date published: January 28, 2008
Sandy Block
by Josh B. Wardrop
Sandy Block is Vice President of Beverage Operations for the popular Legal Sea Foods restaurant chain, as well as one of only 22 Americans to earn the designation Master of Wine. He’s written about wine for publications ranging from Boston magazine to The Quarterly Review of Wines.
Q: How does one become a Master of Wine?
A: You have to pass a very difficult four-day long exam requiring you to
know a lot about every different kind of wine, including blind tastings of dozens
of wines.
Q: What, to your mind, constitutes an exceptional wine list at a restaurant?
A: A list that has enough variety—Legal’s Park Square location
has 800 selections, but you can put together a perfectly good list with 40 or 50
wines. Wines that are well-suited to the cuisine being served, and—most vitally—reasonably
priced. People remember if they’re being gouged.
Q: What should wine novices do when ordering wine at a restaurant?
A: Ask questions. I always want to know what the server’s excited
about. Ask what they serve that you might not find anywhere else. Think about what
you’re going to eat, and ask what would complement that dish. It’s their
job to know.
Q: What does Sandy Block, Master of Wine, order in a restaurant?
A: I love New Zealand and Argentinean wines.…I love pinot noirs. When
I go out to eat, I usually select the wine first and then order food that goes with
it—probably the mark of someone who’s obsessed (laughs).
Q: Why are wine lovers so passionate about wine?
A: There’s amazing variety to wine—you can never get bored with
it. You can try a wine, then try it again six months later and it can be totally
different. And there’s the historical and cultural connections wine has—it
evokes memories of places we’ve been, or the land of our ancestors. Wine is
an adventure.