Joseph Spellman, Master Sommelier,
Joins Joseph
Phelps Vineyards
In April of this year, Master Sommelier Joe Spellman
joined Joseph Phelps Vineyards as
Director of Education. Joe comes
to JPV after 25 years in the restaurant and wine business, principally
as a sommelier at some of Chicago’s top restaurants, including
Tango, Maxim’s,
the Pump Room, the Park Hyatt and Charlie
Trotter’s. He has also worked as a wine retailer, wholesaler
rep and importer.
A leading wine educator, writer and consultant, Joe
earned the prestigious Master Sommelier Diploma in 1996, currently
held by only 71 Americans and 130 people worldwide. He also passed
the difficult Certified Wine Educator examination in 2003.
Joe came to the wine business by a circuitous route,
beginning as a classics major at the University of Chicago where
he read literary works in their original Greek and Latin. As a 4th
year college student and English major, he tended bar in a restaurant
where he eventually became manager, and decided he had found his
niche in the world of food and wine.
When asked how he explains the transition from classics
major to wine expert, Joe answers, “I felt there was intellectual
value in wine. I could see its relationship to human history, geography,
language and taste.” When Joe began studying for the MS program,
the timing was perfect. “I was part of a new voice in American
wine expertise. The image of the stuffy, highhanded, tuxedoed sommelier
was being debunked. As American sommeliers, we were creating our
own idiom of food and wine pairing in a savvy, down-to-earth manner.
At the same time, food and wine events were becoming immensely popular.”
Perhaps Joe’s most impressive achievement was
winning the 1997 French Sommelier Competition in Paris, hosted by
SOPEXA, a French food and wine marketing organization. Joe won in
his region, and then won the national, and ultimately the international
competition against 31 other national winners.
Among Joe’s professional written works, he is
most proud of his critically praised wine notes in the landmark
series of recipe and photograph books by Chef Charlie Trotter. He
has also been a contributor to Wine & Spirits, Wine Enthusiast,
Santé, Decanter and Appellation.
Joe is based in Chicago, in the culturally diverse
Albany Park neighborhood. He can be reached at Spellmanj@sbcglobal.net |
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