Harry's restaurant manager to compete in Sonoma Wine Country Weekend

Harry’s Continental Kitchens Restaurant Manager Hal Dearing was one of 12 rising-star sommeliers in the country selected to compete in Sonoma Wine Country Weekend from Sept. 4 to 6.

Danielle Bretschneider, who is engaged to Harry’s owner Hal Christensen, nominated Dearing. To be chosen, a participant must be a certified sommelier and actively involved in the food and beverage industry.

The competition will consist of a blind tasting of Sonoma County wines, a food and wine pairing, presentation skills and service techniques.

“This will help Sonoma gain exposure from wine professionals across the country,” Dearing said. “The idea is to give the wine growers in Sonoma County the chance to present their wines to us. We’ll then go out into the market and hopefully educate our customers on the Sonoma wine.”

The winner of the competition will be auctioned off two days later at the Sonoma Harvest Wine Auction in Kenwood, Calif. Last year’s winner was auctioned for $20,000.

“I’m pretty competitive,” Dearing said. “I’m going to go out there and try to win. I have a fair amount of experience with wine. I think I’ll do well in the blind tasting and very well with the food pairing. It’s something we do every day at Harry’s.”

Dearing is taking his wife, who has never been to California, and the two are visiting San Francisco after the competition.

“My expectation is to win, but I’m also going to taste of bunch of great wine,” Dearing said. “It will be fun.”