Uncorked: Paco Galdeano

Hailing from Spain, Paco Galdeano is the wine director at Wynn Palace, overseeing more than 400 bottles of wine and sake at the newly opened luxury hotel in Macau. Growing up in Málaga in southern Spain, the wine steward’s playgrounds were none other than the Moscatel vineyards surrounding his home village. After studying hotel management, Galdeano earned his sommelier qualification in Spain’s Bellamar Hotel School and later a WSET diploma in Dubai. His passion for wine has taken him to work in different restaurants and hotels including Burj Al Arab, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and Italian restaurant Roberto’s Restaurant and Lounge in Dubai. In this interview, Galdeano talks to dbHK about a rare Palo Cortado sherry, his wine bucket list and his dream dinner guest.

What vintage are you? 

1981.

What bottle sparked your love of wine?

Krug Clos du Mesnil 1992. I will never forget that day. For the first time a bottle of wine awakened all my senses. On that day I understood that wine has the capacity to transform something into emotions. 

What would you be as a wine?

A Palo Cortado. Palo Cortado is the rarest type of Sherry with two different types of ageing. The first ageing (biological) represents my childhood and the beginning of my career, and the second ageing (oxidative) represents the 17 years I have been overseas polishing and developing my skills.

Where are you happiest?

In Jerez. That tiny city has the best of my three passions: wine, food and flamenco.

What’s your greatest vice?

Iberico ham and Champagne.

Best advice you ever got?

Many years ago a very special person shared the following with me and since then it has become part of my motto: “Be strong but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be humble but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant.”

Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save?

Vega Sicilia Unico 1981. I bought it with all the savings I had at that time for my father when I was 17 years old. 

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

The best of the wine business is the capability to share time and knowledge with people from all around the world, and that same passion is key to the kind of experience we offer guests coming to Wynn Palace. The worst is when it is no longer wine business, it is only business, which, unfortunately, happens often.

What’s on your wine bucket list?

1 – Visit Tokaj and Sicily anytime soon.

2 – Design my own wine tasting glass.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Dream dinner party will be ‘en Petit Comité’: Alvaro Palacios, Didier Depond, Alain Passard, Gaia Gaja and – because it is a dream – I would like Christian Vanneque to join on that night too. 

Personal satisfaction (Parker points – out of 100)

Points aren’t really enough. My satisfaction is based on guest satisfaction, they are always my motivation. 

Which wine would you like served at your funeral? 

It will be a sake, as most likely my funeral will happen in Japan.