ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gil Gordon is a contributing editor at Paterson’s Beverage
Journal and a wine broker. He is President of GRG Wine, Inc.
He attended U.C. Davis where he specialized in Enology and Viticulture.
Over the last several years he has been looking for ways to improve
the vast disparity between what customers expect from those who
serve them wine and what they actually receive. He discovered
and then confirmed that server’s need a guide, a thesaurus
of wine information; terms, flavors, textures, types, differences.
Working with growers, distributors, restaurant owners and servers,
Gil began to work on Wine Knowledge and Serving Techniques. A
sample of the DVD can be seen on this web site. He is currently
a consultant to the food and beverage industry.
INTRODUCTION TO WORKBOOK
Fine wines have always accompanied fine food but the quality
of service guests receive depends on training and especially
on knowledge. How many patrons return to their favorite wine
bar, hotel dining room or specialty restaurant because they
are well treated; the staff not only courteous but knowledgeable
and the service distinctive?
Wine Knowledge and Serving Techniques is a thorough, comprehensive,
and long needed course in exactly how to understand wine,
it’s sources, it’s vintners, and the infinite
variety of its tastes and feelings. Never before has such
an accumulation of information on such a vital subject been
available to those in the food and beverage industry.
The workbook contains an eight-page vocabulary of wine terms,
an analysis of red, white and rosé wines, a section
on the Six Main Grapes and Key Flavors, as well as winemaking
methods, wine groupings and defining paragraphs on the vagaries
of light-bodied, medium-bodied and full-bodied wines and
how to distinguish the differences.
In addition, there is a comparison of ‘Old World’ and ‘New
World’ wines and ten color pages of annotated wine
labels from all over the world so that servers can be completely
familiar with what information appears on a bottle of French
wine and how it differs from that of a Californian and other
world wines.
In a section entitled, ”If Your Customer Asks For .
. .” one of the examples in the workbook defines Chianti
as “not a grape, but a region in Tuscany, Italy, the
main grape being Sangiovese.” This information may
be well known to sommeliers, but what about the server who
needs to explain it to a neophyte patron?
A complete section on “How To Taste Wine” is
followed by one on “Serving Wine” and an explanation
of
“Perfect Service”. The workbook includes annotated
maps of wine growing countries as well as red and white wine
food pairings, a grape recognition chart and a pronunciation
guide, along with a handy server's pocket guide for quick
reference.
As an assessment tool to check for retention of information
contained in the workbook and on the DVD, a quiz is packaged
with the set. Wine Knowledge and Serving Techniques is the
culmination of years of experience by growers, vintners,
distributors, and consumers. It contains the ingredients
of careful study, analysis and dedication to the grape, from
those who grow, bottle, and enjoy wine. Your investment in
this three-part training workbook, DVD and Quiz can easily
be returned by one server and the establishment in one evening
and can be used again and again for continuing education
and for new hires. Training and knowledge-based confidence
is the key to good service.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to personally thank the following people for their
help in the presentation of these materials. To Michael
Denney, sommelier at the Ranch House in Ojai, CA, who hosted
the DVD and lent his years of experience to making sure
the film was the best it could be. To Dennis Little who
put together the workbook designed the cover and the advertising
materials and was there with suggestions and solutions
when I needed them. To Samaya Jones whose familiarity with
everything concerning wine helped in locating and correcting
grammatical and spelling errors as well as keeping me honest.
Additional thanks go to David Skaggs, owner of the Ranch House
in Ojai, Richard Keer and Joe Hurliman at Herzog Wine Cellar,
Giovanni Tromba owner of Table 13 and Bistro 13, Brendan Bense,
manager of the Tower Club in Oxnard, and Sheila Waldie, owner
of Sheila’s Place in Camarillo. These wonderful people
allowed us to invade their facilities and take pictures to
enhance the beauty and quality of the finished DVD.
To Neil Conway of Southern Wines and Spirits, Gene Downes of
Young’s Market Company, Karen Frazier of Classic Wines
of California, David Hunt of Hunt Cellars, Laird Maclaine of
Henry Wine Group, Blair Olson of Wine Warehouse and Bryan Radford
of J & L Wines. I am grateful for your willingness to provide
the much needed wines for the DVD and labels for the workbook.
Also for your enthusiasm and encouragement that this material
needs to be distributed to every retail wine server and owner.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank three
talented young owners of Trifaction, Tom Ryan,
Jesse Hagy and Rob Grabendike, the production company who shot
the DVD and totally got behind this
project and treated it as their own. |