Uncorked: Elliot Faber

Elliot Faber, beverage director of Yardbird, Ronin and Sunday’s Grocery, left his native Toronto in 2011 to join Yardbird’s opening team in Hong Kong. Four years later, he tells db that the best and worst part of the wine business is excessive drinking, a sentiment that nearly everyone in the trade can relate to. 

1983.

What bottle sparked your love of wine?

It was a bottle of 1997 Zenato Amarone tasted in the year 2001. I had never tasted Amarone before and I was fascinated by its unique character. I wanted to understand how it was made and where it came from. This bottle fuelled my initial desire to begin studying wine and eventually become a sommelier.

What would you be as a wine?

I would be a wine from somewhere in Italy. I’d very likely be from Piemonte and more likely be a cru Nebbiolo.

When are you happiest?

A better question would be, when am I not happy?

What’s your greatest vice?

Whisky Highballs.

Best advice you ever got?

Give Hong Kong a chance.

Your cellar is underwater, what bottle would you dive in and save?

That specially bottled Chartogne-Taillet ‘Fiacre’ Champagne.

What’s the best and worst thing about the wine business?

The excessive drinking and the excessive drinking.

What’s on your wine bucket list?

Building, owning and operating a winery.

Which wine would you like served at your funeral?

It would have to be a whisky because spirits are dead too.