Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/884376
1 18 / the tasting panel / october 2017 DOWN SOUTH T hanks in part to its surrounding region's long growing season, Charleston's chefs are riding a culinary crest that keeps them planted in the Lowcountry's rich gastronomic heritage, even as they expand the boundaries of Southern cuisine—a rooted restlessness, one might call it. Year-round produce complements the bounty harvested from the surrounding land and sea, and chefs also enjoy close proximity to local farms and fisher- ies, allowing them to forge enduring relationships with the people whose goods stock their kitchen larders. Despite the culinary accolades that continue to roll in as irrepressibly as the Charleston tide, wine seems to assume a complementary rather than integral role to the city's cuisine. "Unlike places in the Old World where grape-growing and wine production are an entrenched element of agriculture, the Lowcountry can't produce good wine, so it was never intrinsically tied to our local cuisine," says Erika Selheim, Sommelier at The Ocean Room inside five-star The Sanctuary Hotel at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. "A strong wine program has always been important here. It's just that the wine is not local like so much of the food on our menus." Garth Herr, Sommelier at critically- acclaimed McCrady's, attributes the culture to Prohibition. Until 2006, South Carolina's blue laws required all drinks to be poured from 1.7-ounce mini-bottles. "This really hampered the rise of a creative cocktail culture in Charleston—a bartender can only do so much with that regulated measure of liquor," Herr says. The stilted effect spilled over into all aspects of the beverage side of the industry, including wine, as distributors were unwilling to invest in the market. The transition to free-pour—as well as lifting the alcohol by volume (ABV) limit for beer—fostered an environment in which distributors found fertile ground for greater variety. Selheim also attributes the growth of Charleston's wine scene to the maturation of American wine produc- tion. "With that maturity comes more confidence, because these wines have proven themselves by earning interna- tional respect," she says. This confi- dence has emboldened savvy collectors with deep pockets who are willing to venture beyond the shadow of Robert Parker. That's good news for creative wine buyers like Selheim or Herr, as it allows them to unapologetically place New World wines on the same page as Old World labels. So what are Charlestonians and culinary visitors drinking? "Although The Ocean Room is a fine steakhouse, SOMMELIERS SPILL ON THE SOUTHERN CITY'S WINE SCENE by Bryan Hunter / photos by Paul Cheney Charleston Uncorked Garth Herr is the sommelier at McCrady's, helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock.