Today’s increasingly complex menu preparations require a committed partnership between chef and sommelier. The best interests of customers are served when the master of the kitchen and the keeper of the wine cellar work in harmony to determine the best match between food and wine. But often, food and wine professionals jealously guard their domains. The best interests of consumers are served when territorial turf wars and oversized egos are set aside. The partnership requires the sommelier to have a comprehensive understanding of the chef’s culinary creations, theoretically playing a supporting role to the chef with intimate involvement with the philosophy and ingredients that will pass through the kitchen door.
Restaurant patrons look to a wine steward for help deciphering a wine list loaded with unfamiliar labels and varietals from wine regions around the world. (Ah, for the simpler days of red- sauced Italian food and Chianti poured from straw-covered bottles.)
The exemplary partnership between thirty-year old Chef Chris Kostow and Sommelier Rom Toulon, a young transplanted Frenchman, at the Meadowood Resort in Napa Valley isthe best example of this working relationship. Chef Kostow’s contemporary French cuisine blends Napa Valley’s farm-to-table tradition into elegant culinary creations well received by patrons. He has been awarded two Michelin stars, as well as numerous other e has received to Michelin starsHeMichelin recently awarded Kostow two starsawards, and notices in many publications. Toulon brings his European insights and expertise to Californian and New World wines. He stays in constant touch with Kostow’s inventive a la carte, four, or nine course presentations. Each time the chef develops a new dish Toulon tastes between nine and twelve wines in consultation with his knowledgeable and well-trained wait staff before handing down a final verdict on a desirable pairing. Even after all that consideration, Toulon leaves room for savvy diners to express their personal tastes and choose from the restaurant’ extensive wine list. The remarkable undertaking between this chef and sommelier needs to be emulated in dining establishments across the country. A partnership like this is rare, but when it happens, a dining experience becomes immensely more enjoyable.