The Weekly Q&A: Talking wine with Delilah sommelier Cristie Norman

SOMM KIND OF WONDERFUL

Delilah lead sommelier Cristie Norman reflects on her wine journey

BY AMBER SAMPSON

Cristie Norman might be new to Las Vegas, but she’s no stranger to the wine community. After becoming a certified sommelier at 21, Norman spent four years at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills, California, managing more than 15,000 bottles of wine. As lead sommelier of Delilah at the Wynn, the 27-year-old now serves in one of the most extravagant rooms on the Strip.

But that’s not all for which she’s known. Norman is the creator of the Online Wine Course, a consumer-friendly “driver’s ed course” to wine. She has hosted master classes for hundreds of sommeliers. And she co-founded the United Sommeliers Foundation, a nonprofit that financially supports sommeliers in need.

We caught up with the young expert to talk Delilah, her wine journey and how tea helped her find her way.

Describe your role at Delilah, and tell us what you’ve you learned there so far.

I’m the lead sommelier, so I’m in charge of the list and what goes on, what goes off and really curating the selections for the room. … It’s incredibly fun and challenging. Supply issues that have impacted every single industry have definitely impacted the wine industry as well.

We realized right at the beginning that we needed more high-end wine. We have the greatest wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy in great vintages, because that’s what people want to drink. Distributors have told me that we’re a very unique room, because we are selling so much large-format. … [But] no one was prepared for how much people were going to love drinking great wine in this room. You have an idea of what the room is going to be, but you don’t know until you’re open. It’s beyond my wildest dreams.

Which wines are you currently enjoying

exposing to guests? There’s something that’s been really popular in Vegas that I was very pleasantly surprised [about]: Amarone from northern Italy, from the Veneto. Amarone della Valpolicella. Amarone producers use a process known as appassimento. The winemakers dry out the grapes for three to four months, turning them into raisins, essentially, press them slowly and then ferment them until dry. Often there’s still a touch of sweetness on the palate and a figgy quality from drying out the grapes.

It’s delicious, and I often introduce Napa Cabernet drinkers to Amarone when they want to start exploring Italian wines. Dal Forno Romano and Giuseppe Quintarelli are two of my favorite producers of Amarone. People really enjoy it.

How does one become a certified wine sommelier by the time they can legally drink? And where did that passion come

from so early on? My first job was at a tea house. I was obsessed with this tea house; I would go almost every day when I was 14-15 years old. Tea has so much similarity to wine in [that] there’s different varieties from different countries, they have different levels of caffeine, they have different aromas. It’s very similar, if you think about it, except for the lack of alcohol.

So my first job was recommending teas; we had like 400 different teas on the list. [Later], when I was working at a steakhouse, I was paying my way through college, and I wanted to become a server. I was actually a barback. And when I was 19, I told them that I wanted to be the best server they ever had. They kind of laughed at me, but within a year, I was the captain of the restaurant, because I was learning about wine.

When I took the first-level somm exam a couple days after my 21st birthday, I actually had to email the organization to let me sign up, because I wasn’t old enough [yet]. … Through that process of taking the certified somm exam, I attracted a lot of people who were interested in not only learning about me, but also wanting to support [me]. … They gave me the tools and the knowledge to be able to pass the exam at such a young age.

You gave a lot back with the United Sommeliers Foundation. How did

that begin? We had a master class that was scheduled for March 16, 2020. Restaurants were shut down in Los Angeles on the 15th. We canceled that master class, and the master sommelier, Chris Blanchard, who was going to fly down, was really distraught. On St. Patrick’s Day, he texted me and was like, “What can we do to help the somm community?”

The bartenders have the [United States Bartenders’ Guild], and they were giving out financial grants and stuff like that. But there was really nothing we saw that was wine-industry focused. I said, OK, let’s start a GoFundMe, and I started calling all the people I knew around the country that I felt were really influential, to support.

We’ve raised over a million dollars in a year, and we’ve distributed about 1,500 financial grants to over 1,000 candidates. … And we supported more than just COVID. We supported those that were affected by the wildfires in wine country, and then also Hurricane Ida—those who are displaced could apply for funding and receive it without a physical address. … We assembled pretty quickly for that, and we hope to be around for a long time.

WEEKLY Q&A

Mentors are clearly a big part of being a successful somm. What does one look

for in a mentee? If you nurture and grow people who have a good attitude, they can be the best sommeliers. It’s really just about identifying those young leaders who want to make a difference and want to do good.

I have so much respect for people who have passed these very high-level wine exams, [but] I believe it’s about what you’re doing for others. We should be measured not by the pins that are on our lapel, but by the value that you bring to the world and how [we are] increasing the consumption of wine. How are we supporting wine professionals? How are we addressing some of the bigger issues in the wine world? There’s a lot of other things to tackle. And the first step is really bolstering the community on the ground. Somebody has to do it … and I think I’ll be doing it forever.

BIG THIS WEEK

STEREOGUM: THE NUMBER ONES In this series, writer Tom Breitling unpacks the history of every single that’s hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1958. (At press time, he’d reached December 1990.) Even if you loathe pop music and pop charts, it’s a great read. bit.ly/3CdNjIM

MOVIES

SILVER STATE FILM FESTIVAL AT CENTURY ORLEANS AXIE OH & VEEDA BYBEE AT THE WRITER’S BLOCK CHROMEO AT DISCOPUSSY

It’s been a minute since we’ve enjoyed the non-streaming film festival experience, but if you’re vaxed up and ready to mask up, Silver State has you covered with a weekend of local and international independent film, including a screening of Pj Perez’s UNLV-district documentary Parkway of Broken Dreams and Justin McAffee’s doc about the imminent dangers to our Mojave, Desert Apocalypse. Thru October 31, $15-$250. Orleans, silverstatefilmfestival.com. –Geoff Carter

READINGS

Downtown’s literary hub hosts two young adult authors, and we’re all ears. Las Vegas resident Axie Oh will share passages from her July K-drama, XOXO, which follows an ambitious cello prodigy who first meets a mysterious, handsome man in a karaoke bar, only to discover he’s a K-Pop sensation who doesn’t date (bummer!). Meanwhile, ex-journalist Veeda Bybee arrives with Lily and the Great Quake: A San Francisco Earthquake Survival Story, a harrowing tale centered around a 12-year-old Chinese-American girl and her fight against the elements—and the odds. October 29, 7 p.m., free, thewritersblock.org. –Amber Sampson

PARTY

Canada is the gift that keeps on giving—Justin Trudeau, Drake, Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber. And now at Discopussy, Chromeo. The north-of-the-border electro-funk duo kicks Halloween weekend into high gear with a DJ set of synth-pop, soul and, most appropriately, disco. The costume theme of the night is “creature feature,” so put on your hairiest or slimiest outfit and get on the dancefloor. October 29, 10 p.m., $10-$20, discopussydtlv. com. –Amber Sampson

OUR PICKS

FOUNDATION So: You’ve seen Dune and it’s filled you with a thirst for more epic sci-fi drama based on novels as fat as a brick. Try Foundation, inspired by Isaac Asimov’s book series, now streaming on Apple TV+. Desolate planets! Galactic politics! It’s got what you need.

Phish (Rene Huemer/Courtesy)

CELEBRATION

LIFE IN DEATH FESTIVAL AT WINCHESTER DONDERO CULTURAL CENTER

In honor of Día de los Muertos—a Mexican holiday paying tribute to family members and friends who have died—Winchester Dondero hosts a two-day event featuring an art exhibit, ofrenda contest, performances by Mexican dance troupes and readings of calaveras (humorous poems poking fun at the living). Craft and food vendors will also on-site. November 1-2, 5-9 p.m., free, bit.ly/2XCdeuN. –Evelyn Mateos

CONCERTS

PHISH AT MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA

After months of speculation, we’ll soon know: What Halloween trick does Phish have hidden in this year’s candy pillowcase? Past full-album Vegas “costume” sets have included The Velvet Underground’s Loaded, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and an obscurity by Scandinavian prog-rock outfit Kasvot Växt (actually a set of wild new tunes by Phish itself). Will October 31 deliver a familiar favorite by Neil Young, Radiohead or Frank Zappa, or some out-of-nowhere surprise? Prepare with three full nights of Phish, then behold the main event on night four. October 28-31, 7:30 p.m., $85+, COVID vaccination or negative test required. –Spencer Patterson

SHOW

AN EVENING WITH WHITNEY AT HARRAH’S

It’s easy to imagine a world in which Whitney Houston performs her own amazing residency show—one of the greatest vocalists of all time taking her rightful place on the Las Vegas Strip. Although that’s not our reality, her music will be celebrated with this intriguing new hologram concert production launching at Harrah’s Showroom from Base Entertainment, GFour Productions and Houston’s estate. Backed by a live band, singers and dancers guiding the audience through her many hits, that legendary voice will be celebrated in a new way. October 28-31, 8 p.m., $47-$92, Harrah’s, 702-777-2782. –Brock Radke