There’s a nice bottle of wine, and then there are the tools, tastes, and terroirs most precious to the professional sommelier. Here’s a holiday wish list culled from the professionals—spanning the gamut from functional to fanciful—to guide you through buying for the cellar rat and/or professional wine geek in your life. In many cases, prices vary depending on vendor.

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When I’m drinking wine at home–especially the cheap stuff–I like to pretend I’m an old Italian guy and sip it from a juice glass. But if I’m out at a nice restaurant, I’ll happily go for something fancier.

The other night, I went to check out the lounge at the newly renovated Le Bernardin. And while I liked the modern, muted feel of the space, I mostly geeked out over the wineglass that sommelier Aldo Sohm set down on the low-slung cocktail table.

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The fire is hot, the steaks are sizzling so why not throw another lobster on the barbeque! Summer grilling is here and a great way to share your knowledge of wine with your neighbors and friends. I will take you on a journey to explore some of the best Argentinian wines to enjoy with summer entertaining at the grill.

The seminar will be held in Le Bernardin’s private salons:
155 West 51st, New York, NY 10019
3:00pm – 4:30pm

$125 per person. All inclusive.
Reservations required. Please contact events@le-bernardin.com for further information

The seminar will be held in Le Bernardin’s private salons:
155 West 51st, New York, NY 10019
Saturday, June 4th 2011
3:00pm – 4:30pm

$125 per person. All inclusive.
Reservations required. Please contact events@le-bernardin.com for further information

Aldo Sohm knew he wanted to be a sommelier from the time he was 19-years-old. Since then he’s gone on to become the chef sommelier at the four-star Le Bernardin in New York City and was named the Best Sommelier in the World in 2008. Zalto Denk’Art glasses are his personal choice for the proper serving of wine.

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GQ’s Alan Richman competes in the 2011 Best Sommelier in America contest—and lives to tell about it.

“I came close. Very close.  – Not to winning the Best Sommelier in America 2011 contest.”

To becoming a legend among sommeliers by setting fire to my $3000 Zegna Su Misura suit during the decanting portion of the competition. Decanting includes holding a bottle above a lit candle, which is playing with fire for someone like me.

Just in time, Aldo Sohm, one of the organizers, raced in from the sidelines and lifted my arm from the flame. Actually, I wouldn’t have been the first to add conflagration to my credentials. A judge, Roger Dagorn, told me about a long-ago competitor, a former sommelier at Restaurant Daniel in New York, who carelessly allowed the wicker basket holding his wine to become engulfed in flames.

I entered the two-day contest, hosted by American Sommelier and held earlier this month in New York, with dual status. I was not quite a participant and by no means a challenger for the title. I was permitted to take the same tests as the 29 genuine entrants, and I was given a bye into the second-day finals, usually limited to those who have placed in the top four on day one. For me, it meant an opportunity to get an insider’s look at an arcane profession that is rapidly gaining popularity even as mass-market interest in the ceremony and formality of fine dining decreases.

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A couple of decades after the rise of the celebrity chef, we may be on the verge of a new phenomenon: the celebrity sommelier.  In the wake of Emeril Lagasse cookware and Mario Battali tomato sauce, we now have stemware and a corkscrew designed by Aldo Sohm, the sommelier at Le Bernardin, New York’s Michelin three star seafood eatery.

The Austrian born Sohm came to New York in 2004 after serving in some of Austria’s top restaurants and started off as wine director at Wallse, Kurt Guttenbrunner’s West Village Austrian restaurant.

In 2006, New York magazine voted him “Best Sommelier in New York.” The following year he moved to Le Bernardin and won the title of  “Best Sommelier in America,” a feat which he topped in 2008 when he was named “Best Sommelier in the World,” by the Worldwide Sommelier Association, after a grueling competition which included blind tastings, a written exam, and mock table service.

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Is there such a thing as the perfect match? As someone who has been married four times, I’ve done my share of research on the subject of compatibility in the realm of Eros. The subject of food-and-wine pairing is perhaps even more bedeviling. Is there a perfect wine for oysters? For Camembert? For baked lobster with red-wine-braised sunchoke and fava-sprout bergamot emulsion? Does fish always call for white wine?

You could do worse in your search for answers to these questions than to go to New York’s Le Bernardin, the Michelin three-star temple of piscine cuisine. Aldo Sohm, 39, who was named Best Sommelier in America in 2007 and Best Sommelier in the World in 2008 (in a contest organized by the World Sommelier Association), is a master of matching food and wine. He has converted more than one skeptic, including my wife, to the concept of pairing. “I can make the food look good,” he says. On the other hand, chef Eric Ripert, his boss, likes to drink red Bordeaux with pretty much everything, including oysters. This makes for some interesting discussions in the kitchen.

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