<body><div>As I enter Carbone the place is overwhelming in its scale and detailed reproduction of the clubby atmosphere of New York City fine Italian dining. It is not just the perfect tables and cosy booths, it is also the exactly planned lighting and the level it is set at. It is the staff who, when walking through the dining room, even when performing onerous tasks such as carrying a pile of plates, always smile with an expression of indefatigable victory. Little wonder that, on a Tuesday night (usually somnolent in the restaurant calendar), Carbone is alive, vibrant, and the valet parkers get no rest. Since its March 2022 opening, Carbone has been through the ‘Dallas Cycle’ of ‘everyone’ trying it out and has now established a happy clientele of regular returnees. Central to this success is the massive beverage program and responsibility for that falls on the shoulders of Beverage Manager Andrew Schawel. Who is he, and what in his experience made him attracted to Carbone? Recently, I had the chance to ask him:.<h2>EARLY DAYS</h2>He was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. As a boy he had an interest in mechanical and electrical things. His father had the brilliant idea of, instead of buying him toys, giving him electronics that were broken and Andrew would fix them or salvage parts for other things. That early interest in systems would prove useful later.From high school he went for a year in Chile (his mother is from Santiago). He did not speak a word of Spanish but learned it during that immersion. It gave him an introduction to a country with a wine and pisco culture. On his return, he went to junior college to finish his associate’s degree in business and Spanish. <h2>THE WINE BUG BITES</h2>“I was 21, I didn't know anything about wine, and I was listening to my F&amp;B director and winemakers discuss technical wine subjects. I didn't understand any of it, and I was just really drawn to wanting to understand.” Then he moved to San Francisco and started working in hotels. He had been a barista, and Fairmont hotels employed him to manage a coffee shop. Many people describe their careers in terms of formative moments and, for Schawel, one occurred here. His boss, the food and beverage director, invited him and a couple of other members of the beverage team to sit in at his tastings with winemakers from Napa and Sonoma every Wednesday. “I was 21, I didn't know anything about wine, and I was listening to my F&amp;B director and winemakers discuss technical wine subjects. I didn't understand any of it, and I was just really drawn to wanting to understand.” That inspired him to take courses with the International Sommelier Guild (ISG). One thing that stood him in good stead was that his years of barristering had been with Starbucks, and he had taken their Black Apron Coffee Master. A crucial part of the program is the difference between different types of coffee and coffee growing. That agricultural aspect translated smoothly to grape growing. Now, he wanted to learn everything he could about the restaurant business. He moved to Seattle where he worked high tea in the mornings at 6:30am, as a bartender at a burger joint at night, and bartending at a dive bar at weekends. He wanted to pursue wine more seriously and realized he needed to work in more high-end restaurants. He took a position at Canlis, a Wine Spectator Grand Award winner. To get it, he turned up five days in a row in a suit and tie and asked for a job until they said yes. “I started as a food runner and a barista, and they told me it would be five years to make it to the wine team. And after two and a half years, I was a lead server, and I was volunteering to help with wine list edits, or not edits, but like stuffing wine lists, helping to move cases from the loading dock down to the wine cellar, and just whatever I could do. And that was an amazing experience.” <h2>SWITCHING COASTS</h2>“When I started working there, Union Square Cafe had never had dedicated sommeliers, so I was Union Square Cafe's first sommelier, and I was the only sommelier for a little while.”At that point he moved across the country to New York City and Union Square Cafe with a reference from one of the partners at Canlis. He started as a server, but with aspirations of getting to help with the wine program. “When I started working there, Union Square Cafe had never had dedicated sommeliers, so I was Union Square Cafe's first sommelier, and I was the only sommelier for a little while.”That gave him the scope to formalize the beverage program and he started writing job descriptions, operational documents and more about managing the beverage side of the restaurant. Here was his childhood penchant for how things work coming back into play. The practice would travel with him throughout his career. A second formative moment occurred when the wine director left and Schawel was promoted to that role. He was the last wine manager at Union Square Cafe before it closed its location due to rising rents in 2015. He stayed with the Union Square Hospitality Group, transferring to The Modern, which had two Michelin stars, and was gearing up its wine program to get a Wine Spectator Grand Award. “So my first couple months there, I worked with Michael Engelman, and I was in at 8.30 in the morning, and I was receiving. I think we added 1,600 SKUs to the wine list in a two-month period.” The cellar required serious management and was Schawel’s chance to show his operational skills. He moved it from Microsoft Word to a dedicated computer management program and maintained it.<h2>DALLAS</h2>Dallas happened in 2017 when Bruno Davaillon offered him a position at Bullion, his new gilded palace set to reinvigorate downtown. In his first week he started with a 150 SKU wine list and customers asking for Grand Cru Burgundy. He immediately realized he needed a larger list with more high-end wine. By the time Bullion closed (due to COVID) the list was 1,100 SKUs and 100% French. <h2>FINALLY, CARBONE</h2>He interviewed with John Slover, Corporate Wine Director at Major Food Group (parent of Carbone), and started with them in September of 2021. He oversaw the opening of Sadelle’s (in Highland Park Village), Carbone, and Vino, all in a one-month period. THROUGH THE CARBONE WINE LIST WITH GUN AND CAMERA“In the top Italian category for sales, Tuscany, there is about a 50-50 split between Brunello di Montalcino and the Super Tuscans.” Carbone is massive, with a beverage program to match. Reflecting customer preference in the wine program means that all of Italy is fair game, with an emphasis in Tuscany and Piedmont. France means Champagne, Bordeaux, and Burgundy, with a nod to Sancerre. California is an important category, especially in Texas, where a preference for Napa predominates. For Bordeaux, blue-chip (e.g. classified growths) predominate but, Schawel adds “...we want to make sure there's wine for every occasion. And so we do have every price point in Bordeaux all the way up to the high end, but we also, when we buy high end wines, we buy the elite brands and also the best vintages.” What is the Dallas customer preference in terms of Bordeaux versus California? “So Napa, I think, or just California in general, it's a larger category by volume of sales, and so we have more of it. So I think just by nature of what's available, we sell more in California. ”“Carbone has four sommeliers in addition to Schawel. On weekends, they all work the floor, …. That commitment to wine service is all the more impressive when one considers that the trend in recent years has been for restaurants to cut back on sommeliers, leaving the customer’s choice for wine service to be asking the non-specialist wait staff.”In the top Italian category for sales, Tuscany, there is about a 50-50 split between Brunello di Montalcino and the Super Tuscans. Carbone has four sommeliers in addition to Schawel. On weekends, they all work the floor, indicating that the beverage is as important as the food. That commitment to wine service is all the more impressive when one considers that the trend in recent years has been for restaurants to cut back on sommeliers, leaving the customer’s choice for wine service to be asking the non-specialist wait staff. Given the trained sommelier service, how do they assist the customer through such a formidable list (currently just under 1,000 SKUs)? “There's so many greats. I feel like a huge part of being a great sommelier is, obviously you have to have experience with wines and you have to have the vocabulary to explain a wine but also to understand what somebody's asking for. But I think one of the most important parts of being a sommelier is also being able to connect with people.”“And really, I mean, there's two approaches. It's either trying, if somebody's looking for something specific, to understand them and help them find it. Or something as close as possible to it. Or if you connect with somebody and they're maybe looking to explore, making sure that they trust you and finding them something that's interesting and within the budget that they want.” “And that's, for me, a huge part of wine sales and being a sommelier is making people feel good about what they're buying no matter what it is. And that's either through stories about what the wine is or some sort of tie-in to the menu.” “Right now it's white truffle season and so we've been selling maybe a little bit more Barolo than usual because you can help people to understand where these truffles came from.”The main restaurant projects the image that the group promotes. Classic New York clubby upscale Italian. This permanence is both a strength and a weakness. Customer choice prevents removing favorite dishes from the menu, for example. The adjacent (and internally connected) Vino is not just a wine bar, but also a skunkworks where Major Food Group can try new things unconstrained by the dead weight of expectation, both food and drink. There are 20 wines by-the-glass at the moment, twice the number in the main restaurant (but not the Dom Perignon Champagne), experimental dishes, Roman pizza, and other specifics. The main restaurant menu is always available as well. The atmosphere is more relaxed too. Drop in anytime and choose a wine or cocktail, and a dessert or appetizer. <h2>TASTES</h2>If he came in disguise, with a budget backed by Warren Buffett, what would Andrew Schawel order? “Definitely Champagne, likely the Krug. a Domaine Leflaive Grand Cru Burgundy, Barolo, a Super Tuscan or a Brunello di Montalcino”. Carbone uses the Coravin system to maintain old wines in “just opened” shape in the reserve collection.His preference in Barolo is traditional style, particularly for an old wine from a great year. “But I mean, our number one selling Barolo is a modern producer and it's 2018 vintage. Our top selling Barolo is from Elio Altare. It's at a very approachable price point for a region that can be very expensive.”What about Tuscany? “The best Tuscan wine I've ever tasted was actually a 94 Gaja, the Sugarille, one of the single vineyards from the Brunello estate. I think I actually just sold out of the Sugarille, but I do have the Rennina single vineyard from Gaia.” I mentally note that the wonderful tasting he had was 30 years after the wine was created. “So, I mean, that's the thing. When given the opportunity to be aged correctly, it's something that not a lot of people get to experience. And I feel very lucky that we are able to have a very decent selection of wines that have some age on them.” <h2>THE WINE MARKET</h2>I remark that we are hearing now about certainly a plateauing, maybe a decline, in total wine sales. That's across both on and off premise. Has he seen that and, if so, how is he reacting to how he is structuring the wine list? “I think there's a challenge. I mean world insecurities can lead to price sensitivity and wine just continues to get more and more expensive. And so making sure that you have wine that's accessible at all price points is important. And also, I personally believe that wine should objectively be delicious.”On another general point I note that one of the great Italian contributions to the wine world has been Prosecco, going from a mixer to what now appears to be wine that goes all the way from mixer level up to sort of a distinct, quality wine in its own right. I'm thinking of the DOCGs that have been formed and every few years there's another sort of formal definition of a quality or standard that's created for producers to reach. Do you think that's worked, or has it destroyed the wine? Has it made the wine better? And what do you see as the future of Prosecco? “The sales have just gone crazy. It's huge. The thing is, most Prosecco you can drink by itself. or in a cocktail. Who doesn't like Aperol Spritz and one of the foundations of the cocktail menu at Vino is Spritz cocktails. We have an entire category of Spritz cocktails. So we sell and purchase a ton of Prosecco. It's interesting, we have some Cartizze, which is maybe the Grand Cru of Prosecco and it's in a price point that's very accessible and it's like when you think of it that way it's like somebody doesn't want to go all in on champagne. You can literally get a wine from the most prestigious kind of sub area of Prosecco for around $100. So it's when you think of it that way that it's kind of cool to be able to have the best of something. <h2>FINAL QUESTION</h2>What would you like to see in the Dallas wine scene that would really improve it? “Selfishly, as somebody who works in the restaurant industry. More places with excellent wine programs that are open when I get off of work. That's great. There have been a handful of restaurants that have been able to achieve that. I feel like a couple of them have gone away but there's a way to have a wine list that's just very well curated no matter how big it is. It doesn't have to be a massive list. If you have a hundred great wines that are just delicious. I think it's difficult to find that.”“...I think one of the most important parts of being a sommelier is also being able to connect with people.”</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Meet the sommelier: Andrew Schawel of Carbone, Dallas

As I enter Carbone the place is overwhelming in its scale and detailed reproduction of the clubby atmosphere of New York City fine Italian dining. It is not just the perfect tables and cosy booths, it is also the exactly planned lighting and the level it is set at. It is the staff who, when walking through the dining room, even when performing onerous tasks such as carrying a pile of plates, always smile with an expression of indefatigable victory.