Thanksgiving Menu with Master Sommelier Peter Neptune
By Gary Walther
If you’ve ever seen the movie Som, you already know Peter Neptune. He’s the first Master Sommelier interviewed in the movie.
He is also the Master Sommelier who created the wine list at Shutters on the Beach and is the hotel’s wine director. He sums up the list, which ranges the world, in a surprising line: “We want to be perceived as an outrageously great value. We could be charging way more.”
As proof, he cites a wine with what seems like a “who orders that?” price tag: the La Mission Haut-Brion 2000 at $1,450. “At any other restaurant it would cost $2,600,” he says.
OK, but what about the best non-stratosphere wines, especially those that go with the 1 Pico Thanksgiving menu?
Next to value, Neptune’s other watchword for the list is flexibility. “For the starters, the varietal that would work for any and all of the Thanksgiving appetizers would be Sauvignon Blanc. Its crispness and aromatic intensity would match well with the spicy carrot soup’s ginger flavor and the white asparagus and egg, and the dill shrimp would bring out the fresh herbal character of the varietal, as would the endive salad,” he says. “I suggest either the Domaine Thomas Sancerre ‘La Crele’ ($75) from France or the Napa Valley Round Pond Sauvignon Blanc ($75). Both are also available by the glass.”
“For the free range Mary’s Turkey I recommend the Mindego Ridge Santa Cruz Mtns. Pinot Noir,” Neptune says. “This is a small production (300 cases!) winery that was a big discovery for me this year: a stunning Pinot Noir at only $105 a bottle. I also think that the pumpkin ravioli would be great with this wine.”
And for the braised wagyu beef short ribs, “The ZD Cabernet Sauvignon would be killer, as would Andre Brunel Chateuneuf du Pape. And the roasted Mediterranean Branzino calls for a nice Italian White, the Terlano Pinot Grigio.”
Now, the big perspective.
The Shutters wine list represents the world’s major regions and varietals, but also takes some deep dives into certain places, the result of Neptune’s beagle-nose for what’s going on in winedom.
Thus, the list also has a trio of hard-to-find Sonoma Pinot Noirs: Flowers 2014, Red Car Heaven and Earth 2013, and Williams Selyem R. R. Valley 2012. “We might be the only restaurant in LA with them,” Neptune says. “They exemplify the search that we do.”
Neptune comes to Shutters trailing a list of wine-world acronyms, the equivalent of stars on a general’s collar: WSET, CWE, FWS (French Wine Scholar), and MS (Master Sommelier), an achievement that he describes as “pure will.” And for the record, Neptune is the only person in the world to hold all four.
Despite his accolades, Neptune is down-to-Earth, which showed in his choice for our lunch. Everyone ordered fish (it’s LA, right?) and he could have gone for a big fish like the Luc Morlet ‘Coup de Coeur’ 2013 ($265) or a medium-size one, say the Guigal 2012 Condrieu, which at $85 is a steal. But he did not.
We went the entire lunch escorted by the Muga Rosé, a Rosé with biceps certainly, and a great pairing (especially at $52 a bottle). Muga is best known for strapping red wines, and that this Rosé was on the menu was proof of everything planet Neptune stands for.
