The Winebearer [FF] | Mary-Kate Olsen & Ashley Olsen

Chapter 2 - The Wine Steward

On the other side of the Mortimor's secluded estate is the populous city of New York. In the heart of the city that never sleeps, lives a young woman hailed from Switzerland - Her name is Dorian Amsel (Natalie Dormer).

Gisela, Dorian's mother, is a beauty: She has long wavy black hair, grayish-blue eyes, bright red lips, and skin as pale and soft as milk. She is also a big aficionado of gothic literature, her favorite novel is the Portrait of Dorian Gray" and decided to name her child, Dorian - unbeknownst to the woman that she's carrying a girl.

Gisela works in a bookstore, she is heavily pregnant and has no husband - living in a small town with not so many cliques means that everyone has to coexist harmoniously to survive, since the community is puritanical she is referred to as a 'harlot'. She had an affair with the local married doctor, who promised to give her sustainment - that however, never came to fruition living her to fend for herself and her unborn child alone. Until she met a gentleman named, Hans Amsel - a sommelier visiting a boomy town nearby.

Despite her ill-fame, Hans married Gisela and together they raised Dorian in Sierre - a city located in the Canton of Valais in Switzerland, nicknamed the "City of the Sun" for its average of 300 days of sunshine a year. It is also the leading wine-capital region of the country, their treasured wine is the Dôle - crafted from the finest Pinot Noir grapes. Since she never met her biological father, Dorian adopted Hans Amsel's name.

When she turned thirteen, she and her family moved to New York. It is arduous for the young Dorian, she was bullied and called names such as "Nazi" because of her ethnicity even though she's a Swiss from the country's German-speaking region. Her stepfather, Hans died before she even graduated from college - having to face the world alone again, his demise drove Gisela to the brink of insanity.

Born with congenital heart disease, Dorian had to prepare herself every day from experiencing the possibility of a life-and-death situation - her psychotic mother locked in the mental institution doesn't help either, even shouting and taunting her that the reason why she was born frail is that because she is a child 'born out of sin' - reminding her of the disgraceful affair that brought her to the world.

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But despite the difficulties she faced, Dorian managed to push herself through.
Dorian Amsel desires to become a Master Sommelier, so far there are only 103 professionals who have earned the title in North America, perhaps one day she could be the 104th!

She's already at the second rank of the trade - the Certified Sommelier, two more ranks to go and she'll reach the nobility! Dorian currently works at the Wassabasco - a fancy restaurant in the middle of the hustle-and-bustle of the Big Apple.

To be a sommelier is to be a wine steward. But it's also much more than that. Many skills must be learned, various roles must be played, and an extremely diverse set of hats must be worn. There are late nights, early mornings, lots of memorization, and many hours on your feet. A day in the life of a sommelier requires lots of liquid consumption: coffee and caffeine to stay awake, water to stay hydrated, and wine to stay educated.

Dinner service typically starts at 5 PM. But the day of a sommelier begins well before that. Waking up early is key; given the immense amount of study needed to prepare for the job, and the fact that most nights generally end well past midnight, morning hours are essential for knowledge growth. Daytime is generally spent at industry events or trade tastings, personally studying for whichever phase of the exam is next, or just keeping up with industry-related news and all that goings-on in the wine world.

On the first of every month, sommeliers go into the restaurant very early in the morning for inventory. Otherwise, sommeliers will generally arrive at their restaurants around 3 PM. They'll typically spend an hour accepting deliveries, putting wines away, restocking cellars, preparing wines for the evening, and updating wines that are out of stock.

Preparation is key for a successful evening. After this prep is completed, a sommelier will lace up his or her dress shoes, tie his tie (if he is a man), secure his certification pin (if he or she is lucky enough to have one), and head to the family meal. At 5 PM, the fun begins. Sommeliers spend the entire evening running from table to table, up and down the stairs from cellar to dining room, shuttling bottles and by-the-glass pours to keep their guests happy.

The night is a constant back and forth between bar and guests, tables and cellar, and station to service. Duties include but are certainly not limited to curating food and wine pairings, aiding in guests' wine selection, re-filling glasses, and above all, ensuring guests are having an exquisite dining experience. While restaurants might accept their last guests around 10 PM, that doesn't guarantee that service won't go on into the early morning hours.

After the last guests' glasses have been poured, which can be anywhere from 11 PM to 2 AM, sommeliers still have an entire breakdown to do: putting wines away, cleaning all ice buckets, polishing glasses, and decanters, and restocking bottles. After the breakdown is complete, the sommeliers are free to clock out. But after a busy night of work, some choose to unwind. Like most people who hit the bar for a post-work happy hour, sommeliers will often gather with their fellow friends on staff and head to a local dive or pub.

There, far from the expensive bottles they've been pouring all night, they will order a cheap beer (the sommeliers' weakness, surprisingly!) and unwind before heading home. Because of her job's routine, Dorian Amsel is accustomed to the nightlife. Tomorrow won't be any different, until... Dorian is doing her usual job introducing the wine available and pouring guests' glasses when suddenly she felt a pressure - A squeezing numbing sensation starting from her chest, and starting to travel through her shoulders, neck, and jaw.

“Are you alright?” The female guest looked at her worriedly. Dorian has her left hand on her chest, gripping it tightly as if stopping her heart from bursting out. Cold sweat started to trickle down her temples, then she suddenly passed out and fell. The wine bottle alongside the ice bucket she's holding fell to the ground, producing a loud alarming sound of a ‘smash!’ of the glass bottle breaking into a million pieces on the floor - causing the air of sophisticated ambiance that fills the Wassabasco to shatter, onlookers stare at the female sommelier (Dorian Amsel) lying on the ground.

“Oh my God. Call 9-1-1!” A fellow sommelier said. The guests saw one waiter run to the manager's office, a couple of moments later an ambulance came, and the paramedic crew arrived carrying a stretcher. Mr. Olivier Marguilles - the Master Sommelier based at the Wassabasco carries the unconscious Dorian and helps them strap her in. Mr. Marguilles joins the ambulance to assist Dorian since she had no one in her life to watch over her.

The ambulance drives away from the Wassabasco to the nearest hospital.