Tableside Tales: Confessions from My Michelin Sommelier Days

People hear "I used to work the floor at a Michelin-starred restaurant group" and immediately picture something very glamorous — crisp suit and tie, perfect postur

e, maybe a little swirl-and-sniff theater for the table. And look, there WAS some of that! But there was also a whole lot of controlled chaos happening just out of view, and today I want to pull back the curtain on what that life was actually like.

The glamorous part people imagine is the tableside pour — presenting the bottle, doing the little ritual, pouring that first taste. What they don't picture is the fifteen seconds right before that, when you're reviewing notes in your head: is this bottle actually ready to drink? how is this vintage tasting right now? Is the guest at table twelve about to send back a wine because it's "too dry," when really it's just doing exactly what a tannic young red is supposed to do? You learn fast that half the job is reading the wine and the other half is reading the person drinking it — and honestly, that second half is the harder skill to build!

Then there's service pressure, which nobody warns you about until you're in it. A packed Friday night does not care that you wanted to walk someone through the nuances of a Burgundy — you've got ninety seconds, a kitchen that's firing, service lingo calling in your earpiece, and a guest who just wants to know "will I like this, yes or no." Learning to give someone real, honest guidance FAST, without making them feel rushed, is a muscle you only build by getting it wrong a few times first.

But my favorite part of that life, the part I genuinely miss, was both the camaraderie and rivalry amongst the Sommelier staff — blind tasting a flight before service, trying to guess grape, region, even vintage, getting roasted by your colleagues when you call a Cab a Merlot with total confidence. It's humbling in the best way, and it's exactly the kind of rigor that keeps a palate sharp.

I bring all of that with me now, except instead of a packed dining room, it's just you, your table, and zero pressure to finish the bottle before the kitchen closes. If you've ever wanted that same "will I like this, yes or no" guidance — but at your own pace, in your own home — that's basically the whole idea behind a private tasting. No rush, no suit required, just good wine and good company. Always happy to add a sommelier to your contacts whenever you're curious!