It was not so long ago that I was one of the youngest sommeliers around. I looked up to the senior sommeliers- Larry Stone, Roger Dagorn, Daniel Johnnes, Emmanuel Kemiji. It was honor to be near them, to taste wines in their distinguished presence. They (and others) inspired me and generously shared their knowledge. Recently, at a large wine event…

I realized that I am no longer in the young group of sommeliers, but I certainly am not yet a member of the old guard. Nowadays, I fit somewhere in the middle. I still respect and admire the senior sommeliers, but I also get pleasure out of tasting with the next generation of sommeliers- the ones younger than me.

There is a young sommelier in San Francisco- Mark Bright at Restaurant Michael Mina- who already has received high praise for his work as a sommelier and assistant to sommelier rockstar Rajat Parr. Mark has worked in Las Vegas and SF, and has been on the cover of Wine & Spirits Magazine. Technically, I am old enough to be his mother, but wine is the great equalizer, and so when I taste with him it is business as usual. Mark is passionate and knowledgeable. Let's hope he can keep his humility in check, at least until he turns thirty, which is years and years away.

Another young sommelier who I have observed is Michael Scherzberg at Meadowood Resort in the Napa Valley. When I saw him recently (working his butt off) at the Napa Valley Wine Auction, he reminded me that we had worked together in the late 90's at Restaurant Vincent Guerithault in Phoenix. He said that I had actually inspired him to pursue the sommelierie. Me inspire a budding sommelier? Wow. I never knew it was possible. But I sure loved hearing that. Michael is a real pro and it shows.

I also had the opportunity to see a fine young sommelier in action at arguably the world's best restaurant. My husband and I were dining at the French Laundry with our dear friends. The meal was exquisite and the service near perfect. What impressed me most was the wine service by young sommelier, Jesse Rodriguez. Although Jesse has been in the wine & restaurant business for some years, he is still fresh faced, and I consider him young. But his wine service blew me away. He made incredible pairing suggestions and served the rare, old wines we had with grace and aplomb. In fact, Jesse did such a great job with the wine service that I hardly missed my friend and contemporary-"middle-aged" Wine Director of the French Laundry, Paul Roberts, who was away that day.