Written with Giorgio de Maria Fun Wines
A few great players bowed out this month: Pete Wells figuratively, Michel Guerard and Justin Chearno, sadly, quite literally.
NYTimes critic, Wells, wrapped up his column chastising the insidious creep of technology and its dehumanising of hospitality. He had it in for both the restaurants (online booking systems, ghost kitchens) and the diners (the instagram set). Will Guidara, of Eleven Madison Park, responded eloquently, arguing that technology can be used with grace and, perhaps more importantly, suggesting that if we (the media and the dining public) want to preserve hospitality, it’s not enough to complain when it’s gone, we need to put it on a pedestal now. “I’ve read a lot of New York Times reviews and I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve read anything about the hospitality and service …”
Wells’ prelude to the whinge was actually another whinge about the toll reviewing can take on a body and the presumed impact that has had on a number of critics that came before – he cited Leibling, Gill and Gold. Ruth Reichl had some thoughts on that this month and there was a lovely ode to Jonathan Gold in her newsletter – scroll down to the speech she gave about Gold as she was awaiting the sad news of his death:
“I thought that what we need is more investigative writers telling us the truth. And that’s not wrong. But now I see is that sometimes the softest words make the biggest impact. Jonathan wrote about delicious dishes in far-flung neighborhoods. He did not write an overtly political word. And yet he touched millions of people and changed an entire city. Those of us who want to change the world would do well to remember that stories that seem very small can turn out to be the biggest ones of all.”
Researching the Powerhouse’s Culinary Archive book Michel Guerard’s name has come up more frequently than anyone else through the 70s and 80s. He was (one of ) the godfathers of nouvelle cuisine in France; people like Phillip Searle, Tony Bilson, Cath Kerry, Peter Doyle were looking to Guerard for their inspiration and he is everywhere in their interviews. You may remember I also found his name prominently featured on the timeline at the El Bulli museum – indeed, the nouvelle cuisine movement was the only one lauded by Ferran (beyond his own!). Curiosity got the better of me and I bought his two books earlier this month: Cuisine Gourmande and Cuisine Minceur, two opposing concepts that were intwined in his quest for simplicity. An obituary can be found here, but for Australian context take the time to listen to this excellent podcast with Nigel Hopkins and Cath Kerry discussing that era in Adelaide.
While Guerard’s legacy is already in the history books, Chearno passed away unexpectedly, he was only 54. Co-owner of The Four Horsemen in Brooklyn, he’s remembered as one of the key proponents of natural wine in NYC. I didn’t know Chearno, or indeed anything about him, but have been struck by how many people have described him as a mentor, as someone who lit up a room, connected people and made the industry better (see his obituary in Grub Street here, or the link above for an interview with Aaron Ayscough and some further reading). Another life dedicated to small, positive interactions to make all the things better.
Producers:
Alice Feiring’s newsletter this month was all about sommeliers. The catalyst was the 2023 Best Sommelier of the World Competition. She was there as a judge for the Gerard Basset Lifetime Acheivement award and his ghost is scattered throughout her newsletter. “Gerard believed the most important character element for a sommelier was kindness and compassion.” Hear, hear.
This was no simple celebration of the somm, but rather a deep questioning of these kinds of events and competitions, of the system and the institution.“There is something confounding about modern organizations and wine education platforms that require top sommeliers to be schooled in cigar service yet ignore natural wine or how to handle wine service at a casual café or wine bar. This setting and this customer seemed not to matter. How is it possible that the system wants their profession to be linked solely to three-star venues and not bring the love of wine to all?”
Her angst focused not just on the type of venue but the sin of ommission relating to natural wine itself and, indeed, viticulture in general (see her insta post and the responses here). “When Arvid Rosengren (Best Sommelier 2016) spoke about the saké, he connected the beverage to the region, the water, and the local rice. None of the others said a word about the wines’ viticulture, farming, or terroir … I congratulated Arvid … for reminding the room that what we were drinking was an agricultural product.”
She conducted a survey with a number of somms to flesh out the topic, featuring some lovely thoughts from Josep Roca (El Celler de Can Roca) on the topic: “I am not in favor of sommeliers dedicating themselves to studying for Master of Wine. It is difficult for me to understand the cold, clinical look and the “international style” wines that do not always respond to my idea of wine … I bet on wine learning from a less calculated and more intuitive point of view.”
I also found this interesting: “I believe that there is a need to rethink some issues in the formation and characteristics of AOC, DO, DOCG wines… In any case, I think it is essential to raise a debate about how these schools only value typicity when they are wines that have sulfites. Visit the vignerons, feel their love, understand their processes, step on their soils, accept their diversity and naturalness. I believe that wine training can be based on diversity, from a more intuitive rather than academic perspective.”
There was also a profile (paywall) on Mads Kleppe, the Norwegian born/Georgia-residing somm who made Noma’s wine list 100% natural, a task he subsequently tackled for the Adjara group in Georgia (you may remember we discussed him in June’s Il Mensile). Aaron Ayscough also released a podcast ep (no paywall) with Mads this month, one that touches on many of the themes above.
Restaurants:
Of course, I can’t get through this month’s missive without mentioning the SMH investigation into the Swillhouse restaurant group. The dominoes will fall (apparently sooner rather than later, if Four Corners have their way) and I must say the silence of so many operators has been deafening. The exposé has been a number of years in the building, the issue a number of decades in the making, so no-one can truly express surprise. If the women are brave enough to speak up about what happened, the operators should be brave enough to speak up about what didn’t (I’m talking about making spaces safe, I’m talking about reporting crimes, I’m talking about taking firm and efficient action against perpetrators).
I do also think it’s probably a bit like our environmental woes – the past needs reckoning but the future really needs our attention. Personally, I don’t necessarily blame those in a position of power around me who didn’t speak up when I was mistreated because I wouldn’t have sex with one boss or another, but I would like to think that will be different for the next generation.
I also think we need to be thoughtful in the way we sweep alcohol into this discussion. Many of the beautiful bottles I have tasted have been generously shared at late-night tables of shuttered restaurants. Treated right this can be a great place to learn, not just about the wine but about the joy of sharing a bottle. It brings me back to Alice’s newsletter, who threw in a dig at the WHO alcohol guidelines which, she explains, are quite scandalously crafted by Movendi (whose tagline is “Development through alcohol prevention”). “In an era where alcohol is under attack, I hereby state that I believe drinking sensibly, and occasionally even to a beautiful excess, is a life enhancement that needs to be celebrated.”
Words:
A gentle segue into another deafening silence. Did any of you go to the animal orchestra at Barangaroo a couple of years back? “A great silence is spreading over the natural world even as the sound of man is becoming deafening,” Bernie Krause wrote. Krause’s work is back in the papers for the hour-long recordings he’s been conducting at the height of spring over the past 30 years, sitting under a maple in Sugarloaf Ridge state park, near San Fran.
“In his first recording [30 years ago], a stream of chortles, peeps and squeaks erupt from the animals that lived in the rich, scrubby habitat. His sensitive microphones captured the sounds of the creek, creatures rustling through undergrowth, and the songs of the spotted towhee, orange-crowned warbler, house wren and mourning dove … in April last year, Krause played back his recording and was greeted with something he had not heard before: total silence. The recorder had run for its usual hour, but picked up no birdsong, no rush of water over stones, no beating wings. “I’ve got an hour of material with nothing, at the high point of spring,” says Krause. “What’s happening here is just a small indication of what’s happening almost everywhere on an even larger scale.”
Watch his TED talk to learn more about him and his work.
Finally, for those needing a little reminder about all the gentle beauty intrinsic in our industry, I implore you to watch Chris Fischer, telling the story of the Obamas dining in his restaurant in Martha’s Vinyeard. It’s actually got very little to do with them, but so much to do with the simple pleasures in life and hospitality – he builds a story like you may think to build a meal: small details, accumulating to create the whole. From his Dad’s lobster pots as harbinger to summer to the fire of the grill spitting back at chefs throwing steaks down and the gentle architecture of a salad plated in his own restaurant. “I wasn’t raised on a farm, the farm raised me.” It’s beautiful.