
As a young boy, Sid Heil decided he wanted to make wine his career. āMy Dad taught me that white people had invented wine, and that it was an industry that was still about 99% white. But that was a long time ago, and things have changed. That might not be the case any longer. Itās probably only 97% white now. Bunch of Yao Ming types buying property, which nobody seems to care. None of those on my wine list.ā
Sid Heil is the first White Supremacist sommelier in the world. He broke the glass ceiling for racists in the wine industry. With his award-winning wine list that focuses on German wines, and serves Trump Wines by-the-glass exclusively, Sid Heil has made a big splash in the wine world. The kind of splash a turd makes. We asked Sid to answer a few questions about wine that were submitted by our readers.
What are your favorite, and least favorite, wines? ā Ann Osmia, Cleveland, OH
Iām betting you think Iām going to say white wines are my favorite. HaHa. I get that a lot. Where are you from Ann? You have kind of an ethnic last name. I mean, Iām going to answer your question anyway, I just hope by the time this is printed you havenāt already been deported.
My favorite wines are domestic wines, Ann. Except for German wines, which are the finest wines Ć¼ber alles. All anybody needs besides those are wines made here in America. Why are we allowing in so many foreign wines, Ann? Do you ever even ask yourself that question? I suppose you want a list that has nothing but wines from other countries. Our wine lists are overcrowded with Refugee Wines. Winemakers in this country, of our shade of persuasion, are having all kinds of trouble selling their wines. When you buy a Refugee Wine, you put a white American out of business. And, Ann, some of them are women! Well, not very many, itās still Napa Valley after all, but a few! How can you sleep at night?
I can tell you a few wines I detest. Negroamaro. NĆ©grette. If you ask me, Ann, there are too many NĆ©grettes in the wine business. They donāt belong. A NĆ©grette comes to this country and, Iām happy to say, very rarely makes it. Why? NĆ©grettes are no good, thatās why. But they come here anyway. And why not? Theyāve got nothing Toulouse. Throw the NĆ©grettes out.
How do you view the role of sommelier? ā Satch Romyces, Brooklyn, NY
Well, Satch, (What is that short for? Satchel? Where were your parents from, Satch? Just asking. I have to be careful.) I view my role as sommelier exactly as I see my role as a white man. Iām superior. Iām pretty sure I got my job as a sommelier because I was born with an attitude of superiority. Donāt get me wrong, Satch, if thatās your real name, I believe people are people, like trash is trash, and lakes are lakes. Only some lakes are Superior. HaHa. See what I did there, Satch? Made a White Supremacist joke. Lot of people donāt know this, but White Supremacists are funny! OK, hereās another one. How do you make a White Supremacist shake? Add some ice cream and throw him in a blender! Or take him to a JayZ concert.
When Iām working the floor, Satchmo, I work the floor. I donāt take any shit from anybody. This is my restaurant. My people started this restaurant. I donāt know where you people came from. Sure, you can stay for a while, make me some money, but then go back where you belong, you donāt belong here. Iām the goddam sommelier! I donāt talk to busboys and dishwashers. And they had better talk to me with respect. Thatās how sommeliers are supposed to be. As for customers, you want help with my wine list? Nah. You donāt need help. You just need me to tell you what to do. German wine, Baby. Thatās all you need to know. Open the list and flip a coin. Tails itās SpƤtlese, Skinheads itās Kabinett. Donāt even worry about it. Iāve got the sommelier pin right here on my lapel. The one that says, āI like my somm how I like my wine: Cold and White.ā Come in and see me sometime, Satchmo. Iāve got a table I think will make you feel right at home. The chair is electric.
Whatās the secret to pairing wine and food? ā Vin Italy, Rome, GA
You know, Vin, Iāve created my own approach to pairing wine with food. Most somms try to make the pairings work by matching weight, or by matching flavors. I never really understood that approach. Wine experts talking about wines with good acid going better with food. Thatās just stupid, right? Your stomach is full of acid. Acid isnāt to complement food, duh, acid turns food into poop. You want poop in your mouth? Yeah, Vin, you might. Whatās your real name?
I match food and wine using color. If you think about it, it makes sense. Donāt mix colors. For example, letās say youāre eating something with a dark skin. What wine makes sense to you for that? Something white? Youāre going to mix dark skin with a white? Thatās just stupid, if not immoral. Donāt do it, Vin. Thatās food and wine miscegenation. White meat, white wine. Dark meat, dark wine. Orange food, orange wine. This aināt rocket science, Vin. Wine and food is like everything else that matters in life, Vin, donāt mix the colors!
How do you decide what wines to put on your list? ā Cora Vin, Detroit, MI
Thatās a penetrating question, Cora Vin. Is that an Asian name? Ever met Yao Ming? Just asking. Look, Cora, there are hundreds of thousands of wines for sale in the world. I canāt taste them all. And I donāt need to. I can judge them by how they look. Yeah, you heard me. I can read a label. I look at a wine, I can see with my own eyes that itās inferior, that it doesnāt belong on my wine list. This is how all sommeliers write a wine list. Some look at the label to see if itās a ānatural wine.ā If itās not, they shitcan it. Not for me, they say, itās wrong. Or they only buy wines that are under 14% alcohol. They read the label, and if itās higher than that, they say itās crappy, out-of-balance, and terrible for the food. Tasting it isnāt necessary. I just do what every sommelier does; I judge by what I see.
When I got my current job, I had to take all the wines from other countries off the list and send them back to where they came from. Hell, there was even a Lebanese wine! I need a wine list, not a No-Fly list. Believe me, I had lots of importers mad at me. I donāt care. What are importers anyway if not wine coyotes, sneaking wines across borders where they can take away placements from our homegrown wines? Importers ought to be thrown in jail. Though that hardly seems fair to prisoners who are just felons and might have to share a cell with one.
I finally got my wine cellar cleaned up, all those ugly foreign wines banished. Well, except for German wines. Which reminds me. Once my man Trump is President, what will German wines and the United States have in common?
Theyāre both going into hock.
Ron Washam won the 2016 Louis Roederer Online Wine Writer of the Year Award for his columns on timatkin.com