october-2010

038
GO MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2010
“LET’S
PUT IT
THIS
WAY —
I don’t think there’s
any place you can
drink better than
Las Vegas.”
When Jason
Smith, the
Bellagio’s director
of wine, said
those words to me
over the phone,
I couldn’t help
but be skeptical.
As a guy from
restaurant-heavy New York
who grew up in wine-obsessed Italy, how
could I not be? The city of one-armed bandits,
Wayne Newton and showgirls is now a great
American wine destination?
As someone who is studying to become a
Master Sommelier, the gold standard in professional
wine service, I couldn’t help but wonder whether
Las Vegas’ wine culture was more glam than
substance. And the only way to find out was to go
there and taste it for myself.
VNCITY
BY EDWARD LEWINE • PHOTOGRAPHS BY JACOB KEPLER
MY FIRST DISCOVERY DOESN’T SURPRISE
me: Vegas sells a lot of wine. The Bellagio alone
employs 15 sommeliers (and four Master Sommeliers);
its inventory has more than 60,000 bottles and
yearly sales are more than $38 million. And this is
just one of around two dozen major resorts in town.
Sure, those numbers are impressive, but as they say,
size isn’t everything, right?
The next thing I learn shocks me: Las Vegas
has 15 Master Sommeliers (16 if you count nearby
Henderson). There are 105 Master Sommeliers in
the entire country, a testament to how hard the title
is to earn. You have to pass four exams, each with a
written portion, the final three with practical service
tests and blind tastings, which require describing six
IT HAS
QUANTITY AND
QUALITY—BUT WHAT
REALLY SEPARATES
LAS VEGAS’ WINE
SCENE FROM THE
REST IS ITS SUR-
PRISING LACK OF
PRETENSION.