When Pedro Sanchez, CEC, CCA, WSET III, first opened a bottle of French wine for a club dinner, he felt more frustrated than inspired. The label offered no mention of grape variety, only the region. Unless he already knew which grapes grew there, it was a guessing game. That moment lit a spark. Sanchez, Executive Chef of BraeBurn Country Club in Houston, bought a sommelier prep book the same day. Soon he was hooked, diving into formal wine education and eventually earning WSET Level III certification.
“It started with curiosity,” he says. “I wanted to make sense of it. That curiosity turned into a passion.”
For Sanchez, the pursuit of wine knowledge has had a direct and immediate impact on his work as a club chef. He describes two benefits above all: confidence and connection.
“As I’ve learned more, I feel more confident leading my team and sharing that knowledge with them,” he says. “It’s made me a better mentor, and it’s brought me closer to members. Sometimes they’ll stop me to talk about a wine they tried or invite me over to taste a special bottle. Those interactions make the experience more personal.”
Wine education has also sharpened his palate. He is now more precise about balancing acid, fat, and texture in dishes, and he passes that precision along to cooks and sous chefs.
“A well-balanced dish feels elegant, and while that takes time to master, my hope is to help them get there quicker,” he says. Training around food pairings has become part of how Sanchez develops his team, and while most of his energy has gone into his own coursework, he plans to bring the staff into the wine side of the conversation once he completes his certifications.
At BraeBurn, this knowledge has also strengthened collaboration between the kitchen and the beverage team.
“There’s a lot more trust now,” Sanchez says. “It feels like more of a creative partnership, where we’re all bringing ideas to the table and working together to give the members the best experience possible.”
He believes chefs bring a distinct perspective to wine because they see it as an ingredient.
“Instead of just finding a match, we think about how the wine interacts with the food on a deeper level. That lets us reverse-engineer a dish to complement a specific wine, or build a pairing from both sides at once,” he explains. For Sanchez, that approach transforms wine from a side note to a central part of the dining experience.
This is why he recommends every chef pursue at least WSET Level II, which can be completed online with flexible pacing. In his view, clubs will eventually see formal wine knowledge as part of the standard skill set for chefs.
“We control everything that touches the plate, so why wouldn’t you want to influence what the guest is drinking alongside their meal?” he says. “Wine isn’t just a side note. It can elevate or completely throw off the whole experience.”
Although he once swore he was finished with classes, Sanchez has decided to continue his studies and pursue the WSET Diploma.
“At this point, I already have more than enough wine knowledge for culinary purposes, but wine has become a true passion,” he says. “The more you learn, the more curious you become. For me, this is a personal challenge, but I also hope to use what I’ve learned to mentor others and help bring more wine education into the culinary world.” C+RC
