MEET THE MAKER: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
As the wine director at Model Milk, Andrew Stewart is on a mission to educate diners. His informative lectures are brief but they have a long finish.
As the wine director at Model Milk, Andrew Stewart is on a mission to educate diners. His informative lectures are brief but they have a long finish.
andrew Stewart is likely one of only a few Alberta farm boys who can speak at length about the flavour profile of the Nerello Mascalese, a red- wine grape grown in Sicily. ( For the record, he says “it’s light-bodied, fresh, aromatic, full of red fruit flavour with great acidity and arguably as terroir- transparent as Pinot Noir.”) What is less surprising, given his rural roots, is that he landed at a restaurant whose mascot is a white- washed dairy cow.
Stewart joined Model Milk as a server in the fall of 2012 after stints at Metrovino, Bin 905, Teatro, Vin-Room and both Mercato locations. He worked his way up to “wine Jedi” ( hey, it’s on his business card), a position that gives him responsibility for the wine lists at Model Milk; Pigeonhole, the wine-focused snack bar from chef- owner Justin Leboe that is set to open in Milk’s basement next month; and the Korean tapas hotspot Anju.
Stewart has steered Model Milk’s wine program in an organic/ biodynamic direction. He admits that biodynamics, with its mystical side, can sound a bit “witchy,” but he argues that it is based on sound principles. “A farm or vineyard is viewed wholly as its own ecosystem with every creature, plant and microbe within it playing a part,” he explains.
Take the cow- horn treatment ( biodynamic preparation 500), for example. One takes the dung of a lactating cow and buries it in a cow horn ( not to be confused with a bull horn) between November and February. The horn is unearthed, the dirt diluted with water and the mixture stirred for one hour. Then it is applied to the vines during the descending phase of the moon. “It sounds crazy, right?” Stewart asks. “But it’s been very scientifically proven that this treatment increases microbial growth in the soil, improves water absorption and retention, and results in deeper rooting and earthworm activity.”
Stewart argues that, despite the new- age overtones, this technique is in keeping with old- school knowledge. “Healthy soil makes healthy vines, and any winemaker worth a damn will tell you that great wines start in the vineyard,” he says. In Stewart’s eyes, biodynamic farmers just have a deeper understanding of their vines and growing conditions.
Stewart does have a more formal wine education ( he has completed levels one through three of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust plus the first two levels with the International Sommelier Guild), but he says tasting experiences in Italy, Oregon and the Okanagan have served him better than any classroom, especially when it comes to offering patrons unexpected pairing options. Case in point: Model Milk’s lamb dish. For its charred cabbage ash, black garlic and buckwheat there really is no traditional pairing, so Stewart stocks Forodori’s Teroldego from the foot of Italy’s Dolomite mountains. “This wine is all smoke and earth over darker fruit, but with cleansing acidity and not too much density,” he explains.
Introducing diners to new regions and wines is a big part of Stewart’s job. He also sees the role of wine Jedi as challenging what people think they like. If diners are open- minded, they might be pleasantly surprised. But the customer is always right, so, while the force is with him, Stewart is not about to force his opinion on anyone.