Southwest Florida sommeliers compete in tournament to crown top wine expert in Naples

For eight minutes, the room goes quiet.

Except not entirely.

As local sommeliers compete in a head-to-head battle to find out who is the top wine expert in the area, there are the sounds of sniffing. Of spitting. Of a wine glass being set on a wooden table. Glossy reds and crisp whites swirl gracefully, emitting their perfumes of citrus, of forest floors or of sweet floral notes. There’s the licking of lips, the gentle sucking in of air, some shielded whispering with a neighbor.

Wine-tasting is serious work, especially when bragging rights — and a few prizes — are on the line.

It’s the Somm Showdown, a blind taste-test of two red and two white wines. At the beginning of the seven-week tournament, 16 sommeliers from local restaurants and country clubs are tested on their skills to correctly identify each wine’s grape variety, country of origin, region and vintage. It continues each week through Dec. 10 until a winner is crowned.

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John Burke, a local representative with Break Thru Beverage, a national wine distributor, organized the first Somm Showdown in the spring to bring more attention to the wine scene in Naples, which he says is growing.

“You see all these chef shows where they go head to head and battle each other (on TV), but you don’t see anything for somms,” Burke said. “It really shows you the difficulty of wine-tasting and figuring out what wine is.”

Each year Burke said more and more wine experts in Naples join The Court of Master Sommeliers, which sets the standard for beverage services in the hospitality industry — a trend perhaps set off by the prestigious Naples Winter Wine Festival, Burke said. It’s a rigorous program, with four levels of certifications. There are only 182 professionals who have earned the title of advanced sommelier in the U.S. Three are in Naples.

So Burke rounded up the top somms in Collier and south Lee counties and arranged them into a tournament bracket. Two of the sommeliers face off each Monday evening at The Naples Wine Collection in North Naples before a live audience, which also participates in the wine-tasting. The four wines they taste must come from regions and varietals approved by The Court of Master Sommeliers. Finally, one winner advances to the next round until a champion is crowned at the final showdown on Dec. 10.

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The clock starts ticking.

In eight minutes, the sommeliers use their senses — sight, smell and taste — to break down the wine. The room goes quiet. There’s the swirling, the sniffing, the spitting — expert techniques to eliminate what a wine isn’t versus simply guessing what is.

“It’s keeping your mind open to what it could be,” Burke said.

“It’s a process that brings you to an end,” added Eric Blais, a certified sommelier with The Court of Master Sommeliers (the middle level) and the wine director at USS Nemo restaurant in Naples.

Blais, who has been a sommelier for almost 30 years, competed in the Somm Showdown last week. His breakdown of wine No. 3, a red, went something like this:

Color: Ruby to purple.

Stain: Heavy.

Fruit: Black and blue, with herbal notes of thyme and cinnamon and baked spices.

Palate: Dry, full-bodied, round texture with medium complexity.

Final conclusion: Cabernet sauvignon from the U.S., Napa Valley, 2015

He was exactly right (it was a Stags’ Leap).

And so Blais moved on to the next round, by default, technically; his competitor was a no-show. The winners are awarded $100 and two bottles of wine. Second place earns $50 and one bottle of wine.

Besides crowning the top sommelier in the area, the Somm Showdown also gives the live audience a chance to learn from the experts and experience new varieties of wine.

“I enjoy wine, but I always feel overwhelmed at a restaurant that has anything more than house wine,” said Naples resident Diane Baldasaro, who attended last week’s showdown. “I do this really for my own personal experiences, to educate my own palate a little bit for someone who doesn’t have a lot of background other than just opening a bottle of wine.”

Ultimately Burke said his goal is to organize a statewide Somm Showdown in 2019, and for wine-lovers to taste with Naples’ best.

“I think at the end of the day wine is for sharing and making people happy,” he said. “But at the same time people like to learn a little bit.”

Somm Showdown

• When: 5 p.m. each Monday until Dec. 10
• Where: Naples Wine Collection, 2343 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 604, North Naples
• Cost: $30
• More information: 239-513-0095; napleswinecollection.com