The Tasting Panel magazine

September 2013

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/164544

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 46 of 162

A LONE STAR LIFE Real Somm Stories JASON SHERMAN, WINE DIRECTOR OF BRENNAN'S OF HOUSTON, IS REBUILDING AN ICONIC WINE PROGRAM by Anthony Head / photo by Kirk Weddle T Jason Sherman, Wine Director of Brennan's of Houston, knows that great programs are built mainly behind the scenes. hree years ago, as hurricane Ike barreled through the Texas Gulf Coast, a fire in Houston (which unfortunately caused both injury and loss of life) gutted the inside of Brennan's of Houston. In March 2010, a month after Brennan's re-opening, Jason Sherman walked into the restaurant. Eight months later, he was named Wine Director. It's been three years since Sherman began rebuilding the Brennan's wine program. "We had lost the entire stock," he recalled for me recently as we sat at Brennan's bar. "And it was all tremendous stuff. When I start thinking about the old ports that were lost . . . and the . . ." he looked up to the ceiling then back to me with a wistful smile recalling something lost forever. "I drool at the list that we had." Brennan's had anchored Midtown's dining society with Texas Creole cuisine since 1967. Rebuilding its wine program, Sherman admitted, was scary and daunting at first—for one thing, the restaurant seats over 400. But also because of the passion of its patrons, some of whom had been coming for 25 years. So what was Sherman's classy move? He asked those loyal customers what they wanted to see on the list. "There's a lot of history behind this place for many, many people. And they remember the wines," he said. "It's been hard tracking down some of the older Bordeauxs and Burgundies, but it's also fun." Wouldn't it be great, I offered, if cellar-building, hand-selling and researching could be the focus of the sommelier's job? Sherman, who is also an Advanced Sommelier with the Court, laughed at the possibility of such a world, and for good reason. He's has three somms working under him, so there's training going on. There are endless meetings on every conceivable business point. And then there's the never-ending "To Do" list of inventory control, stocking and accounting. "When I was younger and just considering this line of work," he says, "I would have never have expected to be spending so many hours each day typing at a computer," Sherman said. But he knows full well that it's all part of the internal mechanics that drive the kind of memorable wine program required in a place like Brennan's. "When a guest calls back and asks, 'What was that wine I had? I can't get it off my mind'—that's probably the best part of my job." 46  /  the tasting panel  /  september 2013 TP0913_034-62.indd 46 8/22/13 9:21 PM

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Tasting Panel magazine - September 2013