Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/990824
32 / the tasting panel / june 2018 What role does training play within your organization? With different concepts and wine lists, how do you prioritize your team's education? Training is an essential and never-ending part of what we do. Given the ethnocentric nature of most of our lists, we find the first priority to be geography and then indigenous varietals. From there we're able to dial down more specific producers, regions, and so on. SommCon just awarded ten conference scholarships to young sommeliers under 30. What role do you think these professionals will play in how the industry continues to evolve, and what's a pitfall they should avoid? The younger generation of sommeliers will face a signifi- cantly more educated and diverse group of guests than us old guys dealt with at their age. It will be more important than ever before for them to stay current on industry trends and tastes. That said, I worry that the younger sommeliers are neglecting the classic regions and styles in pursuit of an unattainable and ever-shifting grasp of what is currently in vogue. As a new generation of wine consumer comes of age, how does your approach change to accommodate them along with perhaps the more established palates of Gen X'ers or Baby Boomers? Great wine is great wine. Regardless of age or experience, my hope is to always be able to put delicious wine in front of you. Even if you're enamored with fruitless, faulty orange things, there's a safe bet that delicious Champagne will make you smile. If you were to give a book from your personal library to a fellow sommelier, what would it be? Reading Between the Wines by Terry Theise, because you should never forget that wine is hilarious, religious, irrever- ent, and messy as well as delicious. What advice do you give to somms who don't pass their early attempts at getting their Master Sommelier certification? Fall down seven times; get up eight. You have five minutes and one glass of wine. Who are you with, what are you drinking, and what's playing? My old man; Domaine Weinbach 1999 Cuvée Ste. Catherine Riesling; and "You Never Even Called Me by My Name" by David Allen Coe. The Tasting Panel and The SOMM Journal are proud to serve as the media sponsors of SommCon D.C. (July 22–24) and SommCon San Diego (November 14–16). For schedule and registration details, visit sommconusa.com. Andy Myers, MS A ndy Myers has been in restaurants for all but 14 of his years: He found his love of wine while working at The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia, and never looked back. After a decade-long stint as Sommelier at CityZen with Chef Eric Ziebold, Myers moved on to become the Beverage Director for José Andrés' ThinkFoodGroup. Myers, who passed the Master Sommelier exam in May 2014, will appear in two panels during SommCon D.C. on July 23. The Tasting Panel recently quizzed the gregarious somm on his favorite wine books, advice he'd give his industry peers, and how he caters to multigenerational palates. BEVERAGE DIRECTOR FOR JOSÉ ANDRÉS' THINKFOODGROUP by Michelle Metter