All issues thought-about, 2025 has been a banner yr for grasp sommelier and acclaimed restaurateur Bobby Stuckey. In Might, he turned the eleventh recipient of the celebrated Julia Baby award, the primary sommelier to take action, and in June his restaurant, Frasca Meals and Wine in Boulder, Colorado, collected its fourth James Beard award, this time for “Excellent Restaurant.” We caught up with Stuckey to debate what receiving the Julia Baby award means to him, his present favourite bottles, and the way wine tradition has modified over the previous three many years since he began.
Imbibe: How have you ever seen U.S. wine tradition change all through your profession?
Bobby Stuckey: After I began as a sommelier over 30 years in the past, I believed we had moved previous the stereotypical “snooty, inhospitable” wine skilled. Then, there was this stunning second of enlightened hospitality, the place the visitor got here first and wine was a software for connection. I actually believed that previous stereotype was within the rearview mirror.
However within the final eight years, I’ve seen it creep again. It’s resurfaced in a brand new kind: sommeliers who’re extra targeted on placing their very own standpoint on a wine record than on serving the restaurant they work in or the friends they’re caring for. That’s the overarching development I’ve noticed, and one I actually want we might transfer previous once more. Wine has such a strong capability to unfold hospitality. That’s what it ought to at all times be about.
What does receiving the Julia Baby award imply to you?
It means rather a lot, particularly as a result of I’m sufficiently old to have truly taken care of Julia Baby as a sommelier on a number of events in my profession. She was such an icon in our family rising up—what she stood for by way of accessibility, pleasure, and hospitality in meals and wine. To obtain an award in her title is extremely significant.
What wine tendencies do you see coming down the pike?
It’s arduous to maintain up! In just some years, we’ve gone from “every little thing have to be pure wine” to individuals not even consuming in any respect. Now? Tendencies transfer quick. It’s a must to keep curious and versatile, however grounded in what actually issues—caring for the visitor … listening to their desires and wishes. For instance, it’s not in regards to the sommelier’s favourite bottle on the record, it’s about what the visitor is on the lookout for. We now have to satisfy them the place they’re, not the place we’re.
What do you consider generational shifts in wine attitudes and consumption?
Truthfully? I believe we’re making an even bigger deal out of it than we have to. Thirty years in the past, my mother and father had been among the many only a few of their technology who drank wine. Most of my pals’ mother and father didn’t. And after I was a younger wine skilled, the individuals I grew up or went to varsity with weren’t going to eating places or consuming wine. So the concept individuals aren’t consuming wine now? We’ve bought loads of individuals consuming wine. The bottom line is to take nice care of them.
What wine area are you actually loving proper now?
I’m actually enthusiastic about what’s taking place in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. I’ve been an unlimited fan of the area for a very long time, however this new technology of winemakers, they’re bringing an power and readability that’s elevating the area to a complete new degree. I’ve by no means seen it higher.
And what’s your go-to summer time bottle nowadays?
It will depend on what I’m consuming with my spouse, however one bottle I’m actually loving this summer time is the Etna Bianco from Maugeri. Etna Bianco is crisp, mineral-driven, and has excessive acidity. I’d pair it with branzino. Ideally, I’m consuming it in a flowery Dries Van Noten shirt, on a patio, with [my wife] Danette. That’s the proper summer time second.
How do you see the ever-shifting tariffs, at the moment 15% on EU items (together with wine and spirits), impacting wine within the U.S.?
I don’t imply this in a partisan manner, simply observationally, however most individuals don’t really perceive how tariffs work. They’re a nasty factor. Not only for the wine trade, however for a lot of areas of worldwide commerce. These tariffs have already price us half one million {dollars} (for Scarpetta [Wine Company]). It feels reckless on the a part of our administration. And the impression isn’t abroad, it’s proper right here. It’s on enterprise homeowners, the individuals attempting to maintain issues going on this nation.
Shifting gears, what led you to create the scholarship fund at Northern Arizona College? Why was that essential to you?
My mother and father, together with my spouse and I, helped begin the fund as a result of NAU has a deep dedication to supporting first-generation faculty college students. That mission actually resonates with us. Each my spouse and I’ve members of the family who had been the primary of their households to attend faculty, so this trigger hits house. Each time I do a public talking engagement, a portion of my payment goes on to that scholarship fund—and now, due to the Julia Baby Basis, the $50,000 grant that comes with my Julia Baby Award will profit the scholarship fund as nicely. It’s one of many issues I’m most pleased with.
Facet story: I used to be truly out operating the opposite day with [professional runner] Brent Vaughn, who was along with his daughter, a pupil at NAU, and I had my NAU shirt on. She noticed me and yelled, “Go Jacks!” after which thanked me for the scholarship fund. That meant every little thing.