Surprising for sure, and worthy of at least one raised eyebrow.
A small caveat. If this were a natural wine focused place, then I would be much less surprised. That scene is far less hung up on historic reputation / hierarchy. Like asking a Utah Jazz fan who they think ought to open the batting for Pakistan.
I, personally, think he was just pulling your leg…
TL;DR this thread. I would just say bring a better bottle if you are looking to garner some street cred from the Somm.
Oh Andrew…I’ll be generous and assume you must have forgotten the teasing emoji on that one.
Of course I’m just needling my little BDX loving friend Mikko!
Whew
Is he little because he loves Bordeaux? Or are you body shaming ?
Just asking for a friend. 
Both.
I’ve never had any pours turned down by somms in a variety of cities. In one they had to set the a glass aside until they end of the shift bc of policy but we closed the place down so they came back and we chatted about the wine.
Chapoutier!
More broadly, there is the question of what to do when the server or somm makes one of those “I recommend this Chardonnay here that’s called Sancerre” kind of comments.
The right thing is usually just to chuckle inwardly and not try to correct the person (but also know not to take their advice), since (a) it’ll make you sound like a windbag, (b) they likely won’t believe you anyway (they’ll just chuckle inwardly back — “this guy doesn’t know that Sancerre is Chardonnay”), and (c) they probably don’t really care to learn.
Yup, more often than not, they’ll just double down. Reminds me of this interaction I had once at a winery -
Host: “Here we use zero additives in our wines, unlike the other wineries on the island. Some of them don’t even use grapes any more and are mixing with other fruits like orange.”
Me: “Uh, if you’re referring to orange wines, I don’t think they actually put oranges in them. It’s just the color from skin contact.”
Host: “Oh yes they do!”
My first question would be - where did you get your somm education? Second question - have you worked under any other somms before this position?
And I would not do it in a snarky way but in a way that I am trying to better understand their level of knowledge.
Cheers
As long as a somm. is familiar with their wine selections, the food on the menu, and how their selections pair with the food, then they’re helpful. If there’s no DdC on the menu, then their ignorance of it doesn’t really matter.
All that said, I, too, would expect a legit somm to know about DdC, and I, too, would be concerned about their depth of knowledge if I found myself in your situation.
I’m with Mikko if he really is a Sommelier as we think about it, and not just the guy in charge of the wine program at a neighborhood restaurant. Sommelier is used rather loosely, I don’t think it implies training at many restaurants.
I had a waiter recommend a Lagunitas pale ale at an Indian restaurant when I asked for an Indian beer. Standards are lower post pandemic.
A Somm passionately arguing that Muscadet was a grape variety, that was Miami in the mid 2000s
This is what a TRUE Burgundy afficianado looks like. Watch and learn, people!
I’d be curious about this too. Fact is that Bordeaux is an extremely good deal if you have any interest in age-worthy Cabernet. In fact at this point it seems essential to me not just due to tradition but just because there is no other region where you can find a $50-60 Cabernet or similar wine that ages like that
I think the question Mikko should have asked when starting the thread:
Would you ask AND take the sommelier’s recommendation on a bottle of wine you were unfamiliar with (assuming it wasn’t cheap) after that comment assuming your intent was to do so before that comment.
For me, no, but I will only ask on a deep list where I’ve narrowed it down to a few bottles.
So the somm was right? 