Somm Wines: Krista Matthes is town’s newest sommelier

Ebullient and optimistic are good characteristics to possess as the new sommelier in town. It's as though she heard Fairfield calling her over. 'I need a somm. Where's the somm? Are you a somm? Find me a somm.” It seemed like she had been called somm her entire life. 'Hi, we have names!” Her name is Krista Matthes and her newest baby is named Somm Wines.

Four years ago

Matthes with her husband and new baby daughter moved to Fairfield July of 2015. During these years she put together her new business plan.

'I like to create things. I assumed starting something of my own would be in the game of my professional side,” she said.

For years, Matthes paired fine wines with the menus of chefs who owned businesses which generated multi-billion dollar corporations; specifically at the MGM and at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. She enjoyed working for Emeril Lagasse for five years wherein the list of cheese and wine selections increased from 250 to 1,350.

She extended her wine education working at Caesar's with Bradley Ogden's fresh farm to table restaurant, with Bobby Flay at Mesa, with the Pellegrinos at Rao's. She learned that program and was promoted to lead sommelier specifically at Rao's. She describes all of this as fun and enjoyable, but working for other people didn't fulfill the satisfaction she desired to have in something she had started.

'My husband and I literally said, ‘Are we going to have another baby?' He said, ‘why don't we do the business?'”

The completed business plan just needed a house, and she stumbled upon it in early fall of 2018. That kicked the plan into high gear as Matthes, with a nail gun in hand, put together the wooden wine racks.

'Making everything work for months was fun. When we finally took down the scaffolding, it was a big moment,” she said. 'The space was set up to be welcoming, friendly and comfortable. This is my house of wine. Please come and enjoy a glass of wine. Sit back and relax. It's meant to take the stress out of your day.”

Every day

Matthes is the only person who works here every day. She wants her guests to know they will have her help when they come in. When she entered the wine industry, she found a big obstacle of how wines were described and she did not want the same vocabulary as those old men in suits with their serviettes and tastevins. She developed an approachable style all her own.

'I want people to know that the vocabulary is not going to be out of their range,” she said. 'I love questions. I know that at times, people can be shy if they feel they do not have the right words. No one in my family was bringing wine to dinner on a regular basis. This is just something that I fell in love with.”

Sommelier is French for ‘wine steward,' meaning one who cultivates and curates houses, cellars, educates, pours, and other supporting services.

'I used to tease that you can't call yourself a somm if you are not doing service. It is important to me that we are going to be able to do by-the-glass service here in the next few weeks,” Matthes continued. 'RAGBRAI is going to be super fun. We will be pouring wines by the glass. I am going to try to get some fun craft beers and ciders here as well. This is a wine store but equal opportunity. If you are just coming off your bike and you want an IPA [India Pale Ale], I am going to try to have it for you. That is just the way I roll.”

Education

The main responsibility of a sommelier is education and in particular continuing education. Matthes enjoys the aspects of investigation and deduction to know wines, the ones on the shelf, the labels bought for guests to drink, and why bottles of wine are a perfect representation of a region.

'I like things to be very tried and true,” she said. 'I like people to come in and say, I really enjoy Rioja from Spain. And I can say, this is a perfect Rioja for you. Or, they enjoy champagne but don't want to spend the money on it right now. Boom, I've got this wonderful sparkling wine from Sonoma.”

Matthes said she takes people's suggestions and their questions into account before choosing a wine that's right for them.

'If you are doing a Pinot Noir, well here's a Marlborough New Zealand Pinot Noir versus a Pinot from Germany. All are going to taste ridiculously different, so it's kind of fun to do those side by side in a tasting,” she said.

There are so many calibers of how that makes a difference, so to Matthes, pinpointing it correctly fosters trust between the sommelier and the patron. One of the things she keeps in mind is to listen when her guest says 'this is what I want.”

She knows the analytical side wants to say, 'Oh that is wonderful, but you should really try this, too.” There is a time and a place for that. However, tailoring the flavor profiles for what guests are asking for is why she did not have every single row filled on the wine racks. There is a certain amount of trust that must be earned. When she opened Somm Wines, she had about 80 selections and now has 95.

'I want to make sure that I have room when guests ask, ‘Would you mind bringing that [a wine] in?' It is as though I am building a program like we did at Emeril's. I like growing things,” she said.

Midwest palate

She likes that ten miles down the road there is a winery people can visit. It keeps everyone's interest in wine fresh. The grapes in Iowa are completely different varietals so it is a learning process she was not aware of previously. All of the temperature changes are rough, the wet versus the dry conditions change quickly here.

'My hat's off to the growers, who have the cards stacked against them, to be able to produce year in and year out,” she said.

It's been a nice education for her to find out what the Midwest palate likes and how that translates into which bottles should be on the shelf. She has been impressed with how adventurous people have been right out of the gate, showing excitement for the collections from Spain, France, Italy, Lebanon, Oregon and southern California. People who would not have previously considered a Lebanese wine option have fallen in love with Chateau Musar. Matthes's best surprise has been to see people enjoy trying different varietals in different ways, the adventurous side.

The price points are not going to be out of the guests' range. Matthes likes to simply state that wine does not have to be expensive to be good … but sometimes it helps, and for those cases, she keeps boutique wines of the higher brands.

Somm Wines has the ability to do private small group tastings in the prepared back room, and is in the process of updating its licensing for by-the-glass pours and on premise consumption. The one thing that stands out in Matthes's career is the people trusting her to help them with their selections becoming her good friends in the process as well. She hopes to see more celebrations, weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, and special awards be toasted in this house.