Wine has a remarkable ability to make otherwise confident adults nervous.

Put a wine list in front of someone and suddenly they’re taking an exam they didn’t study for.

Thomas Price has spent much of his career taking some of that nonsense out of wine.

I recorded this Mack-n-Cheeze Music podcast with Thomas in September 2023. At the time, he was already more than forty years into a career in restaurants, hospitality and wine. He became a Master Sommelier in 2012 and the first Black American to earn the title.

That gets your attention.

What interested me more was the road that got him there.

Thomas and I go back to Seattle, and met at the Metropolitan Grill, where I still practice the somm trade. Mr. Price worked in some of the city’s prominent restaurants before eventually becoming national director of wine education for Jackson Family Fine Wines. His career later took him to Auburn University, where he became Master Sommelier in Residence at 1856 – Culinary Residence and began teaching students in the Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management.

That might sound like a curious place for a Master Sommelier to land.

It isn’t.

Auburn built 1856 as a teaching restaurant. Students work through the kitchen, dining room, and front of house while dealing with menus and wine pairings that change every two weeks. Thomas isn’t standing at the front of a classroom explaining which fork goes where. The students have to do the work.

The Trouble With Knowing Too Much

Something else about Thomas matters to me. He still considers himself a student.

This is a guy who can teach Burgundy, travel there, come home, and tell you the trip made him a better teacher. He remains active in the wine world because expertise can get stale when you spend too much time admiring it.

Wine certainly provides enough opportunity for that.

We swirl it. Sniff it. Discuss limestone, elevation, barrels, vintages, and whether the winemaker looked thoughtfully toward the eastern slope before breakfast.

Some of that matters.

Some of it is theater.

Thomas understands the difference.

He has taught serious wine students, hospitality professionals, and people who want to increase their wine-pairing knowledge.

There is enormous craft in wine. Growing it is a craft. Making it is a craft. Serving it well is a craft. Learning to taste it takes time.

None of that requires intimidation.

Thomas Price spent decades acquiring enough knowledge to stand among a very small group of wine professionals. He could use that knowledge to make wine seem impossibly complicated.

Instead, he teaches people how to get through the door.

Find something good that you can afford. Put it on the table with people you enjoy.

Then drink the wine.

Can We Help You?

When does craft become art? And art become craft?

Continue The Journey

The Fire of Inspiration: A Journey into Artistic Genius explores the philosophy of Mack-n-Cheeze Music in greater depth.

Thanks for spending some time with us.

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Because sometimes the wisest person in the studio has four paws.

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