Meet the Sommelier: Yuval Bar-Kokhba, Wine Director at HER NAME WAS CARMEN in SoHo

Yuval Bar-Kokhba brings over 20 years of experience to Her Name is Carmen, combining a wealth of knowledge that he has acquired through his work as a Wine Advisor, Sommelier, and Attorney. Yuval's affinity for the wine trade started as a young attorney representing wholesale wine and spirts representatives in civil litigation. Subsequently, Yuval earned a Sommelier/Wine Advisor certification from Burgundy's most prestigious and oldest winemaking school, the CFPPA de Beaune. After frequently being called upon to host winetasting events in restaurants, Yuval founded and curated the highly successful and sought-after Cote d'Or Wine Society educational wine tasting events in Manhattan-these events started in 2013 and were later formalized under the Cote d'Or Wine Society in 2017. Yuval spends much of his time at Carmen scouting and selecting the finest wines for their dynamic wine list.

To compliment Carmen's seafood-oriented menu, Yuval has introduced a selection of mineral-derived wines from oceanic and Marine-influenced regions from Chablis, Sierras de Malaga to Rias Baixas, as well as elegant red wines from Burgundy, La Rioja, and Uruguay. Yuval's respect for the customer's palate is the primary force behind his success; nothing is more important to him than finding new wines that satisfy his customer's individual palates. Yuval hosts Wine Wednesdays at Carmen, which are winetasting socials where guests learn about different wine regions and enjoy a premium selection of wines, while enjoying live music. Yuval has garnered experience from all aspects of the wine trade and is the epitome of a triple threat.

Broadwayworld.com had the pleasure of interviewing Yuval Bar-Kokhba for our "Meet the Sommelier" feature.

What special personal qualities or talents have enhanced your career?

There are many elements that have enhanced my career, such as my enthusiasm for the world's great wine regions, my sensitivity from an early age to scents and most importantly my respect for the consumer's palate. I am naturally an empathetic person and I believe that a Sommelier's main objective should be to get to know the consumer's preference in wine before pairing it with a dish for them. Some like Chardonnay aged in new oak while others dislike it, some like earthy full-bodied reds while others prefer lighter fruit-forward varieties - therefore, I ask each consumer a series of questions about varietals and past preferences before making any recommendation.

Who have been some of your professional mentors or individuals that have inspired your work?

Without question, the person that inspired me most is Oz Clarke. He is a wine expert, author and journalist based in England. I feel like his books about the world's great wine regions are both infectious and informative. He has the ability to reduce a wine to its essence with a single sentence, with great wit and humor. Another professional inspiration is Phillippe Meryoux, President of the Burgundy Sommelier Association and my teacher at the CFPPA de Beaune wine school in France. With his classes and his comprehensive explanations of each French wine appellation, he left me longing for more and ultimately, inspired me to enter the trade.

Tell us a little about your travel experiences as a sommelier.

Traveling to wine regions and study trips are key to understanding wine. I travelled to many world regions, but the most inspiring for me have been my trips to French wine country. My first trip to French wine county was entirely spontaneous. I flew to Nice, rented a car and within a 2-hour drive North to Provence found myself in Southern Rhone Valley's to Les Dentelles de Montmirail - a beautiful chain of mountains and valleys surrounded by winemaking villages such as Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Cairanne. One of my most memorable trips here was my trip to Burgundy, to the Cote d'Or which is a narrow slope stretching South from Dijon to Chagny, where the finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wine has been made for centuries. The magic of the region is that to this day it remains the land of small family-run estates who produce wine faithful to the unique characteristic of the terroir.

When you travel to the Cote d'Or, you learn about terroir-based winemaking. The sun exposure of the slope, the direction which it faces, the composition of the soil - whether limestone or clay dominated - determine the character of the wine. I love the Cote d'Or so much that I chose to do all my professional training there at the CFPPA de Beaune.

The third and most educational visit to wine country was my study trip to Champagne. I can think of no region in the world where winemaking is so skillful and laborious. Champagne winemaking is still very much an artisan's craft, involving so many choices including production and of base, reserve and vintage wine, second fermentation in bottle, sugar dosage, and long-term aging. Outside of Champagne, most people we think of it as brands, but in Champagne the focus is on the different styles of the sub-regions, each with terroir favoring one of the three varietals used for Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. I learned more about Oenology from winemakers in Champagne than any class.

Why do you find your career as a sommelier so rewarding? a??

I find my work so rewarding as my primary focus is making the customer happy. Personally, nothing is more rewarding for me than seeing a customer smile upon tasting a wine I recommend. When I introduce customer to a new wine, it often opens the door to discovery to a new wine region. I often get goose bumps when a returning customer tells me that one of my recommended wine regions has become their new favorite.

What is one of your favorite meals and what wine would you select for it? a??

It is so hard to pick a favorite as I have so many, but Chablis and Oysters/fresh seafood stands out the most as they are made for each other. Chablis vines are grown on soil that used to be an oceanic seabed during the Jurassic period. The terroir is rich in limestone fossilized with oyster shells and marine life that give the wine minerality and salinity. The region's cold climate also gives Chablis great acidity and freshness. There are different categories of Chablis ranging from the basic regional variety to the Premier and Grand Crus. At its best, Chablis has expressive aromas and bone-dry minerality that is ideal Oysters or fresh seafood. I recommend Chablis with Oysters or Carmen's signature fresh seafood dishes like our amazing Hamachi Tiradito.

Tell us a little about the restaurant that you currently work with.

I am blessed to work at such a diverse organization. Her Name Was Carmen is not just a restaurant but a Latin/Spanish American cultural center. Carmen's restaurant features high-end Peruvian and Latin American cuisine made with the modern state-of the art French cooking techniques. The versatility of HNWC speaks volumes as each evening is host to something different. On weekend days we have an exciting Latin-American inspired brunch with live music and dancing, weekend nights welcome an exuberant social scene and the downstairs lounge turns into one of the most sought-after Latin American nightclubs in the city. Twice a month, we host Wine Wednesday's which is an educational winetasting social event with live musical performances ranging from Flamenco, Jazz to folk music.

Carmen's wine program for diners focuses on oceanic and marine-influenced regions to complement our seafood-oriented menu. We are proud to represent amazing winemakers from Mallorca, Sierras de Malaga, Uruguay, Rias Baixas, Costieres de Nimes, as well as the best of the old world from Burgundy, La Rioja, Priorat and Bordeaux.

Her Name was Carmen is located at 527 Broome Street, New York, NY 10013. Upcoming Wine Wednesday dates at Her Name was Carmen include February 5th and February 19th. For more information on the restaurant visit https://carmennyc.com/ or call

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yuval Bar-Kokhba

To post a comment, you must register and login.