Checking out the new Nomad hotel in LA and over-indulging sommeliers oogling Juge.

Third night open for the “fine dining” portion of the Nomad hotel in LA. Gorgeous space.

When we got there they informed us they had a strict 2 bottle limit for our 4 bottles. Spoke to the wine director who further enforced it with the typical BS spiel about wanting us to not be overwhelmed by bottles on the table and not have the somms overwhelmed by bottles… yet had no issues with us ordering bottles off the list. Tucked away the bottle of 09 Rousseau CSJ and grabbed a bottle of Savart off the list at 3x retail (eek).

We did have an interesting encounter with Thomas of Reboule Du Rhone/ Nomad NYC fame that got me thinking about the experience that some of my friends had at Reboule Du Rhone this year. At the gala dinner, the wines they brought would have 3-4oz+ (depending on the rarity of the wine) of wine missing from their bottle as it was being served to them for the first time.

We watched as no less than 3 somms (including Thomas) partook in tasting the 00 Juge before decanting the wine (without asking us) or having us taste the wine. Didn’t know it was such a group effort. Why even bother making a show of having me sample the wine if you already had three people taste it . Then when I asked about why the bottle was decanted without consulting us, he deemed it was based on his experience with older N. Rhone and sediment… even though we had the bottle standing for a couple of weeks beforehand. I personally just really enjoy following Juge from when it’s first popped until the last drop as it evolves. By the way, it was a good 20 minutes after the somm took our wines from the table before they ever came back to us and I think the only reason was because on the way back from the restroom I stood by the wines and said “what’s going on with our wines, need help?”

A trend at this restaurant where the staff tells you what you should want, not what you actually want. When the 5 main dishes arrived for us to share, we asked for share plates. The person who brought the dishes out instantly told us no that we should just pass the main plates around… which was a very odd response. We ended up getting shared plates still from another server.

Still an enjoyable evening outside of that. Most of dishes were very tasty and the vast majority of the staff were very helpful. Don’t get the suckling pig, it seems it’s a dish they haven’t figured out for anyone as it’s really dry.

• 2000 Marcel Juge Cornas Cuvée C - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (1/25/2018)
  Initially I thought the wine was drinking at its peak. It was seamless but had that wild juge edge at the end of the palate with some brambly piercing cool fruit and tannin but it had a lightness on the palate that seemed to show it had peaked. The fruit started to really develop in glass and the palate started to round out and fill. It was a balloon of flavor inflating as the night went on and the profile became riper and deeper while the tannin shed. The nose started to throw off cigar and earth almost old napa cab like sensory bomb.
• NV Savart Champagne L’accomplie - France, Champagne (1/25/2018)
  First time with the producer, bought it off the list. Definitely would pay regular retail on this. Complex and textured with loads of ocean spray and ripe orchard apple. A bit of fleshiness on the back end that helps give it a bit more punch to the wine. Very nice champagne at the price.
• 1996 Domaine A.-F. Gros Richebourg - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru (1/24/2018)
  Drinking in a great spot right now. bold fruit and vosne spice on the nose but a slight bit of reduction that blew away after a couple of hours. On the palate is had a savage nature to the fruit, but seamless going down. Really engaged and delicious right now

Well, that’s a place I’d never go. Wow.

Wines sound great though. Love that Savart

Thanks for the note, I am travelling and hope to visit NoMad soon, having enjoyed the NYC location and also EMP. But I will not be drinking wine there.

Thanks for sharing, Charlie.

Nothing that you wrote makes me want to set foot inside the place.

Quite the opposite for me.

That would infuriate me.

But the Juge sounds awesome.

+1. I’ve stopped surrendering my wines to somms and open them myself.

“Why even bother making a show of having me sample the wine if you already had three people taste it .”

Did you ask them? The more I think about this the more irate I become on your behalf. I’d have walked out

Somms shouldn’t be learning about wine at your expense!

+2 I open all of my own bottles

Did they also take pictures for their Instagram feed?

What bullshit behaviour. I’m lucky that I’ve never come across any sommelier who would do that; nor can I think of any place in Chicago where something like that would occur. Must be a coastal thing

Wines sound great. Experience sounds infuriating, even offensive. At that point you really can’t just get up and walk out, but I would have demanded that they remove any corkage fees, and tell them you ain’t going back.

fu - please tell me they did that.

adrian - just hipster somms.

Ed, if they were real hipster somms they wouldn’t care about Juge, and they’d be draining your bottles of Jura and Cornellisen instead.

ha! valid point.

I’ve never had anything other than perfect service from Thomas P. at the NoMad in NYC.
Has always been extremely professional and has always asked how I’ve wanted my wines handled/what glassware etc. unless he already knew my preferences.
Surprised to hear of your experience.

Mark,

Thomas has tasted PLENTY of great wines. I’m sure he wasn’t trying to “learn”.

we were getting pretty irate and I expressed my frustration to Thomas, but to no avail, thought they’d at least waive one corkage but alas, the hipster somms know what’s best for you. Fortunately our wines were good and food was good and company was great.

Ray,

Must be nice . They brought out a bordeaux stem and a burgundy stem for us without prompting and decanted without asking, he must have known my preferences already.

I’m sure Thomas wasn’t “learning”, but his LA somms were. Juge doesn’t really make it around these parts too often . Thomas was definitely being a smartass though. I told him I wanted to drink the Juge out of the bottle and didn’t want it decanted for sediment as it was already stood up for weeks. I wanted to try the ends of the bottle with a little fine sediment. He retorted “i can pour it back in the bottle for you then”. A+ for that service. At that point I just dismissed him and went on with my dinner happy that I didn’t have to see him again.

Would have been incredible. But I purposely do not follow somms on instagram outside of friends that I know personally. So I have no clue.

What makes your experience even more surprising is that the co-owner Will Guidara worked under and learned from Danny Meyer, who is known for his hospitality, and has instilled that same hospitality in his restaurants in NYC.