This week’s guest on In the Drink is sommelier Jamie Graves. Jamie Graves moved to Japan when he was 22 and quickly fell in love with the food. Over five years he worked in a variety of Western and Japanese restaurants as a cook, studying the language and cuisine. In 2007 he passed the highest level of the Japanese Proficiency Exam for non-native speakers. Since moving back to New York he has worked in service, in 2008 opening Japanese fine dining restaurant Kajitsu as a server then in 2011 moving on to join the opening team of Brushstroke as a manager, a fine dining Japanese restaurant serving exclusively kaiseki style tasting menus. During his time as Service Director Brushstroke received one star from the Michelin Guide several years in a row, and was named as the #2 Best New Restaurant in the US for 2011 by GQ Magazine. In the beginning of 2014 Jamie joined Sakamai as General Manager, excited to develop one of the great sake programs in the US. In September of 2014 Jamie attended the World Sake Sommelier competition in Tokyo as one of ten finalists, and was one of three finalists selected for a “Judge’s Selection” award, with particular note of his warm approach to service and his inspired pairing of Japanese sake with Western cuisine. This program was brought to you by Visit Napa Valley.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.