September 3, 2024 • 44 mins
In episode fifteen of the Napa Valley Insider Podcast, we are joined by Vincent Morrow, the esteemed Master Sommelier and Wine Director at Press Restaurant in Napa Valley. Vincent shares his journey from being a star athlete to becoming one of the most celebrated sommeliers in the world, highlighting his passion for wine education and commitment to diversifying the wine industry.
Episode Highlights:
Vincent’s Journey to Master Sommelier: Vincent takes us through his unique path to becoming a Master Sommelier before the age of 31, balancing rigorous wine studies with his roles at Michelin-starred restaurants.
The Wine Program at Press: Learn about the extensive Napa Valley-focused wine list at Press, which features over 2,700 selections and has earned the prestigious Wine Spectator Grand Award. Vincent discusses how he curates this exceptional collection, which spans over 70 years of Napa Valley vintages, making Press one of the premier destinations for wine enthusiasts.
Diversifying the Wine Industry: As the Chairperson of the Diversity Committee for the Court of Master Sommeliers, Vincent shares his insights on the importance of inclusion in the wine industry. He discusses his efforts to expand access to wine education and mentorship, aiming to elevate underrepresented wine professionals.
Whether you're a wine lover, a Napa Valley visitor, or someone interested in the dynamic stories behind the wine industry, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of a Master Sommelier and the rich history of Napa Valley wines.
This episode is brought to you by Cuvée, your gateway to finding and booking the best experiences in Napa Valley.
For more behind-the-scenes content and updates on Napa Valley's best experiences, follow Cuvée on Instagram. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Napa Valley Insider Podcast for more conversations with the people shaping Napa Valley's vibrant community!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is the Napa Valley Insider Podcast.
(00:04):
Brought to you by Kuvei,
in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back to another episode in Napa Valley Insider.
I am Andrew Allison.
I'm the CEO of Kuvei.
We make this podcast in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
Today, I have a guest I'm so excited to see
(00:25):
after many years.
Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, everyone.
My name is Vincent Morrow.
I'm the wine director at Press Restaurant
in the Napa Valley in sunny San Alina, the North End.
And yeah, I run the wine program there.
I've been there for about four years now.
And in full disclosure,
Vincent and I went to Harvard or the West together,
(00:47):
Sonoma State University.
What degree did you do when you were there?
So I did the business administration track.
There's, you have to pick a focus
after your sophomore year or so.
I went with wine business systems
and eventually also finished with a marketing focus as well.
Yeah, same.
(01:09):
One point was a double major in computer science,
but that was 0809 when classes were getting cut.
And I was like, I don't wanna be found wilder
and be here for eight years.
I did wine in finance.
And I think I'm like a credit from an econ minor, but anyway.
(01:29):
But that's where we originally met.
You were in a different fraternity.
So we kind of were in the same social circles,
maybe aware of each other.
Maybe had a few classes together,
but the campus is not huge in the Greek life program
at Sonoma is not the largest.
But can you just share a little bit about
your upbringing, what got you to Sonoma?
(01:50):
What did you do at Sonoma and post Sonoma?
How did you get to the role that you have now
in the industry?
George, so I grew up in a town called Peoria in Arizona,
basically a suburb or not even a suburb
but outskirts of Phoenix, played soccer growing up.
And one of my youth coaches when I was 12 or 13
(02:15):
ended up leaving our team to take an assistant coach role
at Sonoma State.
So that's how I first learned about the school.
And then fast forward to my senior season
and senior year in high school.
And none of the Arizona schools have men's teams
at the collegiate level.
It's all, I forget what intramural,
(02:40):
that's what it's called.
Okay, you remember.
And I knew I didn't want to stay in Arizona,
but I wasn't the most proactive college applicant
that my mother wanted me to be.
And I had actually got injured twice
in my senior year of soccer.
(03:00):
And one of the visits that I had had
or coaching visits was Marcus Seamer,
who's still the head coach at Sonoma State
after like 30 years.
He came to watch me at a Thanksgiving tournament in SoCal.
And like I broke my ankle like a week later,
two weeks later, I was playing football as well.
(03:21):
And then that spring, I was coming off of knee surgery
because I tore my meniscus and my knee
and didn't know it for about five weeks.
And then they were like, yeah, we just have to go in
and cut that out.
Cause you're not coming back from,
there's no like replacement for that,
at least at the time.
So I came to Sonoma State in the spring of 2005
(03:44):
two days off of crutches,
watched the team play, got to stay and meet with the team,
stayed on campus.
It was like a glorious spring, like 75 degrees.
And you know how it is when campus sort of wakes up
in spring, it's like, you know, people are longboarding,
all the girls are wearing shorts and spaghetti straps.
And you're, I'm a 17 year old kid, like, oh my God,
(04:05):
this is like, this is amazing.
So it was pretty, it was the only like real decision.
Option I had, I originally had an offer to go to Alabama A&M
on a full ride or soccer and academics,
but it just, it never happened.
(04:28):
It was like the original ghosting, if you will.
So yeah, Sonoma State was it and slained in
and moved to that fall.
And yeah, wine was a total afterthought.
It was not, had nothing to do with coming out here
and finding out how life works.
I mean, I just seem to remember, I mean,
(04:49):
it's not like there's a huge sports programs out,
how did Sonoma like lacrosse baseball and soccer,
kind of the only men's sports that really had
a ton of traction, even though our good friends played
on the tennis team, sorry, Scott, but I think.
Tennis is hard.
Yeah, tennis is hell of a lot.
I play like pickleball now with the courts here in Yontville.
And it's like, you see some of the locals,
(05:12):
older generation and they're crushing it.
And you're like, well, that's too serious.
I mean, I just, I'm just trying to get some blood moving.
Yeah.
So when you graduated Sonoma, where did you go?
How did you end up to the role you're at?
Yeah, so kind of a long, slow, methodical journey.
(05:34):
During the last few years at Sonoma State,
I was working at, I worked at a few different wineries.
I worked at Hearts Desire, the first kind of small mom-and-pop
that I worked for, got me my foot in the door
and they were super kind to me.
And then a few months after that,
I started working at Ridge Vineyards,
(05:55):
which is like globally renowned winery with two locations,
one in Hildesburg and then one in Cupertino.
And didn't really realize when I was interviewing for,
until a few days and I started doing research
and I was like, started to freak out a little bit
and got the role and had that for two years.
(06:17):
And during that role and...
Was that just a hospitality program?
Yeah, just working in the tasting room.
And I worked at another now defunct winery called Seed
on Attello and just across those three wineries,
I got a ton of education and also learned about
what Assemblee was from guests that were visiting.
And I was like, oh, I can work with wine from around the world
(06:39):
and wear a suit and it doesn't have to just be on Sundays
for, for two new meanings and formals.
And I was really, I was really into that idea.
And just someone was talking about the examination one day
and just how impossible it was
and sort of the mysticism that surrounds it.
And I was like, that sounds great. I want to do that.
(07:01):
And I had an opportunity to come work harvest in Napa.
So I did.
And as it starts 2011, I had a harvest position here
in about 10 minutes up the road in Rutherford
at a family called Round Pond owned by the McDonald family.
But for those that were in Napa in 2011
(07:22):
or California in general, it was a really kind of cool summer,
cool year. And I was actually able to fit in a harvest
in Southern Arizona and finish that harvest
before we even started in Napa.
So I kind of got two for one in that year
and that really like just reinforced, reinforced
being in the wine industry
(07:44):
and wanting to pursue the Assemblee attract.
It definitely reinforced that I did not want to make wine
for myself. So there was that.
And when you took the, I mean, it's become quite in vogue
with shows like, what's the new one on FX?
Is it Chef? What am I thinking of? What's the name of the?
(08:10):
Oh, Bear. Oh, Bear. Yeah.
It's like, yeah, a cat. Yeah.
I'm thinking of Chef.
It's good movie too.
Yeah. What, um, what was the transition from actually
working at a winery to getting into the restaurant
side of the business for you?
(08:31):
It was, it was brutal.
But it was, it was drinking from a fire hose.
So while I was at round ponds, the chef there,
RIP, Eric Masco was certified Assemblee
and he had taken the advanced Somalia examination twice.
(08:53):
And he was an incredible mentor to me.
And as harvest was wrapping up, one of their key tasting room
people was, had just given her notice and was moving on.
And it was, it was serendipitous because I had two,
two and a half years of tasting room experiences,
very comfortable with it.
(09:15):
Which was kind of like court and trial and Taste of Life,
but they were engaged and engaged in it for six years.
So they were working with cars,
but they had even service works at the winery.
So I knew the vineyards and the wine making pretty fundamentally.
So it was a, I think a really easy transition.
And at that same time, I moved to Napa proper.
(09:42):
And I knew I wanted to get into a restaurant or a wine bar and I was
frequenting a place called 1313 main, which was a wine bar that opened in
2011 and closed in 2017.
I believe the queue is now there on Main Street.
(10:02):
And I would go in on industry night.
I'd buy something.
I had no idea what it was kind of within my budget.
And actually one of my other fraternity brothers, Anthony Kostalik, was working
in a winery here.
So we'd meet up and I'd also like try to meet with, we try to make it a group
of three or four or something just to like, so we could taste a lot of things.
(10:23):
And that eventually befriended everyone working there and found out a good chunk
of the opening team was leaving and I approached the owner.
I was like, whatever, like whatever you need me to do, I'll do it.
Like I'm, I'm here.
I want to learn.
I want to grow.
And I actually was working two jobs for almost six months between the tasting
(10:43):
him during the day and then the wine bar at night.
And I was doing so to save money to go to France to work harvest.
I'm excited.
A former colleague from Ridge, who was connecting me to his friend in Bergerac,
which is just east of Bordeaux to work harvest.
So I was just pulling all my money and also studying and getting ready to take
(11:05):
some of the exams. So I was just like, you know, working 80, 90 hours a week,
studying, occasionally going out, doing all the things and eventually
passed the first two examinations and was offered the wine director role at the wine bar.
So there's so much to click on.
Your life is so fascinating.
I think for those that don't know the Psalms or the debut sets, can you just
(11:32):
give us like a one on one?
What are the levels and how much time or effort went into each of those levels?
Because you're saying them as if you just went and did them.
I mean, this is not like going.
Skipped over.
Yeah, this is not exactly like, you know, going on a milk run here.
So there's there's several organizations throughout the world that certify.
(11:56):
Wine knowledge, generally, well, all of them will have a theoretical element.
And it can be regional specific, like the Italian wine scholar, or it can be more
broad, like WST, which is the Wine Spirits Education Trust, or the CMS,
which is the Court of Master's, some of the others will also include a tasting
(12:20):
or blind tasting component.
And by blind tasting, I mean, you are.
Without any clue to what the wine is other than looking at it and seeing a general
color, you have to describe what it looks like, what it smells like, what it
tastes like, and using that evidence that you gather in the process to make your
best assessment, essentially an educated guess.
(12:41):
And it's just something you practice, just like with an instrument or a sport.
Where the Court of Master's homilies is unique in that we are the only organization
that also certifies for service and hospitality and business or a sommelier.
So you have to understand not just wine, but beer, spirits, cocktails, the
(13:04):
service of all of them.
And even at one point, cigars were included in that.
Fortunately, that was removed before I started.
But it's all encompassing.
And the first level, the introductory is, even though it's the introductory,
it's very in depth.
And, you know, fortunately, I had a few years of industry experience and also had
(13:27):
been working at the wine bar before I took it.
Because otherwise, if you were to start cold with zero wine knowledge or minimal
wine knowledge and to study for it, you need to put at least a few months in
of consistent study.
The certified examination, sorry.
The introductory, the level one is just a multiple choice test at the end of the
(13:48):
at the end of the two day course.
The level two, the certified sommelier examination is where there's then
a blind tasting component as well as a service component.
And that's just a test.
You just show up and it's a full day.
And if you pass that, it is a trademark you can call yourself a certified
sommelier.
(14:09):
And, you know, generally the gap in between for most people, I'd say is probably
another, just depends where you're at and what you're doing.
And how hard you've studied, but it's, it's a bit of a jump from level one
to level two.
And for some people that might be, you might be ready right away and you're
already sort of working in that role.
And for others, it might be another, you know, if you don't have service
(14:31):
and blind tasting practice, it could be three months, could be six months.
For me, it was, I think five or six weeks in between, but I was already like,
like, like rolling with momentum.
And I just, I was ready and I, you know, I signed up and, and I was ready.
And took a shot at it.
And when you said that the transition from winery to into a restaurant was,
(14:55):
was very hard, when you think back on that, which aspects were the hardest
parts of it?
Because it seems like it was max bandwidth based on what you just described.
Yeah.
But beyond that, what, what were some of the other aspects of it?
I mean, they, when you look at the country in whole, maybe you can give the
folks that listen, how many master Psalms are there?
(15:18):
And then once you break that up, like, I don't know any that come from your
background or your race or your culture.
And so it's just like, I think it must have been hard for a million reasons.
Yeah.
Pretty, pretty much all of it.
So that kind of touch on two things, the restaurant aspect and then sort of the
demographic of master some of these.
(15:39):
So going from a winery into a wine bar that we had minimal food, I mean,
the kitchen was the size of a closet.
You could hardly call it a kitchen.
There was no burners.
There's no, there's, there's nothing.
It was really just cheese and charcuterie.
So the concept to me, like general simple restaurant concepts, just, they
(16:00):
occurred to me, but didn't like, you don't know what you don't know.
And while I was at the wine bar, someone that's a restaurant owner,
a regular that is now one of my best friends, Brian Leepa, was a captain
at the Françandrie and he would come, he had moved out from St.
Louis.
His wife was still hadn't relocated yet.
(16:21):
So he would spend his days off kind of bouncing around and he'd come in and,
and we'd, you know, we'd chop it up and just started hanging out.
And he was studying for his examinations as well.
And it, it, it was very clear to me as I was studying for the third level.
The advanced sommelier examination, which is, is a quantum leap from the second
(16:44):
level.
It's, it's such a massive gap.
Like you have to invest at least another, I would say year to two years of study
in between, um, to really like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's big boys.
It's, it's, uh, it's a lot more intense.
And I knew, I just knew in my gut that the wine bar was not going to get me there.
(17:07):
And I wanted to be in a place that was going to get me there.
So the wine bar served its purpose.
It got, it got you to where you were was your launch pad, but it was time to,
I mean, I, I was 24.
I could walk to work.
I was making pretty, pretty good money.
And I was getting to work with a lot of wine and running a program, but I knew
like, I was like, this is not the next get me to where I want to be.
(17:28):
So, you know, it was good in the short term, but I knew in the long term,
it was not going to be right.
So I started to, um, put it in, you know, ask Brian like, Hey, you know,
do you need Psalms at the front?
Sondri like totally naive, had no idea.
And what's a captain for those that don't know?
Uh, server, but in the sense that, you know, especially when a place is
(17:52):
calling their servers captains, like really think of someone that is owning
the entire experience for you and not just taking your order and giving
you silverware and share plates and then dropping a check.
Uh, or just think about it as proactive versus reactive.
I think that's probably the best way to think about like a true captain of
(18:12):
service in a, in an elevated, um, dining environment versus someone who literally
and in every restaurant has a different model, right?
You know, not every restaurant can give you all the time.
The server can't always give you the time and attention and it's not
supposed to be a five star thing.
It's like, you know, you want your eggs and bacon, great.
You want coffee, great.
(18:34):
Okay.
You knew thing else.
Great.
Like I'm going to leave you alone unless you need something type of thing.
So just, just a different thing, but yeah, um, captains, you know, and they,
and they, and they do well, you know, especially at top restaurants in the nation,
you're going to, you know, even then this is 12 years ago, you're going to
make six figures, no problem.
Like it's, it's that type of place.
So, so to move you along, you've worked in some of the biggest Michelin
(18:57):
star programs in the country, especially on the West coast.
Yeah.
So, um, I kept poking Brian about working at the front, Saundry and,
you know, wanted to be on the wine team and didn't really understand what
that meant.
And then he's like, everyone starts, you know, you start at the beginning as
a food runner because you need to understand the culture and understand
the restaurant and its processes.
(19:17):
So I left that wine director job.
It took a basically 50% pay cut to commute to work and to also work longer
hours and in a more intense environment and it's for less money.
Best decision ever made.
Although it hurt in the beginning.
And yeah, it was a whirlwind for three or four months.
I thought every day I was going to get fired.
Like, um, had, I think what can sum it up as we had a pre-shift or a, um, a
(19:43):
meeting before service, which is typical in restaurants to talk about the menu,
to talk about things.
And like on day four, the mater D or the manager asked me, said, Vincent,
what is the marking for the lobster?
And I was like, Oh, working a knife.
Like, I didn't, to me, the concept of a fish fork and a fish knife or
(20:05):
specific things, I was like, I, I didn't know what markings were.
And, um, yeah, it did just, I was a completely blank canvas.
And I think that actually played to my benefit.
Um, so no bad habits either in the sense that, no, nobody, you hadn't
worked in a different style.
Yeah.
They didn't, I didn't have to unlearn things, but I definitely had a lot to
(20:26):
learn.
So over the course of two years, I would be a food runner or kitchen server.
So assisting the kitchen with all things food related.
Um, I was a back waiter, which is assisting the captain or the server with
clearing tables of dishes, marking them for new silverware, filling water,
um, bread.
I mean, it sounds very simple, but it's, you know, to be a back waiter at
(20:49):
front, so under you got to hustle.
Um, you got to be super organized.
And you have to know the food and know all the wines.
You're basically, you've got to know everything.
You're not responsible for anything and everything.
Um, and then eventually an expediter, which is think about it like air
traffic control in the kitchen for all the food, um, is the best way.
You know, all these airplanes are trying to land at a certain time and then
(21:11):
you've got to hold them off and think about that as dishes are going out to
tables and you want to keep tables on pace so that they're not waiting 30
minutes between courses on a 10 course menu.
Um, but also not getting food shoved right in front of them as soon as
their previous dish was cleared.
And then, um, eventually got onto the wine team as the seller, some of the
so it was responsible for processing orders, inventory management, um,
(21:37):
assisting the some of the days during service, pulling bottles, opening
bottles, uh, decanting them into a, uh, a carafe or a glass decanter for those
that, um, don't know what that is, uh, to give the wine air or to remove it
from its solids, um, a whole host of things.
And it was just like everything I'd ever studied, everything, all the
wines I'd ever dreamed of, they were there and I was holding them.
(21:59):
And in many cases tasting them.
So it's like just this like Pandora's box of education that is, is invaluable.
And we'll come back to the, the seller work that you did at French
Laundry in a second.
Um, I just want to close off on the master Psalms.
Can you just take us through the demos of what, what that looks like and what,
(22:19):
what are some of the work that you're doing with the quarter, um, uh, the court right now.
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Yeah.
So, um, quarter master some liais was started in, uh, the UK in the 70s.
And, um, it's a, the American chapter was founded the year I was born in 1987.
So it's pretty crazy to think about, but, um, there are two as of last week because
(23:05):
the, um, Oceania, Australia, New Zealand just hosted an exam and had six new masters.
So 281 master some liais in the world since 1977.
And, um, four of, four of those 281 are black or African American descent, um,
myself included.
(23:25):
And it is decidedly more popular in the United States than it is anywhere else.
You know, we have at any point 40 to 60 people in sort of a testing cycle, um, each
year.
And, um, it only occurs once a year.
So it's, you know, it's not something you can just take a swing out, you know, next
week, if you don't, if you don't pass today.
(23:49):
Jason wise and the documentary Psalm made, made this a little bit of like a, um, a
cult hit in terms of introducing the world to what becoming a small yay is like.
How much of that process in what they show in the movie was similar to the process that
(24:11):
you had to go through that?
Like, would, would you say that it changed and evolved over time?
Or what shown in the movie is just like endless hours of like tasting and flashcards and.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's, uh, it's all consuming.
Um, if I wasn't working, I was most of the time I was studying.
I missed, um, because of working at places like the French laundry where, you know, you
(24:36):
don't take time off.
It comes when the restaurant closes, um, even for exams, it's really, it's really
hard to get a time away and because the restaurant has to operate.
Um, and if you're not working, you're studying.
And so you miss, you know, nieces and nephews being born, you miss weddings,
hanging out with friends in general.
(24:56):
It's like you have to, for a commitment of this name, you know, you have to, you
have to be able to balance that sort of, um, that, that ask yourself.
Um, because you're the only person that can, can determine that.
And I think a lot of, um, what is depicted there, you know, it obviously shows
the extremes because those are people going for the master sommelier examination
(25:17):
and not just, you know, not the intro or the certified, but yeah, if you're, if
you're going for the MS or the master sommelier diploma, there's, there's a huge
amount of, um, sacrifice that goes into that.
So, um, yeah, I had thousands of flashcards.
Um, I had maps that I would trace.
I had, um, you know, had I put this effort into college or even into high school,
(25:43):
like who knows that I might not be sitting here today, but it struck a cord with me.
And, um, yeah.
I mean, we started to cut you off.
What, what's some of the work that you're doing with the court right now to either,
um, increase recruitment or drive diversity or some of the other, um,
continuing education things that people need to do in general, once you get to the
(26:06):
level that you're at.
Yeah.
Um, so I'm a founding member of the diversity committee, which was started
four and a half years ago, um, and was the chairperson for three years.
And on the diversity committee, it was really trying to see everything the
organization was doing as well as the industry was doing and try to like filter
it through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and, you know, look at our exams
(26:31):
to look at our educational content and say, like, is this really, uh, are we
speaking in terms that are really, truly, um, accessible?
Um, you know, we've looked at things like, uh, you know, we're not just the United
States where the America's chapter and we're also a global organization.
The America's chapter has South Korea, uh, or is operates in South Korea, um, South
(26:55):
America, North America, Canada, Central America.
So, you know, we just started offering, um, uh, examinations in Spanish and Korean,
which is significant the first time in 50 years of the organization.
Um, so that's just a little bit of a snippet of that.
Um, on the, um, also a board of directors member, uh, two years into, into that
(27:20):
role, and that's really like the heartbeat of the organization from a, um, you know,
just like any organization from a planning and fundamental standpoint and all
committee, all committees kind of exist through that, um, and report to that.
So education, examination, diversity, finance, um, we kind of see, it's, it's all
the, it's all the guts, all the inner workings underneath and, you know, we're
(27:43):
responsible for the, at the very least planning the framework for the future of
the organization.
Um, so that's been a, you know, to have come from passing in 2019 to now being
on the board is really, um, yeah, it's, it's really fulfilling.
What do you do on continuing education for your role?
(28:04):
Um, with the court.
So, do you have to get retested every five years or do you have to?
We don't.
So that's, um, I think that's a part of why the examinations are so difficult and
ever-evolving and changing because there, there's this, this onus, especially the
master sommelier level that you have to not just has done sort of what the
(28:28):
content is in the exam, but how did, how did your thought process get you to that
correct answer?
And that it's that, that middle piece is what we're so focused on.
And that, like the deduction, the logic.
Yeah.
You have the ability and the deduction and the logic to take on an entirely
new, um, entirely new things.
The wine industry is always changing.
(28:49):
And to be able to understand that, uh, very quickly and to learn that and know
that it's not just, okay, here's the syllabus.
Here's the rulebook.
Go learn it.
And, you know, you, that, that, that is possible.
That is, you can, you can do that.
It's memorization, but can you actually, um, um, push yourself to, uh, uh,
(29:13):
I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of the, trying to think of the, the word or the
term that would really make the most sense for people listening, but you have
to have this ability to like understand what's important and relevant and not,
and learn that and be able to translate that.
Is it?
I perceive it as an immersion.
I really believe the, this is somebody who's not done it.
(29:34):
I'm just like a lowly W set too.
But when you think about the experiences you've had, you've had, you've had
it's really this like coming of age where you had to go so far into the
sellers at French laundry or a place where you had so many reps that you net.
That's how you got your 10,000 hours.
(29:56):
And without the hospitality programs and without, uh, the service and in the
back of house, the front of house and all the things that you did to collect
your 10,000 hours, like that was your immersion.
And, um, I, I've never wanted to work in a kitchen.
I don't think I ever would, but I don't think doing any level of Psalms
makes sense for me just because I, I don't love like you talk about it.
(30:21):
I don't love aspects of it.
Like, like you described, dude, do I want a higher level of wine education?
I'm obsessed with this space.
That's all I think about.
It's all I talk about, but I love the sales.
I love the marketing.
I love, I love fonts and copy and create.
And those are things I love, but you love what you love.
Yeah.
(30:41):
And that's, that's rad.
Like everyone has their thing.
And for me, it's just whatever it is about wine or beverage that, that speaks to
you, like that's important to me.
And I think that's kind of transcends beyond just wine.
Um, and it's really more the hospitality side that speaks to me.
It's like being on a, like being on a team at Sonoma State and like, you know,
every service feels like that, of, uh, you have your team and, you know,
(31:04):
what the, what the goal is and what you got to do.
And, um, I think that's why restaurants, uh, also I kind of gravitated towards
that, just that adrenaline or that sort of rush.
Can you share, and I mentioned a second ago, um, but bear, how has shows like
bear in restaurant culture and pop culture, like starting off with, you know,
(31:26):
Bourdain and the kitchen confidential book and then all of his TV shows.
Like what, what was it like?
Like what was it like working at like a mecca of culinary culture at the French
laundry?
Like when you were in the cellar, like what, what were some of the things you
like pinch me moment?
Like, can you share one with us?
Yeah, I would say probably my third day as a food runner, I'm walking up the
(31:50):
stairs to the second story of dining room at French laundry and I have
oysters and pearls in my hand with, um, two other people because we're walking
to a table of six.
And it was just like, this is the most iconic, most photographed dish in the
entire restaurant group.
Um, arguably dishes in the world for any restaurant.
And I am like about to take it to a table and describe it.
(32:14):
And that was, that was like, Oh my God.
Um, yeah, on the wine side would be day one, um, training as a cellar sommelier.
Or it was really more of a follow.
I hadn't been offered the position yet, but I had just left the expediter
role, which is, you know, that ties very much into the bear and that sort of
(32:35):
like anxiety.
But, um, I was following, um, uh, one of my colleagues who was the cellar
sommelier and they allowed me to basically follow and hang with her for a day
and do all the things.
And it was like, she didn't even really have to describe or tell me what to do.
She said, so this is this task and you, and then like, she would show me
(32:55):
and then I would do it.
And she's like, and just that, that whole day I was, I was like, I was on
cloud nine.
I was floating.
I'm seeing all the bottles, holding the bottles, even remedial tasks, like
folding napkins for wine service and stocking wine for by the glass service.
I was just like, I was jacked all day on it.
(33:18):
Like that feeling is, it's unforgettable.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Thanks for sharing.
Um, so.
So let's jump ahead.
You have worked in a bunch of Michelin star restaurants.
What's it like to work in a Michelin star restaurant?
What, what is the clean and clear difference between that caliber and everything else?
(33:41):
Like, are there some like major themes, like major quick identifiers?
I mean, like I, I can't turn my sales brain off when I go into like the real
world and I'm always thinking about businesses or whatever.
But you must have an experience when you walk into a kitchen anywhere, or when
you walk into a restaurant anywhere, you must have like this, like running
(34:01):
stream of consciousness of like, Oh, this is right.
Oh, that could have been better.
Or maybe, maybe I would do this if I was them.
Yeah.
I think anytime, uh, stepping into a kitchen is just respect and admiration
because like you said, I mean, I've always wanted the, uh, I've always thought
about like cooking and just my, my whole philosophy around cooking at home
(34:26):
has completely shifted and changed and evolved and gotten an arguably improved.
Uh, even since being a food runner at the French laundry and just seeing
how things were created and how much care would went into, um, different
types of cuts that are typical in French cooking, like a Julianne, for
example, um, or a Parisian, any sort of every, every detail.
(34:49):
And I think, um, detail is the thing between, um, Sonnehaus and Bacca
House that really stands out as well.
That is hard to turn off, um, even when walking into any sort of restaurant.
But, um, yeah, details.
And I think as far as what's, uh, is most what, what separates Michelin or
(35:11):
Michelin aspiring or Michelin adjacent restaurants, basically restaurants
that operate on a, on a super high level of not just service, but also hospitality.
To me is the intention behind everything.
It's not just we do this because it's the way we do it.
And, you know, to me, that's very service.
That's mechanical.
Um, there's a why behind it.
(35:32):
And there's an intention behind it.
As far as, um, why do we ask guests for, say dietary restrictions and allergies?
It's, uh, yeah, you don't want to kill somebody.
You don't want to hurt somebody, but there's also like, there's an intentionality
behind it.
I think a hospitality aspect behind it of really wanting to, to genuinely take
(35:52):
care of guests and be able to create a dish that is going to be satisfying for
them, that they feel like someone cared about what they were putting in front
of them, not necessarily, okay, we just made sure this didn't have nuts in it.
Cause yeah, we don't want you to, you know, go into anaphylactic shock.
Um, all the way to customizing menus or during service, listening to not
(36:15):
eavesdropping, but using your ears and your eyes to build a better
experience organically for a guest.
Um, like on the fly almost exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
Or like, you know, Patrick Mahomes calls a place, first three reads don't work.
What he's not going to give up.
It's like, you're going to figure it out.
And where you see something that develops that whatever, you know, and I think
(36:39):
that's why, uh, from a sports background, why hospitality and why service is really
always interesting and fulfilling for me.
Cause every day is, is, is different.
And I think that's, that's what Michelin is versus just having a restaurant.
That's just, you know, it's, you know, transactional, something that is much
more, um, that has much more substance and depth than just being transactional.
(37:04):
Um, to use an analogy, it's, uh, you know, the, the same martial arts moves
that white or like a white belt level versus a black belt level.
It's the same moves.
It's just the ability to execute those moves.
And it's really, um, the intention, like you said, no, that's, that's really,
that's really incredible.
Um, right now.
Where are you working and tell us what a day in the life is like.
(37:29):
Yeah.
So, uh, about 10 minutes up the road from Yachtville, uh, press restaurant in
St. Alina, uh, was started in 2005 by Leslie red, um, the late Leslie red, who's,
you know, uh, to me an eponymous figure in sort of the modern era of Napa Valley,
you know, really started press as a means to champion the valley and its people
(37:51):
and the wines that are made here.
Um, we have the largest collection of Napa Valley wine for any restaurant in the
world or one of the largest collections.
It's an 11,000 bottle cellar, um, about 2,700 different unique selections of
wine from, um, Napa Valley wineries, vineyards, uh, and winemakers.
A day in the life is, uh, it's pretty different every day, but the sort of the
(38:16):
general framework is usually get to work around noon or 1pm sometime in there.
And, um, drop my stuff in the cellar, kind of take stock of everything from the
day before, look at if anything needs to be reordered, like it's, um, sort of the
the state of affairs, if you will, and just make sure, especially as the person
(38:36):
that is responsible for ordering an organization that, um, that we are
organized and that we are prepared.
And then, um, generally looking ahead at the day as far as what needs to be done,
um, as well, it's, it's a lot of, honestly, it's a lot of project management
in a sense of what are we doing right now to stay, um, stay stocked and to stay
(38:57):
well managed and to, are there any holes in the list that need to be filled?
What is the staying on top of the menu as it changes because we're hyper
seasonal, we have about six or seven major changes on the menu every year.
Um, this California, we can, you know, we have right now, uh, squash as well as
(39:18):
peppers and tomatoes, which you don't really get that in many parts of the
world, but we have such a unique climate here.
So it makes for a really interesting, always evolving, always changing cuisine.
Um, and then sort of, um, a lot of a lot more high level things.
We're getting ready to open a, uh, a second project next door here in the,
um, hopefully in the late fall, early winter, and then we're going to be
(39:41):
working with the management team to also think about what sort of the
evolution of the restaurant is from a, uh, service and aesthetic, uh, setting as well.
It's, uh, we have a, you know, our big capstone post harvest celebration in
November, which, uh, which I am a big part of the planning on the wine side.
So we're going to be working on that.
(40:02):
So we're going to be working on that.
So we're going to be working on that.
So we're going to be working on that.
So we're going to be working on that.
And really dramatic for, uh, uh, we're going to be working with that if you
can, you know, it's the new mama that wouldPE on there so thatirt.
It, that set us up.
(40:23):
That means, at some point in our teamwork project, the way that we צ!'
We're really excited about that right now, but we'll still get,
you know, a little technical time Patriots still going to be working on that
accolades lately and you personally have won some accolades over the last couple
of years. Like maybe you could share some of those.
Yeah, absolutely. On the, on the cuisine side and service side, we received a
(40:47):
Michelin star and at the end of 2022, which we've maintained for three years
now, and that's, you know, really the pinnacle for restaurants around the world
from a service and cuisine perspective through that organization.
They have recently started recognizing beverage and bar programs in some ways.
(41:11):
And that was the summary of the year for California in 2022.
And in that same year, we also received the grand award from Wine Spectator,
which is a magazine that was started back in the, back in the early 80s by
Marvin Shinken, and they have a restaurant award program that recognizes
(41:36):
restaurants for their wine, for their wine list, for their collection, their
depth, their variety, and a good means of supporting sort of the ecosystem of wine.
And there's 93 restaurants in the world that have a grand award.
It's almost like three Michelin stars.
There's very few in the world that have it.
And we are one of two that has a regional wine list.
(42:01):
Most restaurants that qualify for and, and or receive the award have rest,
you know, big sellers, lots of selections, but it comes from multiple
countries generally in multiple regions.
But for us, and then one other restaurant in, that's in Bonne in Burgundy
called Lotte de Bonne, they have an almost entirely a list consisting of wine
(42:25):
from Burgundy.
And then for us at Press, we have almost exclusively, our entire list is
Napa Valley wine or Napa Valley adjacent wine, I like to say.
Yeah.
I mean, this was, I mean, this is a little while ago, but I was with Dominic
Chappellet and he said they were sourcing some, he told me this story of how
(42:46):
he was sourcing for a library tasting and they couldn't find a bottle that
they were looking for and they were able to find it at Press.
At Press, yeah.
I'd say it's like a, it's like a living museum, organic museum and that, you
know, it's not all just there for show.
Like you can absolutely have it and it's constantly, constantly things are
(43:08):
coming out, things are, things are going out, things are coming in.
Well, thank you so, so very much.
If somebody wants to meet you or connect with you, they can obviously
come into Press and see you in the flesh, but what's a good way for someone
who might be interested in either becoming a psalm or somebody that just
(43:29):
might want to ask you for advice from the industry?
Like what's a good way to connect up with you?
Yeah, it's a, I'm pretty, pretty easy to find on, on Instagram or, or my
email through the restaurant.
I'd say to kind of, kind of a catch all for that too, you know, the
court of masters, some liais and, you know, I've done WSET as well through the,
(43:50):
the diploma, like there's, there's a lot of great resources through both
organizations that I think answer more of the general questions surrounding
being a sommelier or studying in wine and education.
And I'm always, I'm, I'm an open book beyond that for anyone that has
questions can just reach out directly.
Cool.
Thank you so, so very much.
Again, I'm Andrew Allison.
(44:11):
This was Vincent Moro.
We are on Napa Valley Insiders podcast in support of highway 29 media.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This is the Napa Valley Insider Podcast.
(00:04):
Brought to you by Kuvei,
in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
All right, all right, all right.
Welcome back to another episode in Napa Valley Insider.
I am Andrew Allison.
I'm the CEO of Kuvei.
We make this podcast in partnership with Highway 29 Media.
Today, I have a guest I'm so excited to see
(00:25):
after many years.
Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, everyone.
My name is Vincent Morrow.
I'm the wine director at Press Restaurant
in the Napa Valley in sunny San Alina, the North End.
And yeah, I run the wine program there.
I've been there for about four years now.
And in full disclosure,
Vincent and I went to Harvard or the West together,
(00:47):
Sonoma State University.
What degree did you do when you were there?
So I did the business administration track.
There's, you have to pick a focus
after your sophomore year or so.
I went with wine business systems
and eventually also finished with a marketing focus as well.
Yeah, same.
(01:09):
One point was a double major in computer science,
but that was 0809 when classes were getting cut.
And I was like, I don't wanna be found wilder
and be here for eight years.
I did wine in finance.
And I think I'm like a credit from an econ minor, but anyway.
(01:29):
But that's where we originally met.
You were in a different fraternity.
So we kind of were in the same social circles,
maybe aware of each other.
Maybe had a few classes together,
but the campus is not huge in the Greek life program
at Sonoma is not the largest.
But can you just share a little bit about
your upbringing, what got you to Sonoma?
(01:50):
What did you do at Sonoma and post Sonoma?
How did you get to the role that you have now
in the industry?
George, so I grew up in a town called Peoria in Arizona,
basically a suburb or not even a suburb
but outskirts of Phoenix, played soccer growing up.
And one of my youth coaches when I was 12 or 13
(02:15):
ended up leaving our team to take an assistant coach role
at Sonoma State.
So that's how I first learned about the school.
And then fast forward to my senior season
and senior year in high school.
And none of the Arizona schools have men's teams
at the collegiate level.
It's all, I forget what intramural,
(02:40):
that's what it's called.
Okay, you remember.
And I knew I didn't want to stay in Arizona,
but I wasn't the most proactive college applicant
that my mother wanted me to be.
And I had actually got injured twice
in my senior year of soccer.
(03:00):
And one of the visits that I had had
or coaching visits was Marcus Seamer,
who's still the head coach at Sonoma State
after like 30 years.
He came to watch me at a Thanksgiving tournament in SoCal.
And like I broke my ankle like a week later,
two weeks later, I was playing football as well.
(03:21):
And then that spring, I was coming off of knee surgery
because I tore my meniscus and my knee
and didn't know it for about five weeks.
And then they were like, yeah, we just have to go in
and cut that out.
Cause you're not coming back from,
there's no like replacement for that,
at least at the time.
So I came to Sonoma State in the spring of 2005
(03:44):
two days off of crutches,
watched the team play, got to stay and meet with the team,
stayed on campus.
It was like a glorious spring, like 75 degrees.
And you know how it is when campus sort of wakes up
in spring, it's like, you know, people are longboarding,
all the girls are wearing shorts and spaghetti straps.
And you're, I'm a 17 year old kid, like, oh my God,
(04:05):
this is like, this is amazing.
So it was pretty, it was the only like real decision.
Option I had, I originally had an offer to go to Alabama A&M
on a full ride or soccer and academics,
but it just, it never happened.
(04:28):
It was like the original ghosting, if you will.
So yeah, Sonoma State was it and slained in
and moved to that fall.
And yeah, wine was a total afterthought.
It was not, had nothing to do with coming out here
and finding out how life works.
I mean, I just seem to remember, I mean,
(04:49):
it's not like there's a huge sports programs out,
how did Sonoma like lacrosse baseball and soccer,
kind of the only men's sports that really had
a ton of traction, even though our good friends played
on the tennis team, sorry, Scott, but I think.
Tennis is hard.
Yeah, tennis is hell of a lot.
I play like pickleball now with the courts here in Yontville.
And it's like, you see some of the locals,
(05:12):
older generation and they're crushing it.
And you're like, well, that's too serious.
I mean, I just, I'm just trying to get some blood moving.
Yeah.
So when you graduated Sonoma, where did you go?
How did you end up to the role you're at?
Yeah, so kind of a long, slow, methodical journey.
(05:34):
During the last few years at Sonoma State,
I was working at, I worked at a few different wineries.
I worked at Hearts Desire, the first kind of small mom-and-pop
that I worked for, got me my foot in the door
and they were super kind to me.
And then a few months after that,
I started working at Ridge Vineyards,
(05:55):
which is like globally renowned winery with two locations,
one in Hildesburg and then one in Cupertino.
And didn't really realize when I was interviewing for,
until a few days and I started doing research
and I was like, started to freak out a little bit
and got the role and had that for two years.
(06:17):
And during that role and...
Was that just a hospitality program?
Yeah, just working in the tasting room.
And I worked at another now defunct winery called Seed
on Attello and just across those three wineries,
I got a ton of education and also learned about
what Assemblee was from guests that were visiting.
And I was like, oh, I can work with wine from around the world
(06:39):
and wear a suit and it doesn't have to just be on Sundays
for, for two new meanings and formals.
And I was really, I was really into that idea.
And just someone was talking about the examination one day
and just how impossible it was
and sort of the mysticism that surrounds it.
And I was like, that sounds great. I want to do that.
(07:01):
And I had an opportunity to come work harvest in Napa.
So I did.
And as it starts 2011, I had a harvest position here
in about 10 minutes up the road in Rutherford
at a family called Round Pond owned by the McDonald family.
But for those that were in Napa in 2011
(07:22):
or California in general, it was a really kind of cool summer,
cool year. And I was actually able to fit in a harvest
in Southern Arizona and finish that harvest
before we even started in Napa.
So I kind of got two for one in that year
and that really like just reinforced, reinforced
being in the wine industry
(07:44):
and wanting to pursue the Assemblee attract.
It definitely reinforced that I did not want to make wine
for myself. So there was that.
And when you took the, I mean, it's become quite in vogue
with shows like, what's the new one on FX?
Is it Chef? What am I thinking of? What's the name of the?
(08:10):
Oh, Bear. Oh, Bear. Yeah.
It's like, yeah, a cat. Yeah.
I'm thinking of Chef.
It's good movie too.
Yeah. What, um, what was the transition from actually
working at a winery to getting into the restaurant
side of the business for you?
(08:31):
It was, it was brutal.
But it was, it was drinking from a fire hose.
So while I was at round ponds, the chef there,
RIP, Eric Masco was certified Assemblee
and he had taken the advanced Somalia examination twice.
(08:53):
And he was an incredible mentor to me.
And as harvest was wrapping up, one of their key tasting room
people was, had just given her notice and was moving on.
And it was, it was serendipitous because I had two,
two and a half years of tasting room experiences,
very comfortable with it.
(09:15):
Which was kind of like court and trial and Taste of Life,
but they were engaged and engaged in it for six years.
So they were working with cars,
but they had even service works at the winery.
So I knew the vineyards and the wine making pretty fundamentally.
So it was a, I think a really easy transition.
And at that same time, I moved to Napa proper.
(09:42):
And I knew I wanted to get into a restaurant or a wine bar and I was
frequenting a place called 1313 main, which was a wine bar that opened in
2011 and closed in 2017.
I believe the queue is now there on Main Street.
(10:02):
And I would go in on industry night.
I'd buy something.
I had no idea what it was kind of within my budget.
And actually one of my other fraternity brothers, Anthony Kostalik, was working
in a winery here.
So we'd meet up and I'd also like try to meet with, we try to make it a group
of three or four or something just to like, so we could taste a lot of things.
(10:23):
And that eventually befriended everyone working there and found out a good chunk
of the opening team was leaving and I approached the owner.
I was like, whatever, like whatever you need me to do, I'll do it.
Like I'm, I'm here.
I want to learn.
I want to grow.
And I actually was working two jobs for almost six months between the tasting
(10:43):
him during the day and then the wine bar at night.
And I was doing so to save money to go to France to work harvest.
I'm excited.
A former colleague from Ridge, who was connecting me to his friend in Bergerac,
which is just east of Bordeaux to work harvest.
So I was just pulling all my money and also studying and getting ready to take
(11:05):
some of the exams. So I was just like, you know, working 80, 90 hours a week,
studying, occasionally going out, doing all the things and eventually
passed the first two examinations and was offered the wine director role at the wine bar.
So there's so much to click on.
Your life is so fascinating.
I think for those that don't know the Psalms or the debut sets, can you just
(11:32):
give us like a one on one?
What are the levels and how much time or effort went into each of those levels?
Because you're saying them as if you just went and did them.
I mean, this is not like going.
Skipped over.
Yeah, this is not exactly like, you know, going on a milk run here.
So there's there's several organizations throughout the world that certify.
(11:56):
Wine knowledge, generally, well, all of them will have a theoretical element.
And it can be regional specific, like the Italian wine scholar, or it can be more
broad, like WST, which is the Wine Spirits Education Trust, or the CMS,
which is the Court of Master's, some of the others will also include a tasting
(12:20):
or blind tasting component.
And by blind tasting, I mean, you are.
Without any clue to what the wine is other than looking at it and seeing a general
color, you have to describe what it looks like, what it smells like, what it
tastes like, and using that evidence that you gather in the process to make your
best assessment, essentially an educated guess.
(12:41):
And it's just something you practice, just like with an instrument or a sport.
Where the Court of Master's homilies is unique in that we are the only organization
that also certifies for service and hospitality and business or a sommelier.
So you have to understand not just wine, but beer, spirits, cocktails, the
(13:04):
service of all of them.
And even at one point, cigars were included in that.
Fortunately, that was removed before I started.
But it's all encompassing.
And the first level, the introductory is, even though it's the introductory,
it's very in depth.
And, you know, fortunately, I had a few years of industry experience and also had
(13:27):
been working at the wine bar before I took it.
Because otherwise, if you were to start cold with zero wine knowledge or minimal
wine knowledge and to study for it, you need to put at least a few months in
of consistent study.
The certified examination, sorry.
The introductory, the level one is just a multiple choice test at the end of the
(13:48):
at the end of the two day course.
The level two, the certified sommelier examination is where there's then
a blind tasting component as well as a service component.
And that's just a test.
You just show up and it's a full day.
And if you pass that, it is a trademark you can call yourself a certified
sommelier.
(14:09):
And, you know, generally the gap in between for most people, I'd say is probably
another, just depends where you're at and what you're doing.
And how hard you've studied, but it's, it's a bit of a jump from level one
to level two.
And for some people that might be, you might be ready right away and you're
already sort of working in that role.
And for others, it might be another, you know, if you don't have service
(14:31):
and blind tasting practice, it could be three months, could be six months.
For me, it was, I think five or six weeks in between, but I was already like,
like, like rolling with momentum.
And I just, I was ready and I, you know, I signed up and, and I was ready.
And took a shot at it.
And when you said that the transition from winery to into a restaurant was,
(14:55):
was very hard, when you think back on that, which aspects were the hardest
parts of it?
Because it seems like it was max bandwidth based on what you just described.
Yeah.
But beyond that, what, what were some of the other aspects of it?
I mean, they, when you look at the country in whole, maybe you can give the
folks that listen, how many master Psalms are there?
(15:18):
And then once you break that up, like, I don't know any that come from your
background or your race or your culture.
And so it's just like, I think it must have been hard for a million reasons.
Yeah.
Pretty, pretty much all of it.
So that kind of touch on two things, the restaurant aspect and then sort of the
demographic of master some of these.
(15:39):
So going from a winery into a wine bar that we had minimal food, I mean,
the kitchen was the size of a closet.
You could hardly call it a kitchen.
There was no burners.
There's no, there's, there's nothing.
It was really just cheese and charcuterie.
So the concept to me, like general simple restaurant concepts, just, they
(16:00):
occurred to me, but didn't like, you don't know what you don't know.
And while I was at the wine bar, someone that's a restaurant owner,
a regular that is now one of my best friends, Brian Leepa, was a captain
at the Françandrie and he would come, he had moved out from St.
Louis.
His wife was still hadn't relocated yet.
(16:21):
So he would spend his days off kind of bouncing around and he'd come in and,
and we'd, you know, we'd chop it up and just started hanging out.
And he was studying for his examinations as well.
And it, it, it was very clear to me as I was studying for the third level.
The advanced sommelier examination, which is, is a quantum leap from the second
(16:44):
level.
It's, it's such a massive gap.
Like you have to invest at least another, I would say year to two years of study
in between, um, to really like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's big boys.
It's, it's, uh, it's a lot more intense.
And I knew, I just knew in my gut that the wine bar was not going to get me there.
(17:07):
And I wanted to be in a place that was going to get me there.
So the wine bar served its purpose.
It got, it got you to where you were was your launch pad, but it was time to,
I mean, I, I was 24.
I could walk to work.
I was making pretty, pretty good money.
And I was getting to work with a lot of wine and running a program, but I knew
like, I was like, this is not the next get me to where I want to be.
(17:28):
So, you know, it was good in the short term, but I knew in the long term,
it was not going to be right.
So I started to, um, put it in, you know, ask Brian like, Hey, you know,
do you need Psalms at the front?
Sondri like totally naive, had no idea.
And what's a captain for those that don't know?
Uh, server, but in the sense that, you know, especially when a place is
(17:52):
calling their servers captains, like really think of someone that is owning
the entire experience for you and not just taking your order and giving
you silverware and share plates and then dropping a check.
Uh, or just think about it as proactive versus reactive.
I think that's probably the best way to think about like a true captain of
(18:12):
service in a, in an elevated, um, dining environment versus someone who literally
and in every restaurant has a different model, right?
You know, not every restaurant can give you all the time.
The server can't always give you the time and attention and it's not
supposed to be a five star thing.
It's like, you know, you want your eggs and bacon, great.
You want coffee, great.
(18:34):
Okay.
You knew thing else.
Great.
Like I'm going to leave you alone unless you need something type of thing.
So just, just a different thing, but yeah, um, captains, you know, and they,
and they, and they do well, you know, especially at top restaurants in the nation,
you're going to, you know, even then this is 12 years ago, you're going to
make six figures, no problem.
Like it's, it's that type of place.
So, so to move you along, you've worked in some of the biggest Michelin
(18:57):
star programs in the country, especially on the West coast.
Yeah.
So, um, I kept poking Brian about working at the front, Saundry and,
you know, wanted to be on the wine team and didn't really understand what
that meant.
And then he's like, everyone starts, you know, you start at the beginning as
a food runner because you need to understand the culture and understand
the restaurant and its processes.
(19:17):
So I left that wine director job.
It took a basically 50% pay cut to commute to work and to also work longer
hours and in a more intense environment and it's for less money.
Best decision ever made.
Although it hurt in the beginning.
And yeah, it was a whirlwind for three or four months.
I thought every day I was going to get fired.
Like, um, had, I think what can sum it up as we had a pre-shift or a, um, a
(19:43):
meeting before service, which is typical in restaurants to talk about the menu,
to talk about things.
And like on day four, the mater D or the manager asked me, said, Vincent,
what is the marking for the lobster?
And I was like, Oh, working a knife.
Like, I didn't, to me, the concept of a fish fork and a fish knife or
(20:05):
specific things, I was like, I, I didn't know what markings were.
And, um, yeah, it did just, I was a completely blank canvas.
And I think that actually played to my benefit.
Um, so no bad habits either in the sense that, no, nobody, you hadn't
worked in a different style.
Yeah.
They didn't, I didn't have to unlearn things, but I definitely had a lot to
(20:26):
learn.
So over the course of two years, I would be a food runner or kitchen server.
So assisting the kitchen with all things food related.
Um, I was a back waiter, which is assisting the captain or the server with
clearing tables of dishes, marking them for new silverware, filling water,
um, bread.
I mean, it sounds very simple, but it's, you know, to be a back waiter at
(20:49):
front, so under you got to hustle.
Um, you got to be super organized.
And you have to know the food and know all the wines.
You're basically, you've got to know everything.
You're not responsible for anything and everything.
Um, and then eventually an expediter, which is think about it like air
traffic control in the kitchen for all the food, um, is the best way.
You know, all these airplanes are trying to land at a certain time and then
(21:11):
you've got to hold them off and think about that as dishes are going out to
tables and you want to keep tables on pace so that they're not waiting 30
minutes between courses on a 10 course menu.
Um, but also not getting food shoved right in front of them as soon as
their previous dish was cleared.
And then, um, eventually got onto the wine team as the seller, some of the
so it was responsible for processing orders, inventory management, um,
(21:37):
assisting the some of the days during service, pulling bottles, opening
bottles, uh, decanting them into a, uh, a carafe or a glass decanter for those
that, um, don't know what that is, uh, to give the wine air or to remove it
from its solids, um, a whole host of things.
And it was just like everything I'd ever studied, everything, all the
wines I'd ever dreamed of, they were there and I was holding them.
(21:59):
And in many cases tasting them.
So it's like just this like Pandora's box of education that is, is invaluable.
And we'll come back to the, the seller work that you did at French
Laundry in a second.
Um, I just want to close off on the master Psalms.
Can you just take us through the demos of what, what that looks like and what,
(22:19):
what are some of the work that you're doing with the quarter, um, uh, the court right now.
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Yeah.
So, um, quarter master some liais was started in, uh, the UK in the 70s.
And, um, it's a, the American chapter was founded the year I was born in 1987.
So it's pretty crazy to think about, but, um, there are two as of last week because
(23:05):
the, um, Oceania, Australia, New Zealand just hosted an exam and had six new masters.
So 281 master some liais in the world since 1977.
And, um, four of, four of those 281 are black or African American descent, um,
myself included.
(23:25):
And it is decidedly more popular in the United States than it is anywhere else.
You know, we have at any point 40 to 60 people in sort of a testing cycle, um, each
year.
And, um, it only occurs once a year.
So it's, you know, it's not something you can just take a swing out, you know, next
week, if you don't, if you don't pass today.
(23:49):
Jason wise and the documentary Psalm made, made this a little bit of like a, um, a
cult hit in terms of introducing the world to what becoming a small yay is like.
How much of that process in what they show in the movie was similar to the process that
(24:11):
you had to go through that?
Like, would, would you say that it changed and evolved over time?
Or what shown in the movie is just like endless hours of like tasting and flashcards and.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's, uh, it's all consuming.
Um, if I wasn't working, I was most of the time I was studying.
I missed, um, because of working at places like the French laundry where, you know, you
(24:36):
don't take time off.
It comes when the restaurant closes, um, even for exams, it's really, it's really
hard to get a time away and because the restaurant has to operate.
Um, and if you're not working, you're studying.
And so you miss, you know, nieces and nephews being born, you miss weddings,
hanging out with friends in general.
(24:56):
It's like you have to, for a commitment of this name, you know, you have to, you
have to be able to balance that sort of, um, that, that ask yourself.
Um, because you're the only person that can, can determine that.
And I think a lot of, um, what is depicted there, you know, it obviously shows
the extremes because those are people going for the master sommelier examination
(25:17):
and not just, you know, not the intro or the certified, but yeah, if you're, if
you're going for the MS or the master sommelier diploma, there's, there's a huge
amount of, um, sacrifice that goes into that.
So, um, yeah, I had thousands of flashcards.
Um, I had maps that I would trace.
I had, um, you know, had I put this effort into college or even into high school,
(25:43):
like who knows that I might not be sitting here today, but it struck a cord with me.
And, um, yeah.
I mean, we started to cut you off.
What, what's some of the work that you're doing with the court right now to either,
um, increase recruitment or drive diversity or some of the other, um,
continuing education things that people need to do in general, once you get to the
(26:06):
level that you're at.
Yeah.
Um, so I'm a founding member of the diversity committee, which was started
four and a half years ago, um, and was the chairperson for three years.
And on the diversity committee, it was really trying to see everything the
organization was doing as well as the industry was doing and try to like filter
it through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and, you know, look at our exams
(26:31):
to look at our educational content and say, like, is this really, uh, are we
speaking in terms that are really, truly, um, accessible?
Um, you know, we've looked at things like, uh, you know, we're not just the United
States where the America's chapter and we're also a global organization.
The America's chapter has South Korea, uh, or is operates in South Korea, um, South
(26:55):
America, North America, Canada, Central America.
So, you know, we just started offering, um, uh, examinations in Spanish and Korean,
which is significant the first time in 50 years of the organization.
Um, so that's just a little bit of a snippet of that.
Um, on the, um, also a board of directors member, uh, two years into, into that
(27:20):
role, and that's really like the heartbeat of the organization from a, um, you know,
just like any organization from a planning and fundamental standpoint and all
committee, all committees kind of exist through that, um, and report to that.
So education, examination, diversity, finance, um, we kind of see, it's, it's all
the, it's all the guts, all the inner workings underneath and, you know, we're
(27:43):
responsible for the, at the very least planning the framework for the future of
the organization.
Um, so that's been a, you know, to have come from passing in 2019 to now being
on the board is really, um, yeah, it's, it's really fulfilling.
What do you do on continuing education for your role?
(28:04):
Um, with the court.
So, do you have to get retested every five years or do you have to?
We don't.
So that's, um, I think that's a part of why the examinations are so difficult and
ever-evolving and changing because there, there's this, this onus, especially the
master sommelier level that you have to not just has done sort of what the
(28:28):
content is in the exam, but how did, how did your thought process get you to that
correct answer?
And that it's that, that middle piece is what we're so focused on.
And that, like the deduction, the logic.
Yeah.
You have the ability and the deduction and the logic to take on an entirely
new, um, entirely new things.
The wine industry is always changing.
(28:49):
And to be able to understand that, uh, very quickly and to learn that and know
that it's not just, okay, here's the syllabus.
Here's the rulebook.
Go learn it.
And, you know, you, that, that, that is possible.
That is, you can, you can do that.
It's memorization, but can you actually, um, um, push yourself to, uh, uh,
(29:13):
I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of the, trying to think of the, the word or the
term that would really make the most sense for people listening, but you have
to have this ability to like understand what's important and relevant and not,
and learn that and be able to translate that.
Is it?
I perceive it as an immersion.
I really believe the, this is somebody who's not done it.
(29:34):
I'm just like a lowly W set too.
But when you think about the experiences you've had, you've had, you've had
it's really this like coming of age where you had to go so far into the
sellers at French laundry or a place where you had so many reps that you net.
That's how you got your 10,000 hours.
(29:56):
And without the hospitality programs and without, uh, the service and in the
back of house, the front of house and all the things that you did to collect
your 10,000 hours, like that was your immersion.
And, um, I, I've never wanted to work in a kitchen.
I don't think I ever would, but I don't think doing any level of Psalms
makes sense for me just because I, I don't love like you talk about it.
(30:21):
I don't love aspects of it.
Like, like you described, dude, do I want a higher level of wine education?
I'm obsessed with this space.
That's all I think about.
It's all I talk about, but I love the sales.
I love the marketing.
I love, I love fonts and copy and create.
And those are things I love, but you love what you love.
Yeah.
(30:41):
And that's, that's rad.
Like everyone has their thing.
And for me, it's just whatever it is about wine or beverage that, that speaks to
you, like that's important to me.
And I think that's kind of transcends beyond just wine.
Um, and it's really more the hospitality side that speaks to me.
It's like being on a, like being on a team at Sonoma State and like, you know,
every service feels like that, of, uh, you have your team and, you know,
(31:04):
what the, what the goal is and what you got to do.
And, um, I think that's why restaurants, uh, also I kind of gravitated towards
that, just that adrenaline or that sort of rush.
Can you share, and I mentioned a second ago, um, but bear, how has shows like
bear in restaurant culture and pop culture, like starting off with, you know,
(31:26):
Bourdain and the kitchen confidential book and then all of his TV shows.
Like what, what was it like?
Like what was it like working at like a mecca of culinary culture at the French
laundry?
Like when you were in the cellar, like what, what were some of the things you
like pinch me moment?
Like, can you share one with us?
Yeah, I would say probably my third day as a food runner, I'm walking up the
(31:50):
stairs to the second story of dining room at French laundry and I have
oysters and pearls in my hand with, um, two other people because we're walking
to a table of six.
And it was just like, this is the most iconic, most photographed dish in the
entire restaurant group.
Um, arguably dishes in the world for any restaurant.
And I am like about to take it to a table and describe it.
(32:14):
And that was, that was like, Oh my God.
Um, yeah, on the wine side would be day one, um, training as a cellar sommelier.
Or it was really more of a follow.
I hadn't been offered the position yet, but I had just left the expediter
role, which is, you know, that ties very much into the bear and that sort of
(32:35):
like anxiety.
But, um, I was following, um, uh, one of my colleagues who was the cellar
sommelier and they allowed me to basically follow and hang with her for a day
and do all the things.
And it was like, she didn't even really have to describe or tell me what to do.
She said, so this is this task and you, and then like, she would show me
(32:55):
and then I would do it.
And she's like, and just that, that whole day I was, I was like, I was on
cloud nine.
I was floating.
I'm seeing all the bottles, holding the bottles, even remedial tasks, like
folding napkins for wine service and stocking wine for by the glass service.
I was just like, I was jacked all day on it.
(33:18):
Like that feeling is, it's unforgettable.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Thanks for sharing.
Um, so.
So let's jump ahead.
You have worked in a bunch of Michelin star restaurants.
What's it like to work in a Michelin star restaurant?
What, what is the clean and clear difference between that caliber and everything else?
(33:41):
Like, are there some like major themes, like major quick identifiers?
I mean, like I, I can't turn my sales brain off when I go into like the real
world and I'm always thinking about businesses or whatever.
But you must have an experience when you walk into a kitchen anywhere, or when
you walk into a restaurant anywhere, you must have like this, like running
(34:01):
stream of consciousness of like, Oh, this is right.
Oh, that could have been better.
Or maybe, maybe I would do this if I was them.
Yeah.
I think anytime, uh, stepping into a kitchen is just respect and admiration
because like you said, I mean, I've always wanted the, uh, I've always thought
about like cooking and just my, my whole philosophy around cooking at home
(34:26):
has completely shifted and changed and evolved and gotten an arguably improved.
Uh, even since being a food runner at the French laundry and just seeing
how things were created and how much care would went into, um, different
types of cuts that are typical in French cooking, like a Julianne, for
example, um, or a Parisian, any sort of every, every detail.
(34:49):
And I think, um, detail is the thing between, um, Sonnehaus and Bacca
House that really stands out as well.
That is hard to turn off, um, even when walking into any sort of restaurant.
But, um, yeah, details.
And I think as far as what's, uh, is most what, what separates Michelin or
(35:11):
Michelin aspiring or Michelin adjacent restaurants, basically restaurants
that operate on a, on a super high level of not just service, but also hospitality.
To me is the intention behind everything.
It's not just we do this because it's the way we do it.
And, you know, to me, that's very service.
That's mechanical.
Um, there's a why behind it.
(35:32):
And there's an intention behind it.
As far as, um, why do we ask guests for, say dietary restrictions and allergies?
It's, uh, yeah, you don't want to kill somebody.
You don't want to hurt somebody, but there's also like, there's an intentionality
behind it.
I think a hospitality aspect behind it of really wanting to, to genuinely take
(35:52):
care of guests and be able to create a dish that is going to be satisfying for
them, that they feel like someone cared about what they were putting in front
of them, not necessarily, okay, we just made sure this didn't have nuts in it.
Cause yeah, we don't want you to, you know, go into anaphylactic shock.
Um, all the way to customizing menus or during service, listening to not
(36:15):
eavesdropping, but using your ears and your eyes to build a better
experience organically for a guest.
Um, like on the fly almost exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
Or like, you know, Patrick Mahomes calls a place, first three reads don't work.
What he's not going to give up.
It's like, you're going to figure it out.
And where you see something that develops that whatever, you know, and I think
(36:39):
that's why, uh, from a sports background, why hospitality and why service is really
always interesting and fulfilling for me.
Cause every day is, is, is different.
And I think that's, that's what Michelin is versus just having a restaurant.
That's just, you know, it's, you know, transactional, something that is much
more, um, that has much more substance and depth than just being transactional.
(37:04):
Um, to use an analogy, it's, uh, you know, the, the same martial arts moves
that white or like a white belt level versus a black belt level.
It's the same moves.
It's just the ability to execute those moves.
And it's really, um, the intention, like you said, no, that's, that's really,
that's really incredible.
Um, right now.
Where are you working and tell us what a day in the life is like.
(37:29):
Yeah.
So, uh, about 10 minutes up the road from Yachtville, uh, press restaurant in
St. Alina, uh, was started in 2005 by Leslie red, um, the late Leslie red, who's,
you know, uh, to me an eponymous figure in sort of the modern era of Napa Valley,
you know, really started press as a means to champion the valley and its people
(37:51):
and the wines that are made here.
Um, we have the largest collection of Napa Valley wine for any restaurant in the
world or one of the largest collections.
It's an 11,000 bottle cellar, um, about 2,700 different unique selections of
wine from, um, Napa Valley wineries, vineyards, uh, and winemakers.
A day in the life is, uh, it's pretty different every day, but the sort of the
(38:16):
general framework is usually get to work around noon or 1pm sometime in there.
And, um, drop my stuff in the cellar, kind of take stock of everything from the
day before, look at if anything needs to be reordered, like it's, um, sort of the
the state of affairs, if you will, and just make sure, especially as the person
(38:36):
that is responsible for ordering an organization that, um, that we are
organized and that we are prepared.
And then, um, generally looking ahead at the day as far as what needs to be done,
um, as well, it's, it's a lot of, honestly, it's a lot of project management
in a sense of what are we doing right now to stay, um, stay stocked and to stay
(38:57):
well managed and to, are there any holes in the list that need to be filled?
What is the staying on top of the menu as it changes because we're hyper
seasonal, we have about six or seven major changes on the menu every year.
Um, this California, we can, you know, we have right now, uh, squash as well as
(39:18):
peppers and tomatoes, which you don't really get that in many parts of the
world, but we have such a unique climate here.
So it makes for a really interesting, always evolving, always changing cuisine.
Um, and then sort of, um, a lot of a lot more high level things.
We're getting ready to open a, uh, a second project next door here in the,
um, hopefully in the late fall, early winter, and then we're going to be
(39:41):
working with the management team to also think about what sort of the
evolution of the restaurant is from a, uh, service and aesthetic, uh, setting as well.
It's, uh, we have a, you know, our big capstone post harvest celebration in
November, which, uh, which I am a big part of the planning on the wine side.
So we're going to be working on that.
(40:02):
So we're going to be working on that.
So we're going to be working on that.
So we're going to be working on that.
So we're going to be working on that.
And really dramatic for, uh, uh, we're going to be working with that if you
can, you know, it's the new mama that wouldPE on there so thatirt.
It, that set us up.
(40:23):
That means, at some point in our teamwork project, the way that we צ!'
We're really excited about that right now, but we'll still get,
you know, a little technical time Patriots still going to be working on that
accolades lately and you personally have won some accolades over the last couple
of years. Like maybe you could share some of those.
Yeah, absolutely. On the, on the cuisine side and service side, we received a
(40:47):
Michelin star and at the end of 2022, which we've maintained for three years
now, and that's, you know, really the pinnacle for restaurants around the world
from a service and cuisine perspective through that organization.
They have recently started recognizing beverage and bar programs in some ways.
(41:11):
And that was the summary of the year for California in 2022.
And in that same year, we also received the grand award from Wine Spectator,
which is a magazine that was started back in the, back in the early 80s by
Marvin Shinken, and they have a restaurant award program that recognizes
(41:36):
restaurants for their wine, for their wine list, for their collection, their
depth, their variety, and a good means of supporting sort of the ecosystem of wine.
And there's 93 restaurants in the world that have a grand award.
It's almost like three Michelin stars.
There's very few in the world that have it.
And we are one of two that has a regional wine list.
(42:01):
Most restaurants that qualify for and, and or receive the award have rest,
you know, big sellers, lots of selections, but it comes from multiple
countries generally in multiple regions.
But for us, and then one other restaurant in, that's in Bonne in Burgundy
called Lotte de Bonne, they have an almost entirely a list consisting of wine
(42:25):
from Burgundy.
And then for us at Press, we have almost exclusively, our entire list is
Napa Valley wine or Napa Valley adjacent wine, I like to say.
Yeah.
I mean, this was, I mean, this is a little while ago, but I was with Dominic
Chappellet and he said they were sourcing some, he told me this story of how
(42:46):
he was sourcing for a library tasting and they couldn't find a bottle that
they were looking for and they were able to find it at Press.
At Press, yeah.
I'd say it's like a, it's like a living museum, organic museum and that, you
know, it's not all just there for show.
Like you can absolutely have it and it's constantly, constantly things are
(43:08):
coming out, things are, things are going out, things are coming in.
Well, thank you so, so very much.
If somebody wants to meet you or connect with you, they can obviously
come into Press and see you in the flesh, but what's a good way for someone
who might be interested in either becoming a psalm or somebody that just
(43:29):
might want to ask you for advice from the industry?
Like what's a good way to connect up with you?
Yeah, it's a, I'm pretty, pretty easy to find on, on Instagram or, or my
email through the restaurant.
I'd say to kind of, kind of a catch all for that too, you know, the
court of masters, some liais and, you know, I've done WSET as well through the,
(43:50):
the diploma, like there's, there's a lot of great resources through both
organizations that I think answer more of the general questions surrounding
being a sommelier or studying in wine and education.
And I'm always, I'm, I'm an open book beyond that for anyone that has
questions can just reach out directly.
Cool.
Thank you so, so very much.
Again, I'm Andrew Allison.
(44:11):
This was Vincent Moro.
We are on Napa Valley Insiders podcast in support of highway 29 media.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
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