The SOMM Journal

June / July 2016

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78 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } JUNE/JULY 2016 KELLY PETERSON BATES, SOMMELIER/WINE DIRECTOR OF THE BOARDING HOUSE IN CHICAGO, EXITS HER COMFORT ZONE AT COHIBA CUBAN CUISINE by Laura Levy Shatkin / photos by Jacob Hand A VETERAN RESTAURANT WORKER, the 32-year-old Kelly Peterson Bates studied music until she discovered her knack for tasting wine. Pursuing this passion, she moved to Chicago where she spent several years at Sunda Restaurant before meeting Master Sommelier Alpana Singh. Singh brought Bates in to open The Boarding House in 2012 and within two years, she was named Head Sommelier. "It was divine intervention to have the opportunity to work with Alpana," Bates says. "She took me under her wing and trusted me enough to run her wine program at Boarding House, which is the highest compliment," Bates says. A priority to Bates is the sommelier-chef relationship, collaborating daily with Chef Tanya Baker's contemporary, internationally inspired cuisine. Her other main focus is to keep the list global, broad and constantly rotating, with 250 selections at a given time. Bates also prides herself on discovering value gems. "It's easy for a sommelier to put a Grand Cru Burgundy on this list but much harder, in my opinion, trying to find gem wines in a certain price point then pass on this value to customers," she says. Offering reasonable prices encourages her customers to go out on a limb, take a small risk and try a wine they haven't ever heard of. "It took me out of my comfort zone to pair to Cuban food, but what a great challenge!" Bates says. She ultimately selected extremely "flexible and versatile" wines that made the traditional Cuban dishes, with has Spanish and French influence, shine. Laura Levy Shatkin isn't shy when it comes to asking a wine buyer out to dinner . . . as long as the buyer brings the wine and she gets to choose the venue! Kelly Peterson Bates's wine selections. Over a meal at Cohiba Cuban Cuisine in Chicago, Laura Levy Shatkin (left) chats with Kelly Peterson Bates.

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