Five Master Sommeliers are about to go head-to-head over wine pairings, and a panel of experts won’t decide the winner. The series is called Somm Smackdown, a dinner competition that puts elevated food, high-stakes wine picks and a little friendly competition on the same table this fall. Four hotels, four states, three rounds and a catch: the chefs built the menus first.
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Somm Smackdown works like fine dining meets fight night. Two Master Sommeliers go head-to-head over a five-course dinner in each round. For every course, both sommeliers independently select the wine they believe creates the best pairing. Guests receive both wines side by side with the same dish, hear each sommelier explain and defend the pick, then vote.
A panel of wine critics doesn’t decide the outcome; the guests determine who advances. What started three years ago at a single hotel, Hotel Vin in Grapevine, Texas, has grown into a full tournament run by Coury Hospitality across four of its hotels, complete with themed entrances, an emcee and literal scorecards.
One of the most demanding credentials in wine, judged by dinner guests
The Master Sommelier title remains one of the most demanding credentials in the wine world. The Court of Master Sommeliers Americas currently lists 170 professionals who have earned the title through its chapters, while 279 people worldwide have earned it since 1969. Five of them are competing in this year’s Somm Smackdown. Instead of performing for a panel of critics, they put their selections in front of hotel guests, local food and wine enthusiasts and couples who showed up looking for a different night out.
Guests taste two wines with the same dish and vote for the pairing they prefer. No one needs to know the difference between Bordeaux and Burgundy to have a strong opinion about which wine goes better with bison and blackberry.
The chef sets the challenge
The chefs build the menu first, and the sommeliers solve the pairing challenge once the courses are already set. In a typical wine dinner, the meal is designed around a predetermined set of wines. Somm Smackdown inverts that: the kitchen can push in unexpected directions, and the sommeliers have to figure out how to win with whatever the chef puts in front of them.
At Hotel Carmichael in Carmel, Indiana, executive chef Chris Coorts built a five-course menu with a strong Indiana influence. The lineup includes sweet corn veloute with cranberry bean succotash, smoked freshwater trout with pawpaw-cucumber relish, hickory-roasted Indiana mushrooms, bison with butternut squash and blackberry and a panna cotta finale.
From a culinary cage to the Great Hall
Round 1 takes place Sept. 24 at two hotels simultaneously. At Hotel Carmichael, Emily Pickral faces Larry O’Brien. At The National in Oklahoma City, David Reuss faces Michael Jordan. Each venue influences the competition differently. Hotel Carmichael’s round takes over the Feinstein’s stage and transforms it into what the organizers call a “culinary cage,” playing off the hotel’s connection to music, performance and entertainment. The National seats its competition in the historic Great Hall, where the scale, architecture and history give the Oklahoma City round a completely different personality.
The two Round 1 winners advance to Hotel Vin Rogers in Rogers, Arkansas, on Oct. 8. That winner then travels to Hotel Vin Grapevine on Oct. 30 to face reigning 2025 champion Jack Mason for the title.
The audience is the only judge that matters
The crowd at a Somm Smackdown round looks nothing like a typical wine event. Hotel guests sit next to serious collectors; culinary travelers mix with people who simply liked the idea of dinner with some friendly competition built in. Making wine more approachable is built into the concept. The format succeeds because the only credential you need is a palate and an opinion.
“We’ve all been to wine dinners where someone tells you what you’re supposed to taste. Somm Smackdown turns that idea upside down. Two Master Sommeliers put their reputations on the line, the guests taste both pairings, and the guests decide who’s right. It’s serious wine without taking itself too seriously,” said Tom Santora, chief commercial officer at Coury Hospitality.
“What started three years ago at Hotel Vin in Grapevine has become something people look forward to, so this year we’re putting it on the road,” Santora added. “Four hotels, three rounds and one champion. For us, that’s what hospitality should be. Give people a reason to come into the hotel even when they aren’t spending the night.”
Where wine culture goes from here
Wine dinners have been a reliable hospitality format for decades, but the version where an expert tells you what to appreciate and you listen politely is giving way to something that trusts the crowd. Somm Smackdown builds its entire evening around the premise that the guest’s palate gets the final word. Three years from a single hotel to a four-hotel tournament bracket says something about what happens when you stop telling people what to taste and start letting them decide.
Jennifer Allen is a retired professional chef and long-time writer. Her work appears in dozens of publications, including MSN, Yahoo, The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. These days, she’s busy in the kitchen developing recipes and traveling the world, and you can find all her best creations at Cook What You Love.