My Life In Booze: Sotto’s James Clark
Few things hit like sitting upstairs at Sotto as service winds down, with a Valpolicella Classico from Velutto in my glass. The sun is still just shining outside, I’ve just come off a busy service, and it’s the perfect moment for something bright and energetic.
Before wine, I worked in politics. I loved working for an MP, but after that I moved into a more desk-based role in the Civil Service, which I didn’t enjoy. That, and Brexit, pushed things along. I’ve pretty much tuned out of current affairs, which is a double-edged sword. Ignorance can be bliss.
I think the moment I realised hospitality was ‘it’ was probably my first great service as a manager. That euphoric feeling is like a drug. I always had this thought in the back of my mind: how cool would it be if my name were above the door?
Working in places like the Palmerston taught me discipline. Be proud of your offer and have confidence in what you’re doing, and try to be a signpost, not a weathervane. The best restaurants – and I include the Palmerston in that – have a clear vision and are completely uncompromising in their ethos.
My time in Australia changed everything for me when it came to wine. I’d never worked in a vineyard before or seen that side of the industry. I also worked at an amazing bottleshop, East End Cellars, where there was a huge appetite for Italian wine, so I continued to build my knowledge of Italy there.
The original vision for Sotto was to celebrate the regionality and diversity of Italian food – serving a mixture of the familiar alongside dishes that are less well known on these shores. We wanted a deep but accessibly priced cellar, and to build a team that feels like a family. I think we’ve done that.
The idea of an Italian enoteca and trattoria in Edinburgh felt natural to me. A trattoria is, above all, relaxed. The food is relatively simple, but that should never be an obstacle to quality. And I’ve always loved enotecas in Italy – bottles lining the walls, wine at the centre of everything, that immersive feeling when you walk in.
When it comes to atmosphere, I was always taught to check three things half an hour before service: lights, temperature and music. It sounds basic, but they all need to be right. Ultimately, it’s happy customers and passionate staff that create the best atmosphere – and you can’t have one without the other.
I curated the wine list when I was living in Australia, naively overlooking the logistical headache of working with over 20 suppliers. But it’s reached a manageable place now, and we proudly show wines from all over Italy, from winemakers with a range of philosophies. There’s been a shift towards more artisanal, small-scale, natural wines, which I’m all for and we embrace, but not at the expense of forgetting that big producers like Planeta, Masi and Allegrini still make classic wines that offer incredible value.
We’re fortunate to have a large cellar space. Sotto literally means ‘underneath’, as we sit above a big cellar under the street, so we can mix the familiar with the unusual. Our top sellers are still Prosecco, Gavi and Chianti, but there are plenty of bottles for people to discover. There are no tasting notes or style indicators either – it’s designed to encourage people to ask for help and guidance.
I wish more people would order Lambrusco. People often come in just for snacks and antipasti, and it’s the perfect accompaniment, but the name still has a bit of a hangover.
What separates a good sommelier from a great one is the ability to talk about price without mentioning it. Discretion is key. It can be crass to talk about money too directly, but you need to read between the lines and find something that fits.
The most overrated wine trend right now is pale rosé. Italy makes beautiful, more structured rosatos like Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, but people still tend to shy away from them because of colour.
Natural wine is a bastardised term in a lot of ways. At its core, it’s about respect for the vineyard and not masking terroir in the winery, but it’s become appropriated and misunderstood – people often think it just means orange wine or anything unfiltered.
Old World versus New World is outdated now. Living in Australia completely changed my perspective – some of the best wines I’ve had came from McLaren Vale. And ironically, because phylloxera wiped out so much of Europe’s vineyards in the 1850s, many New World vines are actually older. When people order wine in restaurants, I think they should embrace magnums more in bigger groups. You often get better value, the wine ages better, and it’s usually where sommeliers show some of their most interesting bottles.
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A grape everyone should know right now is Cannonau from Sardinia – the same grape as Grenache, but with a very distinct Italian expression. My go-to ‘impress someone’ wine is Timorasso from Colli Tortonesi in Piemonte, a white with real power, freshness and an almost oily texture. For a Tuesday night, Pinot Bianco or unoaked Chardonnay from Alto Adige is perfect.
The best value bottle on our list right now is a 2011 Nebbiolo from Rugra. It’s around £68, which I know isn’t cheap, but it drinks like a very good Barolo – full of secondary and tertiary flavours from age.
The drink I’ll remember forever is sabering a bottle of Franciacorta on the steps the day we opened, with our head chef Francesco and manager Davide. It tasted quite sweet, but it felt like a moment.
A hugely underrated pairing is white wine and cheese – something like broad beans and pecorino with Soave on Primo Maggio in Italy is a great example. A pairing that shouldn’t work but absolutely does is Sauternes and foie gras. My ultimate last meal would be a bowl of pasta with butter and white truffles, with a glass of Angelo Gaja Barbaresco.
The staff separate a good restaurant from a great one. It’s getting harder and harder to find dedicated people in the industry, but they make all the difference. Meanwhile, the UK wine scene is improving, but the challenge of offering great wine at reasonable prices gets tougher every year. People are drinking less, but more thoughtfully, which is a good thing.
A perfect day eating and drinking in Edinburgh would start with sausage, egg and chips at Norah in Newhaven, or a steak and black pudding pie from Harkness, then a pint in the Bailie Bar, lunch at the Palmerston, an afternoon at Smith & Gertrude with cheese, and dinner at Lyla. But the one place I always recommend is Kebab Mahal on Nicolson Square – a proper Edinburgh institution.
The biggest wine disaster I’ve had was dropping a tray of espresso martinis all over a table of very important guests, and straight into the decanter of their £1,000 Brunello di Montalcino. I don’t think I’ve dropped a tray since.
People always ask me which part of Italy I’m from – I think I was Italian in a previous life. If I weren’t in wine, I’d be a chef. I love cooking, and I sometimes get envious watching the brigade in the kitchen. I’ve only jumped in once, and that’s probably for the best.
We’re closing Sotto for a week in September. It’s our second birthday and I’m taking the whole team to Puglia. We’re staying at Villa Cassano, a place belonging to one of our waiters – I always catch him swapping our business card for his own when taking bills, so he’s given me a good deal.
What should we all be drinking this summer? Our death-row wines, the once-in-a-lifetime ones. Life is for living.
Follow @SottoEdinburgh & @JamesieClark
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