OCTOBER 2023 ASI MAGAZINE
Anecdotes from a Sommelier Veteran With Henri Chapon MS
“When it comes to fine wine service, tactfulness is a skill that Chapon believes great sommeliers must possess.”
Anecdotes from a Sommelier Veteran
On one evening Chapon recalls he was working in the lounge, greeting guests, and discussing their wine selections for the evening. However, one table of two went straight to the restaurant without stopping in the lounge. The couple asked their sommelier, whom Chapon remembers as being Ronan Sayburn MS that evening, to decant a bottle of Mas de Damas Gassac. A wine the couple planned to enjoy later with their main courses. All was in order as Ronan decanted the wine, keeping the decanter aside until the table was ready to be served their main plates. The guest tasted the wine and declared it to be corked. Chapon says “as was customary, we graciously removed the wine and tasted it in the back. None of the sommeliers working that night, myself included, thought it was corked. Even Chef Raymond tasted it and declared it in good condition. Not knowing who we are dealing with, I asked the guest if the wine was subtly corked or obvious. Once he said it was ‘definitely corked’, I knew we should suggest another wine for fear that it was the tannic style of the wine, that the guest may not be enjoying.”
FEATURE ARTICLE
Henri Chapon MS, DipWSET has had a more than three decades long career serving at some of England and France’s most prestigious restaurants. One of those restaurants was the Michelin 2-Star Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, in Oxfordshire, England, alongside Chef Raymond Blanc.
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