Elite wine group’s sex harassment issue revealed
21 women come forward in probe
Master sommelier is the most prestigious title in American wine, and those whoearn it instantly join the ranks of the highest-paid and most influential members of the profession.
Only 155 people have achieved the honor since the 1997 founding of the Americas chapter of the Court ofMasterSommeliers, the examining body that confers the title on thosewhosurvive its grueling, yearslong qualification process. Of those, 131 are men.
The court and its separate educational spinoff, GuildSomm, have seen a flood ofnewcandidates since 2012, when the documentary “Somm” chronicled the intensive training process for the final exam. More than 12,000 people are nowmembers of the community, many of them youngwomenhoping to avoid the sexist hazing that is notorious in the wine industry by joining the court’s programof mentorship and education.
What they have encountered is very different.
Twenty-onewomen told TheNewYork Times that they have been sexually harassed, manipulated or assaulted by male master sommeliers. They and other current and former members of the court say the abuse is a continuing problem of which its leadership has long been aware.
One master sommelier, according to these accounts, propositioned at least 15 candidates, sometimes promising professional favors in return for sex. Another shut the door to a classroomfull of students in the face of a womanwhohad refused his advances.
One student said a master sommelier inTexas asked her for a pair of her underwear “to snuggle with.” And onewomansaid shewas raped by a prominentmaster sommelier in NewYork City after meeting him at awine event.
“Sexual aggression is a constant forwomen somms. We can’t escape it, sowe learn to live with it,” saidMadeleineThompson, 28, a wine director inDallas whosaid she opted out of the court’s qualification process because of harassment by several master sommeliers. “It’s a compromisewe shouldn’t have to make.”
In a written response to questions fromthe Times, the court said it expected members “to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct and integrity at all times.” It has “investigated every accusation of such conduct that has been brought to their attention” and imposed multiple disciplinary sanctions.
Last month, the group established a hotline for anonymous reporting of ethical violations, including sexual misconduct. Previously, therewas no mechanism for doing so other than a direct approach to the board— a body that has often included themen accused.
The Court ofMaster Sommeliers, Americas, a nonprofit headquartered in Napa, California, is part of an international network of affiliated courts. Master sommeliers showup tableside at top restaurants; they act as paid ambassadors for global brands like Krug and MoëtHennessy, consultants for top hotel chains, guides on luxury cruises and senior executives at the biggest wine distributors.
Earning the lapel pin that denotes a master sommelier brings a lifelong payoff. Working theirway up through four levels, fromintroductory tomaster sommelier, candidates pay for classes, tastings and testing— but thencommandhigh fees. In an internal 2017 survey, master sommeliers reported a median annual income of $164,000 and a median consulting rate of $1,000 per day.
Grading of the final test is cloaked in secrecy, determined by examiners drawn fromthe senior ranks of master sommeliers. Letters of recommendation, access to expensive wines for tasting practice and educational trips to wine regions are also needed to pass— and are all in the hands of these senior masterswho are, overwhelmingly, older white men.
This dynamic has turned a system that should provide mentorship and equal opportunity to womeninto a bastion of sexual harassment and coercion.
“Among certain men, there’s no attempt to hide it and no shame in it,” said JonathanRoss, 37, whohas been a master sommelier since 2017. “It’s like something fromanother era.”
Geoff Kruth, 45, has long been one of the court’s leading educators — the founder and president of GuildSomm, a former board member, and featured as an authority in “Somm” and its sequels. Elevenwomentold the Times they had experienced sexual misconduct by Kruth; through a lawyer, he denied any impropriety. Recently, he resigned his position atGuildSomm “to remove the Guild fromany controversy.”
Jane Lopes, 35, a wine importer inNewYork, said Kruth suddenly slid his fingers inside her underpants and kissed her breast as they said good night after a 2013 dinner.
Courtney Schiessl, 30, said that when she assisted Kruth at a 2013 event in Chicago, he asked her out for cocktails afterward, inquired which of the bartenders shewould choose for sex, then insisted that the taxi driver skip her hotel and take them both to his— where she rejected his advances.
Through a lawyer, Kruth said he believed that all the sexual encounters the womendescribedwere consensual and thatmany of thewomenremained on good terms with him; hewas invited to Lopes’ subsequentwedding. He also said he did not give special treatment to womenwithwhomhe had sexual contact.
Aspokesperson for the court said that the board issued a “letter ofwarning” toKruth in 2017 after investigating two formal complaints about sexual misconduct and that he is barred fromcourt programming and upperlevel examinations.
Kruth is not the only high-ranking master sommelier accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by multiplewomen.
RobertBath, a professor of wine at the Culinary Institute of America, is a longtime board member and former vice chair. He was suspended fromthe court from2007 to 2009 because of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, the court’s spokesperson confirmed.
Bath, 65, acknowledged the suspension, writing in an email, “I have been a member of the Court of Master Sommeliers since 1993 and remain in good standing with the Court to this day.”
LizDowty Mitchell, 37, a sommelier inNewOrleans, said that when shewas a candidate in 2011, her mentor, Matthew Citriglia — a board member from 2005 to 2017— pursued her repeatedly with sexual invitations, which she declined. “He said that master-candidate relationshipswere fine, that it happened all the time,” she recalled.