{"id":4469,"date":"2020-11-04T08:20:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T13:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wine365.com\/?p=4469"},"modified":"2020-11-04T10:57:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T15:57:53","slug":"rebecca-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wine365.com\/stage\/rebecca-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Banks"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Rebecca Banks is the Corporate Beverage Director for the Keith McNally-owned restaurants in New York City, currently including Balthazar<\/em>, Minetta Tavern<\/em>, Morandi<\/em>, Lucky Strike<\/em>, and Augustine<\/em>.\u00a0 She has been with the group since 2005, starting out as a cellar \u201crat\u201d and working up through the ranks of the beverage department.\u00a0 During that time, she also trained staff and collaborated in the wine programs at Pravda<\/em>, Schillers<\/em>, and Pastis<\/em>, as well as opened Pulino\u2019s<\/em>, Balthazar London<\/em>, and Cherche Midi<\/em>.<\/p>

Rebecca holds the Advanced and Diploma Certificates from the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust (WSET)<\/em>. She has completed the introductory course to the Court of Master Sommeliers and the FCI Fundamentals of Wine courses.\u00a0 She holds the Grand Diploma in Culinary Arts from the French Culinary Institute<\/em> (now International Culinary Institute<\/em>) in New York City where she was a James Beard Foundation 2004 Scholarship<\/em> winner.\u00a0 She returned to teach wine classes at ICI<\/em> until 2011.<\/p>

Rebecca travels annually to France as well as regularly within the US to visit winemakers and learn about local wine production, trends, and challenges.\u00a0 She volunteers on the tasting panel at Wine&Spirits<\/em> magazine.\u00a0 She continues to educate her staff as well as consumers and colleagues about the ever-changing and fascinating world of wine.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1.\tHow did you get into the wine business? <\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I became enamored with the wine business while I was taking the French Culinary Institute<\/em>, Fundamentals of Wine Class, led by Andrea (Immer) Robinson.\u00a0 It was then being held at the original Union Square Wines<\/em> (actually in the square!), which was a regular stop for me after visiting the green market on Saturdays.\u00a0 I had no concept of wine turning into a career but I knew I enjoyed learning about the endless winemaker stories, regions and grapes.\u00a0 This was at a crossroads for me.\u00a0 I had left my earlier career in Fashion Design and then Film and Print styling and was looking for something, I didn\u2019t know what!\u00a0 I continued on the food and wine trajectory and enrolled in the nine-month culinary degree course from FCI<\/em>, thinking maybe I\u2019d pursue food styling or working for food and wine magazine.\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 After a few failed catering jobs, no desire to work the line, and finding out editorial and food styling work was run by about 3 people in all of Manhattan, I was introduced to Chris Goodhart, then wine director at Balthazar<\/em> restaurant in SoHo.\u00a0 I anxiously sat in on a pre-meal staff training while he talked about some new wine-by-the -glass and was instantly inspired and transported.\u00a0 I practically begged for the unpaid internship position (that I wasn\u2019t sure was even available) just to get my hand on bottles, experience being in the cellar, and maybe, just maybe, someday be able to talk about wine that inspired people in the way I had just witnessed. It was really then, that my wine \u201cCareer\u201d began.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. What are the most frustrating and rewarding parts of your job?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I suppose the most frustrating part of my job is the corporate politics.\u00a0 It is a job like any other job and there are long meetings, short meetings, lots of different opinions and personalities that don\u2019t always gel\u2026there\u2019s time when I feel like I could be doing something more useful and my way would be better.\u00a0 But, working for a larger restaurant group, I\u2019m part of a bigger engine.\u00a0 Sometimes things take longer to get accomplished and my ideas may get shot down 9 out of 10 times. However, slow and steady has always proven to work in my experience.\u00a0 So I try to push when I need to and go with the flow the rest of the time.\u00a0 No one gets hurt!!\u00a0 The rewarding part of my job far outweighs any negatives.\u00a0 I get daily, sometimes hourly, confirmation from our servers that they just sold a wine that we recently tasted or they went out and had the most amazing wine experience or they got so much out of class we recently held. These moments give me goose-bumps!\u00a0 I love the team that I work with, who all pour so much of themselves into the most mundane activities like processing invoices and stocking well-vodka to being able to wax poetic about the recent release of some allocated bottle! We\u2019re a team!\u00a0 I\u2019m rewarded with the amazing people I have met and worked with who make, sell, and import wine.\u00a0 Many of them have become close friends.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve been blessed with the opportunity to travel and visit wine regions as well as dine in some of the most accoladed restaurants in our own city.\u00a0 All of this makes me feel like a rock star and I absolutely love it!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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3. What is your most memorable\/funniest\/craziest wine experience?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I have so many fond memories over the course of my 16 year wine career.  One that sticks out is a wine department holiday party in late January (holiday celebrations always happened after January 1 in the restaurant industry) at Chris Goodhart\u2019s slightly post-modern but comfortably-lived in apartment in Carroll Gardens sometime around 2006-2008.  He had bought a case of Movia Puro Rose sparkling for Lucky Strike<\/em> because, well, he just wanted to.  It didn\u2019t fit into any wine program of ours that existed at the time, but that rarely stopped him. After sushi, pat\u00e9, champagne, and whatever else we enjoyed that night, he insisted on opening the \u201cpi\u00e8ce de resistance,\u201d the Movia!  About 5 of us huddled tightly together in his teeny tiny powder room.  An ice cold Movia neck submerged under a compact sink full of water as Ales Kristancic suggests. The bottle was disgorged as we all watched in awe!  POP!!!!  I\u2019m not sure it was as delicious as we thought it would be and a lot of wine was lost in the process, but man, it was fun.  I have since disgorged 3 more of those bottles for training.  I believe there are 8 more bottles still available at Morandi<\/em> restaurant in the West Village for a song. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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4. What is an upcoming trend you see in wine?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Trends are hard.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like to follow trends.\u00a0 They come and go and are often forgotten.\u00a0 I think everything will eventually end up in a can. Maybe some chef will create a freeze-dried, powdered wine and we can snort it and somehow experience true terroir through our nervous system, creating wine nirvana.\u00a0 But seriously, I see smaller packaging formats, wine flights \u201cto-go\u201d at retail, and more interactive wine moments as consumers stay home more, entertain at home, and rely on more remote-access knowledge. Dining out, wine tourism,\u00a0 and visiting a local wine shop will not end, but will be supplemented by virtual and individually curated wine and spirits experiences.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rebecca Banks
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Corporate Beverage Director
<\/strong>Keith McNally Restaurants (NYC)\u00a0 <\/em>
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\n\t\t\t\t\"At the end of the day, we\u2019re creating happy memories...\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWhen you\u2019re going through hell, keep going.\u201d<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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5. What is the best piece of advice someone has given to you? <\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cWhen you\u2019re going through hell, keep going.\u201d Okay, Okay, Winston Churchill did not actually say that to me, but especially now, I come back to that advice A LOT!!\u00a0 I\u2019ve gotten so much advice over the years. Liz Willette taught me how to bring my breast pump with me to work and how to store the milk properly in the walk in.\u00a0 One of my interns told me what the best Russian restaurant was to go to in Brighton Beach. Another wine director colleague helped me to negotiate my first raise.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tight community and we all look out for each other.\u00a0 Wisdom is everywhere.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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6. What is one tip you have for someone just getting into wine?<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Take your time and smell  the roses. This is not a sprint, but a marathon.  Okay, that\u2019s two.  While an accredited wine education is so valuable (and I have so many friends and colleagues that I have remained close to because of it), the real work starts after.  This is a life long career.  It\u2019s beyond a career.  It\u2019s a way of life.  It encompasses geography, geology, biology, agriculture, chemistry, finance, and understanding of national and international trade on the wine making side.  But it also includes hospitality, cost control, people skills, time management, passion, an open mind, and a thick skin on the business side.  But life is full of so many other important things, whether that be family, friends, culture, sports, or whatever else gets you through the day.  Don\u2019t forget that because that\u2019s what makes you unique. There\u2019s no ONE person that perfectly encompasses all of these skills.  This is a team effort and you have to be willing and able to work with people.  At the end of the day, we\u2019re creating happy memories.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Nominate someone for Wine Pro Wednesday:<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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