Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/992999
112 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } JUNE/JULY 2018 { somm vs. somm } WHEN A WINE-PAIRING dinner comes with the moniker "Battle of the Masters: Sommelier vs. Som- melier," you can expect the evening will be filled with either pretentious sips and swirls or fun and slightly irrelevant imbibing. As I arrived for the event at TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Irvine, California, in late March, I was prepared for the former but hoping for the latter. The duo engaging in the evening's viticultural warfare were Master Sommeliers and legendary enophiles Fred Dame and Peter Neptune, so the event's name wasn't merely clever hyperbole. Dame sent five carefully chosen French wines into the breech against Neptune's quintet of hand-picked Ital - ian labels, and it was up to the crowd of more than 100 attendees to decide which country—and whose selections—reigned supreme. PHOTOS: OC EVENT PHOTOS/BRIAN FEINZIMER Master Sommeliers Fred Dame and Peter Neptune: frenemies for a day. The Judgement of Irvine FRANCE OR ITALY? TWO MASTER SOMMS HELP DECIDE WHICH COUNTRY REIGNS SUPREME by Rich Manning