Welcome Wine Fest
by Leslie-Ann Sheppard
owner of The Cellar on Surfside Road.
This year brings the 14th annual Nantucket Wine Festival to the island. This has inspired me to think back at the previous years and reflect upon what the Wine Fest has meant to me as a wine professional.
The first Nantucket Wine Festival that I attended must have been the 3rd annual, back in 1999. I was waiting tables at American Seasons, and working part time at Fahey & Fromagerie. You remember Fahey’s, right? That awesomely busy European style gourmet food-ery and wine shop? I worked with Michael Fahey at his table at the Grand Tasting out at the (very rainy and cold) Sconset Casino. The Casino was bursting at its seams with wine and wine drinkers. The enthusiasm was absolutely contagious. And it was FUN. It wasn’t very fancy; it felt pretty casual and there was plenty of good cheer from patrons who were in it for the fun. There didn’t seem to be a lot of ‘spitting’ going on; people were attending a long and generous cocktail party. Maybe it was the bad weather that made it feel casual, with everyone wearing rain slickers and wellies. Back at American Seasons, we hosted a winemaker dinner; the food was excellent and seemingly never-ending, the wine flowed, and those in attendance left thoroughly satisfied.
Professionally, the next few years were similar for me; I waited tables and worked at Fahey’s, but my interest in wine was cultivated, largely due to my environment. American Seasons did not have a sommelier at the time, and we waitstaff were required to attend several wine training sessions. Most of my colleagues were not happy about showing up at 11 a.m. to taste through dozens of wines on the wine list. I, on the other hand, remember leaving one of the trainings and declaring to my friend, “I could do that everyday.” A passion had been born, and was further encouraged by my work at Fahey’s, and my travels to the world’s wine regions during my time off- during the winters.
I left both jobs when the opportunity arose to become the wine buyer and sommelier at Oran Mor under Peter Wallace’s ownership. I loved this job, in particular working with Peter’s menu to choose wines for the list that would harmonize and bring diners’ experience to another level, and working with customers to try to ‘feel out’ their palates and pair their dinner selections with wines I had chosen for the list. During this time, the Nantucket Wine Festival expanded, and the Grand Tastings migrated from Sconset to the Harbor House, and then to Jetties.
My attendance at the Tastings shifted its focus from being a consumer to being a professional buyer, which is of course, also being a consumer. But it made me think of tasting wine in a different way. Now I was tasting with an audience in mind other than just myself. I had a set of criteria: how would I describe the body of this wine? The fruits? The acidity? The tannin? The finish? How would I rate the ‘quality’ to ‘value’ ratio of the wine? Was it memorable? Would I be happy paying the ‘suggested retail price?’ Thankfully, this work did not feel like a chore; it was challenging and exciting and the world of wine was so big, I realized I’d never grow bored working in this profession.
In 2004 when my circumstances changed a bit (I met my husband, who is a fishing charter captain and an artist), I started to think about alternatives to working nights at a restaurant. I knew I still wanted to be following my wine path, and that’s when I conceived the notion of opening a wine-specific shop on Nantucket. I decided to go for it. Fast forward to Spring of 2005, when I opened The Cellar the week before the Nantucket Wine Festival. It was a nail biter down to the finish, waiting for the final building and health inspections and putting the finishing touches on a renovated building and a brand new business. Because I wasn’t sure of the timing, my participation in Wine Fest was limited that year. Mainly I was at my store, open, and wide eyed to see whether any of the Festival goers would notice that Nantucket had a new wine shop. Thankfully, they did.
The last several years I’ve gotten much more involved with the Wine Fest. It goes on my calendar as soon as I have a calendar in any given year. I look forward to attending many events. Highlights for me are the Gala, the food and wine seminars, and I now participate in the Grand Tastings as a purveyor.
The Nantucket Wine Festival brings world class wineries, excellent events, and hundreds of visitors to our island. It’s also the ‘early start’ of the summer season, and brings many of our seasonal residents back from their other homes. I look forward to this new wave of energy that sails in with the Wine Festival attendees. And if any are looking for advice for maximum enjoyment of the Wine Festival: make sure you eat plenty of food! We are blessed with so many great restaurants and talented chefs on the island, and eating food not only enhances the flavors of wine, but will help you ‘go the distance.’ It is, after all, almost a week long of vino!
See the calendar of events for a listing of not-to-be-missed wine dinners being hosted this week at Nantucket restaurants.
