Michael Sager on Wine Without Dogma
For Michael Sager, the problem with wine isn’t complexity – it’s how people use it to signal status.
“Wine is living. It’s food. Someone put a lot of effort into it,” he says. “We’re just lucky to drink it before it turns to vinegar.” The issue, as he sees it, is how often wine is separated from that basic truth. “People get into it for the lifestyle. They forget it’s something that’s meant to be eaten. Meant to be shared.”
Sager + Wilde, from the start, rejected that kind of gatekeeping. “Who decides who gets to enjoy it? Who’s in the priesthood? That’s bullshit. Is it good? That’s what matters.”
Whether it’s Burgundy, Rhône, Napa or Sonoma, the point is the same. “It’s in the glass,” he says. “That’s it. That’s the only rule.”
THIRSTY FOR MORE?
Watch the next in our Michael Sager series, where he talks about the role of service and what makes a wine bar truly memorable.
TL;DR
Michael Sager and Ben call out wine snobbery and reminds us that great wine is about what’s in the glass.
Art Direction by David Tokley
Filming by Max Sizeland
Location: Sager + Wilde, Hackney Road London