Chapter II

Tastings & Cellar Work

Three kinds of engagement, each printed with its price. Everything here is booked directly through Chapter III — there is no agency between you and the sommelier.

§ 1

Private tastings

A flight of five wines from rosé to golden white beside handwritten cards and a fountain pen in window light — Plate III — A flight set for the window table, cards at the ready.

A tasting at your table is a guided argument in six glasses. I bring the wines, the cards, and the order in which they make sense; you bring the people. Nobody is asked to smell blackcurrant on command.

The Six-Glass Evening$480
Six wines against one idea — a grape, a coastline, a price ceiling. For up to ten guests, at your home or a private room.
The Pairing Dinner$760
Planned with whoever is cooking: a wine for each course and a sommelier at the table for the whole evening. Up to fourteen guests.
The Blind Hour$320
Four wines in paper sleeves and one standing question: what would you pay for this? The fastest cure for label-drinking I know.

§ 2

Cellar & list consulting

Rows of dusty bottles with blank labels in a candlelit stone cellar with arched passages — Plate IV — A list is a cellar written down.

For restaurants, the list is the most-read page in the building and usually the least edited. I rewrite lists so that a guest can choose in two minutes without fear, train the floor to sell what the kitchen loves, and keep the cellar honest — what moves, what sleeps, what should never have been bought.

The List, Rewrittenfrom $1,800
A full audit and rewrite: structure, pricing logic, and thirty wines your room can actually sell. Delivered as a working document, not a lecture.
Floor Training, One Service Day$650
An afternoon of tasting with your team, then service together that evening. Staff sell wine they have stood next to.
Cellar Keeping, Monthly$400 / month
Stock review, buying counsel, and a rotating by-the-glass slate — a sommelier on the books without a sommelier on payroll.

§ 3

Corporate & events

A wedge of blue cheese with figs and honey on an olive-wood board beside a candle and a glass of white wine — Plate V — The pairing table, set.

Red wine being poured into a cut-glass goblet on embroidered linen beside a tealight — Plate VI — The first pour of the evening.

Offices book tastings for the same reason they book good coffee: an hour of shared attention is worth more than another hour of talking. These formats travel to your space and require nothing of the guests but a clean glass.

The Office Hour$38 / guest
Four wines, one story, sixty minutes — after the meeting, before the weekend. From twelve guests.
The Client Dinnerpriced on the room
Pairings and table service for the dinner that matters — planned with the venue, hosted without theatre.

To put a date to any of the formats above, fill in the request slip overleaf.

Turn to Chapter III — Booking