Event

What Sommeliers Drink When They're Picking Up the Tab

with Michael Madrigale
Sunday, March 16, 3-5pm
$40 for 18 Reasons members; $50 for the general public

Sommeliers have a great life: drinking the best wines in the world, schmoozing with winemakers, opening bottles most of us could never afford in a lifetime....but what happens when they're at home? What do sommeliers drink when they're off the clock and have to pick up their own bar tab?

Yes, wine professionals love great wine, but they also love great deals, and learning about undiscovered wines. Join visiting sommelier Michael Madrigale, head sommelier at New York's Bar Boulud, for an afternoon of sampling some of his favorite off-duty wines. Michael has traveled the world in pursuit of the most interesting wines he can find. He has toured Austrian wine regions by bike, worked in the vineyards of Burgundy, and scaled the rocky hillsides of tiny Greek islands in search of the world's best wine. In our class, he will take us through some of his favorite discoveries - ones he doesn't always get to share with his customers.

About Michael Madrigale
Michael hails from a Philadelphia area family whose five butcher shops and shared love of eating well left their mark. His food-centric Italian-American upbringing clearly prepared him for a life in restaurants. At Bar Boulud, he manages a cellar of over 500 selections, dedicated largely to the Rhône Valley and Burgundy. Here he attracted renown and a considerable following among connoisseurs for launching New York City's first "Big Bottles" program, offering guests privileged access to rare and large format bottles poured by the glass. Today Michael oversees the wine programs for Bar Boulud, the new Boulud Sud and Épicerie Boulud. "Being in this business validates the way I grew up," says Michael, "knowing that real happiness comes from eating and drinking with people you love." Recently, Food & Wine named Michael to their "Top Sommeliers of 2012" list, and that same year he was named Wine Enthusiast's "Sommelier of the Year."