Peter Granoff, is a prominent Master Sommelier known for his exceptional wine knowledge. In this blog article, Peter provides a personal glimpse into his journey in the wine industry, sharing essential lessons gained through years of experience. From his starting point working in eateries to his transforming adventures in Switzerland and Burgundy, Peter's narrative is one of hard labor and discovery. Find out why Peter was drawn to the complex world of sommeliers and the several obstacles it poses. Investigate his approach to training new employees, ideas for increasing wine sales and profitability, and techniques for always enhancing his talents. Explore Peter's idea for upgrading the guest experience and discover remarkable wine adventures that molded his perspective. Check out the exclusive interview below.

Your current place of work.

Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, Oxbow Cheese & Wine, Mission Bay Wine & Cheese, Mission Bay Wine Bar, Custom Wine Sourcing

Tell us about yourself (please write min 50 words)

I started working in restaurants at the age of 12 or 13. Never intended it as a career, but that started to shift after working in a fine, small hotel in Switzerland when I was 19, and then 2 years in Burgundy in my mid-20s. Wine grabbed hold, and hasn't let go. I have many other interests, however, including photography, music, politics, and history.

Why did you want to become a sommelier?

Wine is a career challenge on so many levels - intellectual, sensory, cultural, and historical. Few things in life have the potential to keep one forever engaged. One never truly masters it, because the scope of potential learning is always several steps ahead.

Questions you would ask a customer who doesn't know anything about wine?

What do like to drink?

Image: Peter Granoff

What are some of the most important skills for a sommelier?

Listening. Ability to assimilate information from many sources. Curiosity. Discipline - our careers have an inherent risk in the form of alcohol abuse. If you don't learn to self-regulate, you are doomed.

How I would train my new staff member in their first 7 days of joining.

They have to be comfortable with systems and procedures, so these are not a source of background stress in interacting with customers. We start, of necessity, with POS training, and in our case, there is a lot to learn.

What methods do you use to grow wine sales - top line? Please explain with examples.

Flight Nights, where we have a guest producer or importer. We pour a set of the guest's wines and they wander the room and chat with participants. It is very informal and relaxed. Also, in-house content in shelf talkers and on our websites we do not use third-party reviews at all. We work on building trust with us as merchants SELECTING the wines that go on our shelves and wine bars.

What methods do you use to grow net profits?

Candid negotiations, leveraging wine by-the-glass promotions, finding wines that have limited distribution, wine clubs, and watching vendor invoices like a hawk.

How do you self-learn and improve your skills?

Read, read, read. If you don't know, find out. But don't pretend to know.

What's the best part of your job?

Learning more about wine, and as an owner of multiple businesses, I have way too little time to indulge that need. Wine-related travel.

How do you elevate the guest experience? Please give 4-5 examples and insights here.

Trying to remove as much of the intimidation around wine as possible. Remaining open, friendly, unassuming, active listening. Being very respectful of a customer's potential price constraints so they don't feel that we are only trying to upsell, assessing the need in any given transaction. For example, the same customer might have different priorities on different visits. One time, it might be needing to make a statement with a prestigious label for a colleague or boss. Another time it might be for a delicious, moderately priced wine for a weekday meal with an S/O. Same customer, different needs. LISTEN.

Your favorite TV show right now?

I have a rowing machine and watch mostly foreign TV while working out. The French Village is a current favorite, about a village in eastern France during the Nazi occupation. It is a sobering and tension-filled exploration of the lines between resistance, collaboration, and the need to survive in difficult times.

An unforgettable wine experience for you - tell us the whole story!

Wine professionals seem to come from very diverse backgrounds, as this will illustrate. Years ago I was at a dinner with fellow Master Sommeliers, about a dozen of us. One of the groups had brought a Chateau Lafite from the late 1800s. I don't remember the exact vintage, but I remember what happened. The wine itself was not gone but fading. There were a few minutes of complete silence as we savored the experience, and then, instead of talking about the wine, the conversation that followed was about the historical context. Tim Gaiser waxed rhapsodic about the composers and the music they were composing in that era. Larry Stone spoke about the great works of literature from the period. Someone else waded into major historical events of the time. And so on. It all happened organically, and to this day it emphasizes for me how wine can be part of our connective tissue as a civilization.

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What are the biggest faux pas that customers tend to make when ordering and drinking wine?

Getting caught between their own, actual preferences, and their cultural baggage about what they think they are supposed to prefer.

Any favorite food and wine pairing suggestions for drinks enthusiasts?

Tawny Port and aged Gouda. Sublime.

Your favorite book?

Of all time? It's very difficult to answer. You are currently reading "G-Man", Beverly Gage's masterful biography of J. Edgar Hoover.

Give us one good story that you remember of a customer and you.

I once had a young man ask me, in as pompous and self-important a manner as I had ever seen - and after looking at our list with considerable disdain, "Don't you have any wines of CONSEQUENCE??" I responded, as gently as I could muster, "Yes we do sir, however, we reserve them for CUSTOMERS of consequence." OK, that is a lie, I did not say that but woke up in the wee hours of the morning half wishing I HAD said that. I managed to keep my composure, but it is a reminder that even when a customer is a jerk, they are still the customer.

How can suppliers work with you to drive sales?

They need to listen too. Think about what position we are trying to take, and present wines to us that help support it. Make sure we don't miss any important promotional synergies. Stop quoting scores. The wines will speak for themselves, or they won't.