Coming from a background of culinary and sommelier school in France, Perrine Prieur brings a range of experience to her quaint, sophisticated shop in Westside Provisions. Prieur shares her journey from France to America, where she moved from restaurant sommelier to wine shop maven. Here she shares more about Perrine’s Wine Shop and her wine tastings.
Tell us about your experience growing up on a vineyard in France.
My dad planted our vineyard of Pinot Noir grapes when I was eight, but he passed away when I was 12. My mom then had the vineyard, our family farm and four kids to take care of. We didn’t produce our own wine label, but we picked our grapes and sold them to five different producers. Recently my mom retired and she leased the vineyard to someone else. The first harvest was 2014 and next year the owner plans to produce his own label. I plan to try it out and hopefully sell it at the store.
Your journey began in culinary school. What inspired you to pursue wine after that?
In France, culinary school focuses on the entire realm of hospitality from cooking to management. Each of my four years, I did an internship in a restaurant. I started as a waitress and then progressed to cooking in the kitchen. In my final two years I found I liked wine. At the restaurant Le Gavroche in London, I made a lot of progress in my wine knowledge. We tasted every bottle, so I went from just taking customers’ order and pouring the wine to recommending wines for the table.
How does the wine program in France differ from American sommelier programs?
The sommelier program was 50 hours per week, and we had to complete internships in the hospitality field each year. Here in America, you learn on your own. You are responsible for setting up a study group and tastings. French sommelier schools focused mainly on France. For instance, we spent four weeks on Alsace and two days on the entire country of Italy. I would not call myself a master sommelier, except for my knowledge of France.
You also mentioned that men and women sommeliers are treated differently in France. Why?
It was definitely a man’s world. I was the only one at Le Gavroche and the men would always give me a hard time. I would pour a glass of wine the exact same way, and the men would still say I did it wrong. Men were always pushing me to do better. Here in America there is much more respect between men and women.
With all your restaurant experience, what made you decide to open a wine shop?
My original vision was to create a wine bar. But I started in the restaurant industry at 16 as a waitress, and I realized I didn’t want that life. I wanted to spend holidays with my family and I wanted to be able to go home at night. When I moved to Atlanta, I was originally working as the sommelier at JOËL. As I went to wine stores around town, I felt like there was something missing. I decided I could fill that void. As a woman you can be intimidated going into a wine store, and I wanted to change that.
Now there are several small wine shops in Atlanta. How is Perrine’s different?
We really understand wine and food pairing. I have many customers that come in and ask what to pair with cooking. Since I went to culinary school, I understand the consistency of flavor and how it works with wine. If you describe a dish to me, I know how to recommend a bottle. Everything that we sell, we taste. I make sure that if I sell a wine, it tastes true to the region it was produced in.
How would customers navigate your store?
We organize the store by Old World and New World wines, similar to how a restaurant wine list works, scaling the wines from light to full bodied. We rotate out our selections every 3 months so that our wine club members always have new options. People can find bottles priced from $10 to $500, but our core clientele go for everyday drinking wines that are priced around $15-25.
What’s your wine of choice?
Since I’m from Burgundy, the shop has a good Burgundy focus. This wine is an investment if you want a good one. But at the same time, when you start comparing Burgundy with New World wines- like an Oregon Pinots-they can be pricey too. New World wines have just come in the past few decades, whereas Burgundy has been around for hundreds of years. The way I see it, Burgundy will always be in demand.
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