The best sommeliers possessed an almost mythical ability to remember vintages, monitor drinking windows, track inventory, anticipate guest preferences, and maximize profitability from a cellar that often represented hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars in inventory.

How digital voices are reshaping wine culture, and what every hospitality professional needs to know. I have spent the better part of three decades standing in cellars, scribbling notes, and debating the merits of one vintage over another with people who have spent equal amounts of time doing exactly the same thing. I have passed examinations that required me to identify grape variety, region, and year from a single blind pour. I can wax at length on the structural poetry of a well-aged...

Paolo Galloni on why a great bottle of wine is never just a drink, and what three decades of tasting have taught him about time, memory, and the art of paying attention.