Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/552044
{ SOMMjournal.com } 107 Michael Muser is no stranger to the fine dining world. After seven years of managing the beverage program at The Peninsula Hotel Chicago, he and then Avenues Chef Curtis Duffy took their Michelin stars, and in 2012, launched Grace in the West Loop. As General Manager and Partner, Muser was named Food and Wine's 2014 Sommelier of the Year. Grace, one of only 12 U.S. res- taurants with three Michelin stars, boasts a wine list without a single Bordeaux and Burgundy wine. That's not to say Grace doesn't have an enormous cellar: The list is 50 pages long and they have over 1,500 SKUs. With Duffy's all-dégustation menu, Muser experiments, mixing up his pairings options, fast and furious. "We are pairing like crazy so need the variety and intrigue constantly," says Muser. "I'd rather spend my life finding the gem varietals like these wines than swim around in the land of Chassagne or Montrachet forever," says Muser. He craves discovery in wine, and to this end, he only blind tastes at events to find his new products. "I've walked away from the typical wine list structure: We don't have any of the classic French, Australia, New Zealand, Chile or Argentine wines," he says. "I've run up that hill 100 times, and if I want my program to be anything at all, I want it to be interesting." Muser doesn't find anything interesting about pages of Pauillac or white Burgundy on a wine list. At the ripe age of 40, Muser tires of the classic devotees of Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet. "The older I get, the more these classicists annoy me. I'm not here to argue that these aren't the greatest wines in the world, but there's so much more to explore," he states passionately. Rather, he favors blending varietals that often don't have the opportunity to shine on their own and are rarely seen as single varietals on labels. These are the wines he finds most interesting, at this point. Muser's goal at Grace is to wake himself up, challenge himself and please his patrons in the dining room. "When guests open the list and ask why I don't have the collectible French, Napa or Australian wines," says Muser, "I tell them here's what I do have: I have five of the most exciting white wines you'll ever find." And crazy enough, he tells them, they are less than half the price of those wines. The dining room is lively with lots of smiles, eyebrows rising and, ultimately, satisfied customers. Michael Muser on Wine at Grace DISH 5: Fat rice (arroz gordo): jasmine rice layers with sofrito, Chinese sausage, curried chicken thighs, barbecued pork, prawns, clams, tea eggs and assorted pickles WINE 5: Quinta da Bica 2005 Dão This dish has lots going on and because of the amount of protein, Muser reaches for this red, a blend of Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro, Tinta Roriz and Jaen. "We go up a notch in body and intensity yet; the wine has chilled out from the aggressive teenage it used to be," Muser says. The fruit flavors of deep berry and pomegranate, balance with licorice notes and a hint of spice. This is masterful with the broad array of seafood, pork and shiitake mushroom soy sauce. "The herbaceous-ness of the dish is echoed in this bottle," Muser finds. The ten years of age benefits the wine's density, with "the world of the dead creeped in." DISH 6: Lamb vindaloo, shaved radish and lime pickle WINE 6: Quinta dos Barreiros 2006 Gravato Colheita DOC The Touriga Nacional grape, predominantly found in the Douro region, grows in rocks rather than soil. It's a tiny berry with small yields and high skin-to-pulp ratios make the extrac- tion intense at times. It's just the ticket for this fork-tender braised lamb dish with earthy Indian flavors balanced by a zing of pickle. The depth- and fruit-driven wine, with a hint of black pepper and dark berry fruit, still shows restraint, making it a rock star choice with the meat dish. PHOTO: JACOB HAND