May 2004 Article                      

How to Select Wine and Turn it Into an Event Itself
An interview with Mark Jensen, wine director, Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, California

Mark Jensen, wine director for Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, California, says you should have some idea of what your audience likes in the way of wine. You can use that as a starting point, and perhaps, add some new choices. If yours is a Chardonnay crowd, for example, try introducing them to a good Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling. For the Cabernet and Merlot fans, give them a taste of Pinot Noir or Syrah. Wine affords a wonderful opportunity for education as well as pleasure.

For starters, Mark says, you, and the food and beverage manager you are working with, need to know your pricing comfort level.  What do you want to spend? Then find the best in your price range.

Mark says ¾ of a bottle per person for a meal is a good average. However, if you plan for one bottle per person, you’ll be ahead of the curve. And, you shouldn’t have to pay for bottles that haven’t been opened. So it’s better to round up. In terms of red and white, he recommends two of white to every one of red. 

For receptions where beer and cocktails are being served in addition to wine, the average will be just one drink per person. But, here again, if you don’t have to pay for unopened bottles, it would be better to have them on hand just in case. 

In a typical six-course meal, you would serve three whites, two reds, and one desert wine. In this case, plan for one bottle per person, including the reception. (This is based on 3 ounces per glass.)

Some suggested food pairings from Mark include:

• Early courses, Sauvignon Blanc, it’s crisper, lighter, more daytime
• Main courses, Chardonnay
• Lamb, a Cabernet
• Osso Bucco, an Italian wine with tannin
• Squab, Syrah
• Salad, Pinot Gris 
• Venison, Chateauneuf-du-Pape
• Sweets, a Riesling, White Zinfandel, something from Germany or Austria

The food and beverage manager at the facility you are using should help guide you to the most appropriate wine for your menu, Mark advises.

When asked if serving a local state wine at an event is a good idea, Mark says it can be fun if you know the wine. “You want something that will shine”, he cautions. In addition to California, Washington, and Oregon, there are lots of good local wines, he says, including in Virginia, Texas, and even, Long Island. 

Depending on the size or your audience, wine tasting can be a wonderful event unto itself. However, it should be the sole purpose of the event. Mark recently tried to do a tasting as part of a wedding reception and said it did not work well because there were too many distractions.

You need to allow a full hour for a tasting and limit the attendees to 50 or fewer. There are two kinds of tastings you can present: wine selection tastings or Riedel glass tastings. The Riedel glass tastings draw quite amazed responses, Mark says. 

The object of the Riedel events is to show how much the taste of a wine changes based on the glass it is served in. For example, you first taste a Cabernet in the glass designed for it. Then you pour it into a Chardonnay glass, and taste again. People are stunned by the change. You can even add what is called a “joke glass”, a glass of much inferior quality to see the difference.

You can serve four to six wines in a single tasting event. Mark likes to leave plenty of time to talk about each wine. He says people remember the wines better, and what they liked, if they can put their reactions into their own words.

Mark fell into the wine industry by chance. He was studying to be a chiropractor in California when a professor introduced him to a Chablis “that just blew me away.” Within a few years, Mark was in the wine industry. He has experience as a retailer, as a sommelier, and as a crusher at different wineries to learn the business from harvesting to racking. He has been with Bernardus since June 1999, directing their cellar of 1,800 wines. 

To learn more about wine terminology, varieties, and food pairings, Mark suggests books by Tom Stevenson or www.wine-education-service.co.uk. Find out more about Bernardus Lodge.

Editor’s Note: Two links from wine-education-service are particularly useful for basic information: a cheeky British site: www.decanter.com, and a U.S. one: www.wineloverspage.com.