by Andrew Chalk
As I walk into the Ritz-Carlton on a windy, rainy, Fall afternoon, the lobby area is already buzzing with people, and it isn’t just the nightly guacamole appetizers on offer in the lobby. The bar is bursting with serious relaxers recuperating after a hard day’s work.
Squeezing my way through The Rattlesnake Bar to Fearing’s, I run into my target, Paul Botamer, simultaneously headed my way. We find one of Fearing’s Halles that is not yet in use and sit down at a table to chat “This may be the first time I have sat down in my own restaurant”, jokes the ever-approachable Paul.
Botamer’s formal title is Wine Director. That puts him in ultimate charge of the wine list at one of Dallas’ most high profile restaurant destinations. Among the sommelier cognoscenti, this would be considered a prestigious gig. That makes my first question obvious: How did he arrive here?
THE TRIGGER
“For one, I Was going to be a history major in school. We didn't drink wine at all. I was playing college basketball. I was working in a restaurant and, of all people, the bartender was really into wine. Well, at the end of one of my shifts (as a server) he called me over to say that if you want to do better with your customers and make more money, you need to learn about wine. He handed me a wine glass with just a little bit of red wine in it. It was delicious.”
“It was Cabernet Sauvignon from Quilceda Creek, a boutique Washington State winery. Arguably, one of the most famous wineries in the state and I became fascinated because it was history. Everyone had the story behind it. So I started a course. There was really no internet then. I started buying books and maps. I just got hooked into it, learning, and that's why when I got a chance to work with wine it was like I'm turbocharged. It's just like all this information.” [Editor’s Note: Botamer is too modest to note that he holds the professional title of Advanced Sommelier in the Court of Master Sommeliers].
EARLY TRAINING
From enthusiasm about wine, where did Paul go to start a career in it?
“They opened the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale in 1988 and I started there a month and a half before they opened and had been studying wine extensively. But that was the first place I ever worked that had a whole team of full-time sommeliers. I just got bit with the bug. I thought that was the most fun job in the world really and their training program there was very intense. I ended up becoming a sommelier and being promoted to the lead sommelier of the fine dining restaurant and we taught all of the education for the entire hotel staff and I thought that was one of the best experiences ever Because I always feel that in that situation the teacher always learns more than the student. It forces you to go back and reinforce what you already know.”
THE MOVE TO DALLAS
“In 2004 a gentleman I had worked with at the Phoenician Resort named Colin Walsh took a job at this place called The Mansion on Turtle Creek as their Food and Beverage Director. Colin and I went to high school together, worked at the Phoenician for 14 years together, so he's a friend.”
“I called him one day to find out what's going on and at the end of the conversation I said well, if any good jobs come up in Texas let me know, because I already knew who Dean [Fearing] was. We had a good friend that worked at Windows On the Green Restaurant at the Phoenician, so I had met Dean several times and knew what a great person he was. So Colin said well, I'm not gonna steal you, but if you're interested, you'll have to tell me. So I said I was interested and they flew me out that next Monday.The Phoenician is a wonderful place. But Dean’s a very unique man, very talented. He's the most kind hearted person you’ll ever know. So that's why I moved here from Scottsdale and then, when he left to move here [Fearing’s at The Ritz-Carlton], as well as The Mansion treated me, I moved as well . Dean has become one of my best friends.”
A: How many years have you two worked together now?
“Twenty”
THE DALLAS WINE SCENE
How would you compare Dallas with other cities, in terms of the wine scene?
“You know, I lived and I worked in Scottsdale. I always thought that people in Scottsdale loved their wine till I moved here. It's a sport here, right? It's, if you live in Dallas, there's no beach, there's no mountains, and it's a different dynamic. And people in Dallas love their wine. Many of them are very knowledgeable about it. I don't know if that answers your question, but for me I think Dallas is a more dynamic wine scene than people in other parts of the country think it is. There's some great restaurants here with terrific staff and great wine lists. Pappas Brothers Steakhouse comes to mind. Their staff is just amazing.“ [Ed note: Pappas Bros. Steakhouse has over 2,300 individual wine selections].
FEARING’S
A: In terms of the wine list here at Fearing’s, how many selections do you have and what are the categories that are really popular?
“We usually stand about 350 wines. I didn't want a list that was so cumbersome that a guest felt intimidated by it. I wanted to have enough variety and a balance between things that the guest would recognize and things that would be something that even somebody who's been in my job, might not know about. For instance, we just got a wine from Beaumes de Venise in the southern Rhône. They are famous for their sweet dessert wines. I had never seen a dry red one in my life.”
“There's probably more Napa red than any other category, and the rest is pretty well spread out. There's a decent selection of Italy, Spain, Rhône, some Burgundy's You know from all over the world. I mean there's things people wouldn't expect to see like wines from Lebanon, Israel and Uruguay as well as things that are easily recognized”
A: From what you're saying I get the impression that essentially you choose the list. There isn't some corporate Marriott mandarin who says what you're going to be getting. Correct.
“Yes. There is a small selection of wine that Marriott does mandate, maybe 24 wines, and the rest is all whatever we feel will be suitable.”
Value For Money Matters
“As strange as it sounds, I feel that value is extremely important. Even though my guests aren't going on to Priceline to look at a room, I think it doesn't matter what demographic you're from, everybody likes to feel they got a great value. So that's another one of the key components. I think I am trying to present value still at a luxury level.”
“Pricing things to where we're not the most expensive in town is to me a paramount part. So when people leave here feeling on the drive home that it was well worth every penny they spent.”
THE RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL
A: And from what you say, there's basically two of you who are sommeliers.
“Correct”.
A: The two of you cover both the restaurant and the catering?
“Catering is usually done From the hotel side because up until about two years ago the restaurant was separate from the hotel because Dean was part owner. Well, he's stepped back to just the consultant now okay, so I do a little bit more in the hotel, but catering and room service and banquets are a fairly static list because those things like catering events are planned so far ahead of time. If you're planning on a wedding nine months from now, the wine has to be predictably available. Here [Fearing’s] the wines we get in might only be here for three or four months and we change.”
FAMOUS PEOPLE HE HAS SERVED
A: A light-hearted question. Have you ever served any celebrities?
“Actually, you've served tons. Tons. Unfortunately, when you work at the Ritz-Carlton, the fastest way out of your job is to tell somebody who was here. Yes. You must preserve integrity.”
“I can mention that we had an extremely famous restaurant chef, possibly the most famous one in America, come in for dinner not long ago. Our executive chef of the hotel was horrified that I was going to serve him an Ab Astris Tannat from the Texas High Plains.
A: Well done.
“And I looked, and I go, you know, his restaurant is in the Napa Valley. What am I going to give him? A wine he can't get? He could pick up the phone and there'll be skid marks all the way to his restaurant. I want to give him something he's never had. Well, he had never heard... he and his guest, who was very influential, had never heard of Tannat and never had a Texas wine.”
“All four people at the table took a picture of the label.”
A: That's great.
TEXAS WINE
A: Something that you mentioned was the Texas Wine from Ab Astris that we have both had. Do you go to the Texas wineries much? Or elsewhere?
“I did, but instead of going myself, I sent Peter the year before last. Okay. And Alicia two years before that. And Miguel is going to go down, I think in December. So I'm sending them because none of them have ever been. Oh, gosh. So for me to go take advantage of the hospitality down there when I could have somebody else get the experience. And it's sort of a good way to get that experience second hand because Ab Astris was purchased by Peter, not by me. So, I don't know, I just think it's good to promote the wineries and if I have somebody new, if there are trips available, or things I can do for them, like probably a road trip to Washington. Peter went on that last year. And I'm trying to get something set up for Miguel for the upcoming year for their experience together to where they need to be, to where they have their own wine program. That's what our goal is.”
A: That's great. I'm really pleased to hear that you're interested in Texas wine.
“It has improved immensely as you know. Leaps and bounds. When Peter showed me photos of some of the wineries he visited, I couldn't believe it. I would have thought it was a Napa winery. They're beautiful. Just gorgeous. And the quality of things coming out is really, really... I think you wrote a lot about where you looked at the amount of medals that Texas wines were getting at prestigious shows like San Francisco. Over the years, it's just gone very well.”
CRITICS
A: What about the wine critics? From Parker through to The Spectator or Decanter. “You know, I read Decanter magazine. Most of the other magazines, I don't really read that often because, if I'm reading what someone else thought about a wine in print, and it's really great wine, it's not there anymore. It's tripled the price. So, as you know, you have to be diligent to get out there and taste wine.”
FAVORITE FOOD AND WINE MATCH
“That's going to be a really difficult one. The problem is that it changes about every two months. If you're still learning, a lot of times it's just an epiphany. Like our sommelier here, Miguel, he spent a lot of time in Paris, he lived in Brussels, so I had him do a wine pairing for our table. Of course, this was foie gras, and I said, so what are you going to pour with that? Oh, I'm pouring champagne he said.”
A: Champagne. Not sauternes?
“Yes, that's what he said. He goes, well if you're in Paris, that's what they serve with foie gras. So I thought, I can see it's got bubbles, it's got high acid.”
A: It makes sense.
“I never served champagne with foie gras in my whole career. And he's like, well, if they're serving in Paris, someone there must know something.”
A: And when you tried it, did you think that it was unusual?
“I thought it worked out great. He served a rosé that had enough ripe fruit, and there was, I think, cherries or red fruits on the dish with the foie gras. It was pretty good.
A: That's great.
“So it's like, to me, I don't think there is one ideal wine pairing. Matter of fact, when I worked with that gentleman Greg Trezner, I told you about, I was fretting over a tasting menu for a very important guest, he goes, which one do you like the most? I really like this one, but I don't know if it's good, because we have 2,300 wines. There's 800 wines we have that could probably kind of go with that dish. What you do is you pick the one you're most passionate about.
Because when you're serving it to the guest, they're going to sense that. They're going to get a sense of excitement and anticipation when we're trying that dish.
A: Right.
“It's not important that there is some perfect thing. That doesn't really exist. Go with what you think is as passionate as possible to make that passionate guest feel the same way.”
THE SOMMELIER APPROACH
“So I have a lot of guests at this point that never look at a list for me. That's the fun part. I can give them something different every time they come in because I have it in books.”
A: Right. Tell me, in terms of your personal style, let's say I'm here. It's my first time for dinner, we've never met, but I like wine. How do you sell me?
“I feel like the sommelier's job is not to sell wine. The sommelier’s job is to help someone shop for one. But that a $20 bottle or $200 bottle, you're here to find out what will best fit the guest. So it just requires some questions to the guest to find out what they normally drink, what they enjoy, and then making a couple of thoughtful recommendations. Then just working with them making sure they enjoy it, right? I always say people's taste in wine is like their fingerprint. No one else has that. Everyone being unique you have to find out what they like, you know the style they enjoy.”
A: So I guess your regulars trust you, correct?
“Yeah, I've told Dean many times. I don't sell wine. I sell trust, essentially, because the whole gist of it is if somebody trusts me, they'll come back and It's more fun for them It's more fun for me If they don't have to spend time looking at a list for 20 minutes to find the one they recognize And they know I'm gonna bring them something they would have never picked in a million years. So I always told my regular guests that the strategy is less thinking more drinking.”
A: And the question I had here was how do you best show off the restaurant with the wine list?
“I think, number one, its got to be somebody’s unique experience because, if I'm doing the same thing as everybody else, it's not as memorable. The most important things bring something unique, and almost more important, something memorable that you take away. Thinking about when you leave, not just that I got you something to drink. You had an experience that was something you haven't experienced before.”
MENTORS
A: In your career, from when you started and got advice from that bartender, through to today, who would you say are your mentors?
“Some people that most people would have never heard of. Greg LeMaire, who was in charge of the wine department for the sommeliers when I started at the Phonetian.”
“A gentleman named Greg Trezner, who was one of the sommeliers that worked for me when I was the lead sommelier at Mary Lane's. Unbelievable knowledgeable gentleman. He actually passed his master's while we worked together. When he got back to the hotel, I looked over and said, Greg, I'm changing the wine list. I'm going to put you up as lead sommelier. And his first reaction was, oh, no, you're not. I'm not doing schedules. I want to travel. He says, I do not want that. So it was almost hard to explain to people.”
“And then I just got to work with some great people. Thomas Ratcliffe at the Phonetian, he worked with me. You learn something for every single person you work with. So I wouldn't say I had a mentor, so to speak. More so many, many people that influenced my passion for wine.”
MENTORING
You have people who report to you. How much of your time is taken up tasting wines for consideration for the list? Meeting representatives. Going to shows and stuff like that to find out about wines.”
“Right now Not as much time as one might think because Miguel the sommelier we just started two months ago does a lot of that. Whenever I have a new sommelier to work with, the first thing I want to make sure of is that they feel empowered. So, if there are tastings or luncheons or trips to go on I will send them because I want you to realize that this person isn't just a seller of the most boxes. They're empowered to add things to the list, and to have their fingerprints on the list. I feel that gives somebody a chance to feel like they're really part. They have ownership, so that's why I told Miguel right away”.
HOW LONG DOES A PROTEGÉ STAY?
“I said, you know from day one if you like something we will add it. We will buy it because I want everybody to look at you as a wine buyer. Because, ideally when I have a sommelier work with me I'm looking at, maybe, a two year window before they're poached away if I've done things correctly. That's a real joy when you see somebody succeed. There's a gentleman before McGowan who worked at Neighborhood Services who came here to be a sommelier. One year and a half and he just left me, in July. He's working at the French Laundry. That's a pretty good testament to you actually because he's a brilliant man, too.”
A: The two of you together obviously were very synergistic.
“Yes. I told him at the beginning I expect at least two years, but if you find something great I understand. So he was almost a little sheepish about Tony's gonna leave. I thought no, I told you if you have something great, go? That's the whole idea, right? Watching people like Peter go to the French Laundry, Troy Smith going to Montage, now he leads their wine program. Seeing people succeed is just so gratifying.”
“In fact, there's a sommelier, Alicia, that lives in Fort Peter. When I interviewed her, I must have asked her 12 questions where she had to say, I don't know. Well, she left here, we hired her, and about four weeks later, I was talking to her, and I said, hey, I'm so sorry, I was so hard on you in the interview. She goes, you know, I cried the whole way home. I thought, there's no way I got the job. I said, no, you answered the question perfectly. I-don't-know. It needs to be in every sommelier's vocabulary. Nobody knows everything. It's okay to not know something. It's perfectly fine.”
A: You're a teacher.
“I would like to think so. I think it's one of the best parts of the job.”
WHAT QUALITIES ARE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCEED AS A SOMMELIER?
“You have to love the job. When I hired Peter, he had just passed his introductory, was working as a waiter, never been a sommelier, and he was a little nervous, and the one before him also had never been a sommelier. I told them both the same thing. I don't care that you don't have experience, I need somebody with pride, integrity, I need things I can't teach somebody. I have to have the passion. You can't teach somebody passion. If you have all those other qualities, everything else can be learned. Qualities like that, honesty, integrity, and passion, you can't teach that. Somebody either has it or they don't. Does that answer the question?”
ADVICE TO A YOUNG SOMMELIER, AND TEACHING THEM
“Don't limit yourself, have passion. Impress yourself, because you're going to learn, and you're going to learn a lot more than you think in a short period of time, if you're passionate about it, and the number one thing is you have to have the passion. This isn't a job you're going to do that you like because it just pays a lot of money.”
"It's something that, if you don't have passion, if it doesn't give you joy, it's not going to work out. Because I know a friend of mine who works a job because it pays a lot of money, and he hates it. In a sommelier, that's not possible. You can't.”
“You have to love what you do, and I think if you do, it's one of the most rewarding careers in the world. It's great. Because as you meet people, and make recommendations on the floor, and see the joy in their face, it's like instant gratification. It doesn't get better than that.”