Thomas Belelieu’s Master Stroke
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About the same time, the Whitehall Hotel was looking for a general manager to open its new high-end restaurant, Molive. Alcohol was already integral to the legacy of the Whitehall Club, the private dining room that preceded the hotel and once drew celebrities and wealthy Chicagoans–it was one of the first places in town to serve wine and spirits after prohibition. Belelieu took the job, determined to make the Whitehall a wine destination once again.
Belelieu, whose mother was Hungarian and father French, was exposed to wine at the age of eight. He spent his childhood summers south of Budapest working in his grandfather’s vineyard, which had been in his family for centuries. “We didn’t have a lot of money at the time, and when I went to visit I was put to work in the fields cutting vines,” says Belelieu. “It never seemed like work to me. I loved it.” He went on to study food and beverage management and hotel management in Budapest, then moved to Basel, Switzerland, in 1971, where he became a certified sommelier through the French Sommelier Society, one of the strictest certifying organizations.
While the Court of Master Sommeliers holds to rigorous theoretical standards, its emphasis is on the practical. The first three days of the master session are filled with detailed lectures about viticultural practices, vinification techniques for every major wine region in the world, tasting and recognizing typical characteristics and flaws in wine, proper wine service, and the art of pairing wine with food. During the final two days, the candidates take a written exam, a blind taste test, and an oral exam covering tabletop management, cellar management, and professional customer service. In addition they must pass the “compulsories,” as Spellman calls them: uncorking and decanting wine, proper glass placement, and skillful pouring.
