Finding the Next Great Wine, and the Next Customs Obstacle
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Emily Wines, the appropriately named master sommelier for Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, can taste up to 600 wines a day on some trips. |
It’s a job that just kind of happens. I wanted to be a graphic designer, and I have a degree in that field. But when I was waiting tables in Seattle, I realized that I didn’t know much about the wines being served. I figured I should learn more and started reading about wine. Then I was hooked. And after much study, I became a master sommelier, and was awarded the Remi Krug Cup, which is given to the single highest scoring candidate who passes all three portions of the master’s exam in the first attempt.
Now I find myself flying from coast to coast and around the world looking for the next great wine.
On some trips, I may find myself tasting as many as 500 to 600 different wines, all in one day. Trust me: that isn’t as much fun as it sounds. After about the 400th wine, something has to be really outstanding to make your mouth happy.
The biggest challenge I have with flying, and I fly a lot, is getting my wines from point A to point B, without something breaking or being confiscated.
You would think by now I would have this down to a science, but I don’t. That’s because I never really know when I’m going to find those bottles of wine that I just must have.
Most recently, I was traveling back to California from Germany. During my stay in Germany, I found some incredible German Riesling. I bought five bottles, which included a 1964 vintage, a 1976 vintage, my favorite year, and a 1973 vintage. I was born in 1973, and I always love to drink wine from that year.
I had a lot of clothes with me, but I managed to stuff most things into my carry-on bag, and leave a few items of clothing out to wrap the bottles before I placed them in the luggage. All was going well, until I landed and was going through customs.
The agent told me I couldn’t bring this much alcohol back with me. I said I could. He again said I couldn’t. I then recited chapter and verse the rules about carrying alcohol, explaining that the Transportation Security Administration doesn’t restrict the number of bottles if they contain less than 24 percent alcohol. All of mine did. It’s wine.
He then said, half jokingly, that maybe he could keep them. I laughed, a little warily, since I thought he was joking. He was. And me and my bottles got home safe and sound.
The T.S.A. and I always seem to have a few issues. If it’s not the corkscrew that I forgot to take out of my purse, it’s the 54 tiny little glass bottles of liquid aromas, technically called Nez du Vin, or nose of wine, that I sometimes carry with me.
I use them a lot in classes that I teach to help people learn about aromas like oak, fruit, flowers and spices that are found in wines. As my carry-on goes through the X-ray, it’s inevitable that I will be asked, “What are those?” Fortunately, once I explain their purpose, I sail through security. Everybody, even T.S.A. agents, likes wine.
And that’s the beauty of it. Seatmates always ask me what’s the best wine to get at a grocery or big-box store. And I always reply, the best wine is the one that you like. Never be ashamed of your wine choices.
After all, I’m the one who once poured a nearly empty bottle of one of my favorite wines into little travel-size shampoo bottles so I could finish it off during a trip.