Wine specialist to Sonoma: What’s for dinner?

If you’re wondering what would be a perfect wine to accompany fresh cracked crab, or if there’s a delicious cabernet that doesn’t cost a day’s pay, the perfect person to ask is John Allen Burtner.

Burtner is a sommelier, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, and a winemaker and you can chat with him in the wine aisle at Glen Ellen Village Market. He’s the tall man with the ponytail who wears a welcoming smile and a badge with the words “wine specialist” on it. Seems a bit of an understatement for a man with a lifetime of wine knowledge but that suits Burtner just fine. At this point in his life, retail buying and making wine recommendations in a small town setting, where he gets to know the local folks and enlighten the tourists, is the perfect gig.

It lets him share his love of wine, his life’s passion, he said.

After graduating from CCA with honors he interned at Iron Horse Vineyards followed by a stint at Doctor Loosen wines in Germany. He was the winemaker at Meeker Vineyards for 10 years, and then served as the wine educator at Cakebread Cellars before moving on to Signorello. He signed on for an entrepreneurial venture to make wine in Arizona using Napa grapes (there was no ocean front property involved) before returning to the Valley of the Moon and eventually Glen Ellen Village Market.

“Glen Ellen is like full circle in some respects,” said Burtner. “I grew up in a small town in Texas where the biggest day of the year was when the first bale of cotton was ginned.”

Burtner, who was born on the Fourth of July, played “Friday Night Lights” style high school football, earning a scholarship to Rice University where he studied psychology and behavioral science. (Which he said his father referred to as “Worthless Number One and Worthless Number Two.”) He went on to grad school at New Mexico State before a summer job bartending at the famous Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin lured him into the world of wine and food, while listening to bands like the Ramones, Frank Zappa and Blondie.

It was at a wine shop in Austin that he had his first ever taste of wine, an Auslese late harvest 1976 Bern Kafter er Grben, and he remembers it perfectly because that was when he decided he wanted to learn everything possible about wine. The culinary academy, for him, was all about learning to pair food and wine.

“What’s for dinner?” is what he likes to ask customers choosing wines, and he now has some loyal fans who bring in their dinner party menus and follow his suggestions. “My job is to create ambassadors. I want people to say, ‘Go to Glen Ellen Market.”

One of the things he likes about the store is he sees customers looking for quality wine at a good price and others who have “a second, third or fourth,” home in the Valley and want the perfect wine at any price. And he can accommodate all of them. “And if I happen not to have it, I can special order anything.”

He said the most popular varietals are chardonnay and sauvignon blanc and the biggest selling labels are Benziger, Chateau St. Jean, Cline, Kenwood and Sebastiani – all Sonoma Valley wineries. It doesn’t matter who ultimately owns the labels. (The Sebastianis are long gone from Sebastiani; and Benziger, Chateau St. Jean and Kenwood are owned by corporations. The Cline family still owns Cline.)

“Some people in the Valley are as loyal as the day is long. They are going to drink it because that’s what they always drink,” he said about his customers who stick to the same label. “And they want it to be from Sonoma.”

Burtner also sells many cases from smaller local wineries, naming Ty Caton, Random Ridge, Parmelee Hill and Muscardini as popular choices. During the holidays and for special occasions, customers will go for some high-end names like Silver Oak and Rombauer. And, of course, Champagne.

Burtner also buys the beer and spirits and the market has a large selection of each. Bourbon is “in” at the moment, and he keeps a nice selection of them on the shelves. “Manhattans are back,” he said.

Soon the market will begin in-store beer and wine tastings paired with its cheese offerings, and Burtner is looking forward to that. He is now taking cheese-making classes. “Tasting is everything,” he said. He rarely stocks a wine he hasn’t tasted.

He is enjoying working for the Mar-Val management team, which recently took over the market from Nugget. “They are real good people doing all the right things. They truly care about our customers.” He thought Nugget was great, too, but thinks Mar-Val is more suited to understanding the small-town feel. “They are a little more down home.”

He said he does miss working with his former wine specialist colleague John Gregory at Nugget’s Sonoma Market. “John knows this business like the back of his hand.”

Burtner has his own “baby label” wine, Teysha, a name he chose because it means “we are friends” in Caddo Native American tribe. He made 250 cases and has only eight left. It’s sold by the glass at the Starling Bar in Sonoma. Burtner also plays guitar, and says if he ever feels competent enough he will play at Starling’s open mike night. “I have three guitars and they are all better than I am.”

No matter what he’s doing, whether it’s making wine or cooking or playing guitar, Burtner, 65, said he enjoys life.

“All the things I’ve done, like making wine, are a privilege of sorts. I don’t put on a false front. My smile is real and I like seeing other people smile. I think as we age we become the people we always should have been. And if I contribute to someone’s smile that’s a good feeling.”

What he enjoys most about his job has the sound of a cliché, yet it’s believable. “I like the people. It’s a job where I recognize people all the time. I might not know what their name is but I know what wine they drink.”