Last night, my husband and I went to dinner with friends, Stacy and David, at Vai Restaurant and Wine Bar. This is a relatively new addition to Manhattan’s Upper West Side and predominently features an assortment of tapas-style Italian plates, easily shared with the table. Ordering our first bottle of wine, we started the evening with a Falanghina, an Italian white wine which was very aromatic with good acidity. It paired well with our selection of a plate of five cheeses (Tallegio, Manchego, Pierre Robert, Parmesan and Asiago) and a plate of three meats (Speck, Serano Ham and Proscuitto).

Upon finishing up these plates and the wine, we determined that we were still hungry and chose to share the Tomato and the Truffle Pizzettas. Having decided upon the first wine, I gave Jared the task of picking the next, which we all agreed should be a red wine. He narrowed it down to a Sangiovese from Puglia and a Chianti. We went with the Sangiovese since he then noted that the Chianti was from the atypical (due to extreme heat) 2003 vintage.

With Jared having tasted the first bottle, this time it was my turn to taste the wine upon its arrival at the table. The server opened the bottle and poured my glass, which I proceeded to swirl, sniff and taste. My first inclination was that the wine was corked, but the flavors did not seem to be muted on the palate. Hence, I chalked up the musty nose to earthy notes in the wine. I thought about asking Jared for his opinion before accepting the wine from the server, but felt some pressure, particularly as a "wine expert" in front of our friends.

However, Stacy noted my hesitation and commented that I was a tough critic. I didn’t want her to think that I was being overly judgemental, so I confessed that I had thought I detected some TCA on the nose. We all proceeded to drink the wine with the pizzettas, and made some comments regarding the aromas and flavors we were getting.  David seemed less enthralled by the wine, disliking the intensity of the aroma. A little later on, he asked for our opinions of whether or not we liked the wine and explained that he didn’t really care for it.

At this point, I tasted the wine again and was more convinced that the wine was indeed corked and apologized profusely to everyone. We discussed the protocol for dealing with corked wines in a restaurant and acknowledged that the error was mine since I had approved the wine with the server before she poured it for the table. Moreover, the bottle was about half empty (or more optimistically half full). However, we decided to bring the faulty wine to the attention of our server anyway.

She smelled the wine and then brought it to her manager? who sniffed the bottle and instantly agreed that it was corked. We were brought a new bottle of the wine, for which I deferred the tasting to Jared, feeling somewhat embarrassed at my previous mistake. Our friends were eager to taste the new bottle and have the opportunity to compare its taste with the faulted version, which turned out to be a great learning experience for them.

My lesson for the day was to trust my instincts and be more confident in my assessment of wines. As an academic, I have accumulated significant knowledge about wine as evidenced by my earned credentials. However, with only two+ years in the wine business, my real-world experience with wine is more limited. Accordingly, I frequently feel less confident in my abilities and prefer the moniker "wine educator" to that of "wine expert." Last night’s experience has reinforced that I do have the skills necessary and that, especially now that I have left my previous career to pursue our business full-time, I need to think of myself as a wine professional and act accordingly.

On a final note, I would like to express our appreciation for Vai Restaurant in the way that they handled the incident. As noted, the wine was nearly finished by the time we brought up the issue and we truly didn’t expect the restaurant to take any action. We were more than pleased with the class and service they provided. And, of course, the food was quite good, too! If you have the chance to patronize this restaurant, please do so in recognition of their good service.