Meet our Sommeliers ~ David

By the time David Morris was in his mid-twenties, he had lived in the Midwest, Germany, and Switzerland, which instilled in him a profound curiosity of geography, culture and history. However, he had yet to be introduced to his current heartfelt obsession - wine; this all changed one fateful dinner in Winterthur, Switzerland in 1999.

"I wish I could remember the flavors and the scents of the meal, unfortunately those have been lost to time," says David Morris. "However, I can quite easily recall the emotions I had during the meal, it was like standing on top of a mountain or watching a sunset on a beach or listening to a boys choir fill up the vast echoing spaces of a huge Gothic cathedral: it was incredible."

This pivotal dinner took place while David was temporarily staying with a friend and his family in Switzerland. Upon being welcomed into their home, David was asked whether or not he liked wine. In an attempt at being accommodating, David said "yes” and was then promptly brought downstairs for a tour of their 5,000-bottle wine cellar to choose the appropriate wines to drink with the evening's meal. David listened attentively to, and in wonderment of, Gerhardt's enthusiasm and thoroughness in selecting each wine. The first was a sparking pear wine, and the second a white from the Loire Valley in France.

"The last wine of the night I remember with full clarity," says David. "It was a Canterno Sori Genestra Barolo from 1978, and is to this date one of the greatest beverages I have ever enjoyed."

The monumental meal introduced David to the idea that wine could elevate the flavors found in cuisine. Nebbiolo from Barolo, a town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, is David's favorite wine to this day.

Two summers later, while interning with the musical production of Opernfestspiele, in Heindenheim Germany, David fell in love with the culture of wine. “Before it had just been the flavors and textures and panache of drinking wine,” says David. “During that summer I realized that wine is about bringing people together.”

After spending long days at work with no weekends, David found solace in his evening meals and the complimentary wine and conversation that went with them. He soon came to the realization that the culture surrounding the experience of wine focuses on enjoying things to the fullest. “There is nothing like cooking a meal and sitting down with a friend and talking for hours, that's the good stuff,” says David.

Wanting to be an integral part of the culture of wine, while pursuing a career in acting, David moved back to the states and began working in the restaurant industry at Ocean Grill in New York City. While working at Ocean Grill he met Master Sommelier Laura Maniec, then the Wine and Beverage Director of BR Guest Restaurant Group. “Her passion and thoroughness inspired me to really begin taking my wine study seriously, and not just something I would do when I discovered a bottle that I really liked,” says David.

With dedication in his pocket, and the desire for fresh air and mountains, David moved to Washington and began taking classes for his sommelier certification at South Seattle Community College, through an organization called the International Sommelier Guild. After a year and half of intensive sommelier curriculum, David passed the sommelier certification exam and upon doing so, was offered a position at Wild Ginger in the winter of 2009. Within a year, David was promoted to Lead Sommelier.

David's new job provided him the opportunity to take two amazing, intensive wine trips: the first in Germany in Febrauary: then to France in April. These trips helped solidify the theoretical knowledge David learned while in school.

Wine service at Wild Ginger is more restrained and techincal, but the service at The Triple Door allows David to exercise his theatrical side. David says, “Wild Ginger and The Triple Door are amazing places to work, they offer me two very different environments in which to hone my skill as a sommelier."

David doesn't quite know where his newfound passion and skills will take him, but he is looking at the future with bright eyes and a sense of youthful optimism. "What I know is that I really love working for this company and I look forward to the many challenges that lie ahead."

Curry ~ A Journey: India

Our curry journey begins in India: widely recognized as the birthplace of curry. India is a vast country, and rather than following a single strict curry recipe, each region blends local spices and experiments with delicious adaptations to the concept.

In the southern part of India, the addition of coconut and jaggery are tasty, transformative ingredients used to create a sweet and luxurious flavor profile to the curry dish. In the southwestern region, most dishes include shredded coconut, or coconut milk, to balance the aromatic sharpness from the onions and mustard seeds, as well as the tantalizing spiciness of the sliced red chilies. In the southeastern coast, cuisine is usually on the spicier side of the heat scale; the use of black pepper power and red hot chili peppers provide a revitalizing heat that complements the use of staple savory curries spices: coriander, cumin, curry leaves and turmeric. In the southern coastal regions, a large variety of curries are made mostly with vegetables, rather than with meat, and served over rice, since most of India's rice production comes from its southern region.

Hundreds of kilometers north, yogurt is graciously stirred into curries to counteract the scrumptious aromatic and acidic notes found with the addition of garlic, ginger, onions and tomatoes. The spiciness of curries from the northern region vary, but possess a strong star anise essence and are typically enjoyed with roti, a thin jowar flour based flatbread.

Leaving India and jetting over the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka, curries resemble those of southern India, yet include the use of rosewater and poppy seeds to create unique complex and delicate flavor dimensions.

The next stop on our journey... luscious Thailand!

Chicken Curry Recipe

Bring the tastes and flavors of Wild Ginger to your home!

Chicken Curry ~ Serves 4

Serve with plenty of steamed white or brown rice

For the marinade:

• 1 tsp Wild Ginger curry powder
• ½ tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 egg white
• 1 T rice wine
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 ½ lb chicken breast

For the curry:

• 2 green onions, bulb and greens, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbl rice wine
• 1 ½ cup chicken stock
• ¾ cup coconut cream
• 1 ½ Tbl Wild Ginger curry powder
• 1tsp sugar
• to taste fish sauce

Preparation:

Marinade chicken for 30 minutes and cut into bite size pieces.

Heat wok and sauté green onion bulbs (save greens to be used for garnish) and thinly sliced shallots over medium high heat until slightly brown. Add yellow onion and garlic to wok, sauté for 1 minute.

Over medium high heat, sweep onions to the side of the wok before adding chicken and browning on all sides.

Deglaze wok with rice wine and add chicken stock, coconut cream, Wild Ginger curry powder and sugar. Bring to a boil then let sauce reduce and thicken before seasoning with fish sauce, to taste.

Serve curry over steamed jasmine or brown rice and garnish with reserved sliced green onions Enjoy!