& Sean Yoko S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 9 1 Everyday Sommelier graphic by megan dunlap What They Drank... …And what I saw. Take a seat and share a glass with the glitterati. By Ralph Hersom t was the mid-1990s, the heyday of the Dot-Com boom and the era of expense-account dinners, when I found myself, age 26, the newly appointed Wine Director of Le Cirque 2000 restaurant in the legendary New York Palace Hotel. With an award-winning wine list of over 700 selections and an inventory of almost $2M, it was my dream gig. Every night we welcomed the who’s who of the world’s elite to the dining room. From rock stars to movie stars, presidents, sports figures, dignitaries, billionaires, and even royalty, I shared my wine expertise with them all. I recall The Rolling Stones coming down from their Presidential Suite one night for a last-minute din- ner. The maître d’ scrambled to “find” a table, and the wait staff jumped to attention to meet their every demand. The Stones were regulars at the restaurant when- ever they were in town. Unsurprisingly, they had a taste for fine wines. Ronnie Wood loved white Burgundy and red Bordeaux, so I introduced him to a 1992 Ramonet Ba- tard-Montrachet ($400) and a 1982 Cha- teau Lynch-Bages ($500). Remember, these are 1990s prices! He enjoyed the Bordeaux paired with lamb so much that he insisted I bring another up to the suite after dinner. I jumped in the private elevator, knocked on the door, and Keith Richards answered, looking exactly like Johnny Depp’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean. Ronnie introduced me into the suite to decant the wine and describe the vin- tage to Richards. It was a memorable 20 minutes alone with members of one of the