Erok Johnson

ERIK
JOHNSON • 37
• Beverage Manager/Sommelier • L’Espalier and Sel
de la Terre • Boston

Sel de la Terre, located opposite the Aquarium T-stop, is
admirably positioned to do a booming lunch trade and tourist
business for its Mediterranean cuisine. L’Espalier, tucked
in toney Back Bay, enters its third decade as the crown
jewel in Boston’s tiara of Continental cuisine. Erik Johnson
buys beverages for both, focusing on Bordeaux and Burgundy
in one, Southern French and worldwide in the other. He’s had
neither retail nor kitchen experience, but has excellent
wine and food chops, a daring palate, and a palpably giddy
sense of fun. Johnson chooses flavors over points, and
relationships with reps over multi-case drops, as he hunts
down undiscovered beauties and handsells them to like-minded
adventurers. Off-peak marketing and playful promotions help,
too.

RIGHT
START I was hired as a
waiter at L’Espalier in 1997. Soon they created a position
of ‘assistant sommelier’ to Glenn Tanner; that meant I
brought all the boxes upstairs and did the inventory. One or
two nights a week I’d be sommelier, too. Then Glenn left to
take over wine buying for Todd English in October 1999. I
was in the right place at the right time. (Owner/chef) Frank
McClelland said, “Right! You do it! And, by the way, we’re
opening up another restaurant, and you need to do that,
too.”

I
GET IT! Like Tom
Schmeisser (Marty’s), I’m a Midwestern boy, born in Beaver
Dam, a small Wisconsin town near Madison. My family didn’t
drink; I got interested in wine as a starving college
student. You didn’t want to get behind me in a grocery line,
because I was paying with change. I needed a job and was
living next to a hotel, so I got hired as a busboy. The
low-key maitre d’ was into tasting wine and wanted to share
his passion. I was 19, he made it fun, and I went from
Beringer White Zin to Riesling to Merlot. He’d run a staff
tasting in the banquet room, on say Chardonnay, and we’d try
something from Burgundy, California, South Africa,
Australia, and note similarities and differences. Cline Old
Vines Mourvedre was the first wine that I stuck my nose in
the glass and could say: ‘I get it!’ I could smell the
leather, taste the black pepper.

INFUSIONS
& AROMATICS An
infusion is something we create, an aromatic is found in
nature. See that big glass jar on the bar? It’s cranberries
being infused with vodka. Sometimes we use ‘well’ gin, not
Tanqueray or Bombay, to give that neutral base, a blank
canvas on which we paint fruits, flavors. Chef Geoff Gardner
and I’ve done this at Sel de la Terre since we opened in
April, 2OOO. This fall we’ll make our own spiced rum, maybe
infuse it with apples or figs. Aromatics, the wonderful
smells that come wafting out of the glass, are what I glom
onto when I taste, why my nose is always in the glass, why
I’m always swirling, sniffing – I want to see the potential,
where it’s going to go. I’m obsessed with aromas because 8O%
of what you taste is based on what you smell.

MAKE
the BOSS LOOK GOOD For
both places, the important questions are: Is this a fine
example of this varietal? And, more importantly: Does it go
beautifully with the cuisine? It’s my job to bring to the
table wines that will absolutely make the food sing. The
point is that Frank McClelland is not serving any
half-cooked chicken, and I don’t want to be serving
half-cooked wine, either. To be sommelier in two
restaurants, you have to be good at juggling, and be very,
very organized. You need a good sense of timing, and be able
to prioritize instantly. We frequently do multiple buys with
the same importer.

BUYING
SMART Much of dealing
well with reps is simple courtesy – be on time for
appointments, return phone calls. I want to be the kind of
buyer reps like to work with, with the attitude ‘We’re on
the same page, the same team’, trying to expose customers to
high quality products. I try to avoid the often unstated
rivalry between sellers and buyers. Some reps are into
pushing boxes; mine don’t. Sometimes I’m tempted to ask for
samples and taste them alone; but I don’t want to do that. I
want to sit down with reps, so we get to know each other’s
palates. Then when there’s a special buy on 2 or 3 cases,
I’ll get that phone call from a trusted rep; he’ll say,
“Erik, just buy it.” And I know it’ll be fine.

NO
WINE BEFORE ITS TIME
L’Espalier’s list is global, but I focus on artisanal,
fabulous handcrafted producers. We were very aggressive
about our extensive cellaring program when Glenn was buying
back in 1997/8. I don’t want to put wines on the list that
are not ready to drink. This is something we respect whether
it’s blue chip Bordeaux or anything else. The 1999
Burgundies are just starting to come on the list now. I’m
pulling out some village-level ’96s, while the Premier Crus
are still a bit tightly wound. The Bordeaux we have at
present are mostly 1994 to 1997. We don’t show verticals of
Chateau Lafite, but rather the 197O, 1975, 1978, 1982, 1986,
199O. We can’t touch top-growth 2OOOs for some
time.

HOT
REGIONS Spain and South
Africa are extremely popular right now; we also do a brisk
business at both restaurants with off-the-beaten-path
appellations from Southern France РLangu̩doc,
Roussillon, Bandol, Minervois.

TURN
on a DIME The best part
about working for this company is complete freedom. I’m not
told what to buy or whom to work with. The dictum is:
“Whatever you want to do is all right with us, just as long
as it goes with the food.” There’s a lot of communication
between the chef and me. Often Frank and I taste wines that
I’m excited about rolling into our wines-by-the-glass
program. Or we’ll taste a wine I’ve bought that I want him
to come up with a dish for. Frank is so responsive, that he
keeps a glass of a wine by his elbow in the kitchen, and may
tweak a recipe when it’s on the line if the wine tells him
to. Sometimes Frank calls me up and says, “I’m going to do a
quick change – what do you think about this?” His menu is a
suggestion of what you’ll eat but he’s always tweaking it to
make it better. When I make my wine selections, it has
nothing to do what the varietal is or where it comes from. I
don’t even care what it costs. It’s all about putting your
nose in the glass and getting something that’s pleasing,
honest, and speaks to you that will end up going with the
food.

FRESH
LISTS Because of the
nature of our winebuying, I’m reprinting the lists at both
restaurants constantly. As I receive new products, old
friends fade away to the last few bottles. As a diner, I
find it extremely frustrating to look over a wine list, make
a choice, and find that they’re out of it. I try to minimize
that by running virtual inventories on the desktops or Macs
at both restaurants.

DINNER
THEMES For three years
we’ve been doing $5O wine dinners on Monday nights at
L’Espalier, and later on Wednesdays at Sel de la Terre. When
we started, wine dinner prices were off the charts around
town: $15O to $2OO, and up. The idea was to have customers
pay (a little) for us to advertise to them. They get the
whole L’Espalier experience – sometimes lobster, truffles,
foie gras – but on an off-night. The wine component may be
based on grape variety or a funny title. One of my favorites
is the French ABCs, based on my favorite regions of France:
Alsace, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and finish with Champagne. We
devised dinners we’d like to attend! It’s a win-win
situation, and other restaurants are trying it
now.

BUBBLY
BLAST Everyone loves
Champagne, and Champagne loves everything. I think it’s
absolutely the best food wine out there. Unfortunately in
the United States, people think it’s only for celebrations
or special occasions. But you’re dealing with a product that
has higher acidity, so you can easily pair it with richer,
heartier compositions. There are also several styles of
Champagne: a light, airy style, like the Perrier-Jouet Blanc
de Blanc, you can pair with the most ethereal canapes, and
at the other end of the spectrum, a full-bodied Krug you
could pair with a blood-red steak. I love everything about
Champagne – except the price. So I look for alternatives:
Cava, Prosecco, Cremant de Bourgogne, Blanquette de Limoux.
Among US bubblies, Roederer Estates are among my favorites.
I’ve had good luck with sparkling ciders from Normandy. Eric
Bordelet from Normandy used to be head sommelier at Arpege;
he started treating his orchards the way winemakers do
vines, and makes méthode champenoise
cider.

ROSY
ROSE I’m a rose
fanatic. I try to put as much into a tasting as possible.
Pink is misunderstood in the United States. If you suggest a
rose, people recoil in horror. They expect them to be sweet
like White Zinfandel, but in fact most of the world’s roses
are beautiful dry styles. At the recent United tasting at
the Boston Harbor Hotel, I tried Mateus for the first time
in years. It was really good! I was telling people to try it
and they laughed at me. Then when you talk about Rose
Champagne, well, that’s the Holy Grail: you’re getting that
beautiful acidity, the yeasty bread-dough, and these subtle
berry aromas – strawberry and rhubarb – that add to the
flavor profile. These subtle things play very well with
food, especially when the kitchen is layering flavors
together. You never know what might pop out.

MASS
BUBBLES Westport Rivers
(MA) products are near and dear to me. We’ve always had
their wines on our list. The Russells started in the late
‘8Os and the first cases came up for sale in 1991.
L’Espalier purchased their first case of sparkling wine. We
loved Bill’s 1996 Blanc de Blanc, and asked if he’d make an
Extra Brut dosage – very dry, very crisp, great to open your
tastebuds for the coming meal. Recently they’ve made a 1999
Cuvee L’Espalier, 8O% Chardonnay, 2O% Pinot Noir.

ADVICE
TO SOMMELIERS Taste as
much as you can and be openminded about everything. Go back
and taste things that you didn’t like in previous vintages.
Wine changes every year; it’s difficult to keep up. Right
when you think you know, God shakes the etch-a-sketch! When
you go to big walk-around tastings, don’t visit names you
know or stick with fancy, pricey bottles. Walk around! Try
tables with little activity. It’s easy to buy expensive
wine, but difficult to find affordable, excellent wines. Go
for unusual grape varieties from the far corners of the
world.

GET
GEOGRAPHIC Knowing
geography helps, too. Find where the expensive stuff is
grown, then look next-door. For example, Sauternes are like
gold, but Monbazillac is right next door. When their prices
started to rise, what’s next door? Saussignac! In Burgundy,
Les Suchots is tucked between Romanee St. Vivant and les
Grands Echezeaux. Also, follow excellent producers. The
Delon family who own Chateau Leoville Las Cases also own Ch.
Potensac, its second label is Chateau La Salle.

BUY
A BUNCH I very often
purchase pallets. Or I’ll say, “I really like this; how much
do you have? I’ll take it all.” When I was starting out,
companies were a little gun-shy about doing that, because
lots of buyers say they’ll buy, but are fickle, and go off
and buy something else and leave the companies hanging. I
try to keep all my promises. They might do a warehouse
search and come up with more of it later, and I say, “Bring
it on.” I like to experiment. We’re serving this Greek wine
from Argyros from Nick Cobb; it’s like a baby Amarone –
sweet yet subtle. I like the wines by the glass to take
chances, especially at Sel de la Terre. Everywhere you go,
you see the same brands, same varietals. So today we have
Chardonnay and Merlot, but also Mandelaria, dry Muscat from
Austria (Zahel), Carignane, Clairette, and a Loire Valley
Pinot Noir from Cheverny (Le Pressoir, Michel Gendrier). At
home? We might have Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc from Trader
Joe’s.

GREAT
TRIP I went to the
Grand Jeu de Bourgogne last March. It was fantastic! It’s a
week long, nine to six every day. The whole Cote d’Or is
represented (by invitation only so everything’s really good)
but it’s organized so you go village by village. You try all
the wines offered from Chambolle, one versus another, then
visit Nuits St. George, and keep going: Richebourg,
Echezeaux. Your head starts to spin toward the end, and my
palate died the last day in Meursault.

PHILOSOPHY
Wine shouldn’t be intimidating. We’re lucky to be dealing in
pleasure. It’s not life or death, it’s just
dinner.