The chef finds a vineyard and the story begins
People often ask me, being a chef, how I got so involved in the world of wine. It’s kind of an interesting story, which I’ve been trying to imagine myself telling for some time now.
I have recently been given an award to continue my long journey to become a wine professional. It was a crazy thing for me. It made me think about my journey through this whole process and why I got involved in it to being with.
So I’m going to tell you my story. Whether you want to hear it or not, I’m going to tell it...
I’ve always loved wine. I grew up with it being around. I remember being in a dining room of a house, watching people enjoying themselves with a glass of wine and some food. Each person was laughing and conversing over the kitchen counter or dining room table. You have heard me mention before why I got into food, so it’s no surprise that I would take a liking to the world of wine as well.
When I had the chance to go to Italy for school, that’s pretty much when I decided I was sold on the whole package. We were spoiled. We went through vineyards and wine regions that other people will never go to in their lives. Just think of the rolling hills of Tuscany and Umbria in the background of dinners that were eaten outside. Long tables filled with pasta, bottles of wine and charcuterie. Life was good man.
When we went on a tour to Lungarotti in Umbria, I remember people in my class behind me making noise and not paying attention to what the tour guide was saying about the vineyard. I however was in there close to the front, listening intently about whatever she was saying. There was one point on this trip when I literally bent down while walking in vineyard and grabbed the soil to rub it between my fingers.
We had wine tasting class in our school. Our teacher was this well dressed younger man, with a shaved head and a wonderful soft accent. We would compare Amarone to Barolo and talk about drying grapes to fortify the sugar. Our classroom was so hot and people were clearly loosing focus, but I was at the back smelling away, writing down everything that guy had to say.
I came home from Europe a changed person, for many reasons. I had other passions I could see that were not only in cooking food and feeding people.
I got a job at a winery in a new emerging region of Ontario. I didn’t know anyone who lived in the town and didn’t have a car. I was out there by myself and I barely had any money at this point of my life. I was still paying back bills from travelling. So when someone offered me a job at a winery as the chef, I said sure why not!
We didn’t really even have a working kitchen and I slept in the vineyard house that everyone thought was haunted. The amount of stuff we pulled off with what little supplies we had was actually comical, but that’s the hospitality industry in a nut shell for you. I loved it though. I had a big garden and they let me cook the food I wanted. We made everything in house and worked hard to make it a destination that people would want to go to. Between services, I would go out to the garden and the vineyard to see how everything was growing. I would always ask the winemakers what they were doing back in the production area and even helped them during the harvest season that year. I remember punching down the grape must and turning it, while still being in my chef whites, thinking man this is pretty cool.
After that year, I took some courses with the LCBO, but nothing too intense. I knew I wanted to go back to school and learn more, but at this point I didn’t really know how to do that. In our world, there are no clear answers, so it’s best to ask people who are doing it or have been in the business for a while.
After spending time out west and working for a hotel, I met some food and beverage managers who encouraged me to go take a proper wine education program when I went back to Toronto. I also took a trip Kelowna during that time, which at that point made my head almost explode from imagination. When I came home, I started an education program to learn more about wine and I never really stopped learning professionally after that.
People in the kitchen generally don’t give a crap about wine. This might be a generalization, but I see it as the truth. They care about cooking and cooking is it. Getting the next job as a chef or cooking at the next cool place. Those of us who get it, understand that to successfully run a restaurant or work in food, you have to understand wine. It is one of the most important things that you can educate yourself on, to understand food and history even better.
So from going to Italy and understanding more about life, to working in the back of a winery and punching down grapes, I've become hooked. I am constantly enjoying wine for what it is and what it could be. From looking at the history behind it to trying to understand better how it works with your senses and food.
Last month I won a scholarship. It was awarded to me by an association for women, run by women, so other women can push their careers farther and grow more. I rarely applied for scholarships in the past, because I didn’t think I would ever get one or that I didn’t deserve one. That was pretty dumb, but that was really what I thought. So this past year I applied for one and to my big surprise, I was given one. This really did rectify the fact that if you try and if you want something, you can indeed go out and get it. You’ve got go get it yourself, but you can go and get it.
I’m not sure what I said when I got it, but it was probably some like yes girl! In an industry where women have to work that little bit harder, it felt really good to get that piece of paper. I never wanted to make this post about equality, but it really is something that has to be spoken about in the hospitality world. The generation of women before me, have to be thanked by me and the rest of the ladies because they had to go through way more crap than us to get to where they are.
When I looked at that paper, I just thought about all the people that laughed at me for what I wanted to do and never took me seriously.
My journey in the wine world isn’t done yet. I have a lot of work to do before I get anywhere, but then again everything requires work. I plan on one day wearing that power suit and talking to people about food and wine. For now, it’s time for me to go back and study, so I will be able to pass this Sommelier exam at some point.
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