Sagi’s Sabrina Rullo Wins Iron Sommelier Competition

Sabrina Rullo of Sagi Cucina Italiana, at 23 ½ Catoonah St., won the first Iron Sommelier competition among local restaurants.   Just 24 years old and a 2009 magna cum laude graduate of Western Connecticut State University, she competed against three seasoned wine professionals: Bernard Bouisson (Bernard’s), Jean-Luc Le Gall (Le Chateau) and Jeff Hennig (Toscana Ristorante).

            “At first I hesitated to participate, but the customers at Sagi gave me a lot of encouragement,” she said. “I decided to give it a shot – after all, you should try everything at least once!”  Born in Italy, where she learned how to make wine with her father and grandfather, Sabrina has a definite passion for wine. 

        Iron Sommelier took place in four rounds, one at each restaurant.  The host restaurant served a three-course meal for an $80 fixed price, and the competitors selected a wine for each course that was within a wholesale price ceiling.  Sabrina and her competitors sampled the menus three weeks in advance and a few days later submitted their choices.

            The first round took place at Toscana.   Diners voted for the wine they preferred for each course.  “The bottles were covered by a napkin,” Sabrina said, “because the wine’s identity might have tipped off the diner as to which of us had picked it.”  She went on to win that first round, and Bernard Bouisson won the second, at Le Chateau. 

            Sagi hosted the third round, and Sabrina persuaded her mother, Bianca Demasi, the restaurant’s chef, to make her special lasagna for the 70 diners.  “It was a huge hit,” Sabrina said, “and now every Tuesday Sagi has her lasagna.”   Sabrina won that round as well as the final one, at Bernard’s.  “When Bernard walked out of the kitchen with a big smile on his face,” she recalled, “I assumed he had won, but then he announced, ‘Sagi wins again!’ My mother, who was there, was in tears, and for me this was a very proud moment.”

            Can she do it again? The goal is to make this an annual event and to bring in other restaurants, so watch for Iron Sommelier in 2012 to find out.