. Instruments cannot fail...One Time too many, unfortunately!
So, if you want to be a great sommelier, a talented expert in sensory analysis, never be certain. For your best, at least!
— Ettore Bellucci