There’s ‘so many great stories’ to be told from wine, says MGM’s top sommelier

Courtesy of Jenn Smulo

Douglas Kim oversees close to 50 sommeliers and about 350,000 bottles of wine at MGM Resorts International bars and restaurants.

When he started at the Culinary Institute of America in 2004, Douglas Kim had every intention of becoming a chef.

That was before he discovered how fascinating the study of wine could be through a mandatory three-week course that put his career on a new trajectory.

MGM Resorts International recently announced the promotion of Kim, a master sommelier, to the role of director of wine for its Las Vegas resorts.

Kim, a South Korea native who grew up in Chicago, now oversees close to 50 sommeliers and about 350,000 bottles of wine at MGM bars and restaurants along the Strip.

“Initially, I thought cooking would be really fun,” Kim said. “After I took that course, though, I started to think that wine would be more fun than cooking, so that’s the route I went. There’s so much when it comes to wine — history, geography, so many great stories.”

After he graduated from the institute in Hyde Park, N.Y., Kim wanted to earn his bachelor’s degree, and decided to move to Las Vegas to attend UNLV.

“For any food and beverage professional, Las Vegas is one of the best places to learn about food and wine very quickly,” Kim said. “We see crazy bottles being opened every night and inexpensive bottles opened every night.”

The most expensive bottle of wine a guest can order at an MGM property on the Strip is a premier French pinot noir that goes for about $70,000, Kim said.

“The prices can get pretty insane,” Kim said. “You’re kind of thinking, ‘OK, how much is this per sip?’ A great bottle of wine, you can get into descriptors, but it’s really more about the overall experience.”

It’s not every day a guest will pay that much for a bottle of wine, but bottles that go for $10,000 to $20,000 are sold on the Strip “pretty regularly,” he said.

Kim is one of fewer than 200 master sommeliers in North and South America as designated by an organization called the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Kim earned the title in 2018 after trudging through a process that took about a decade and included multiple exams.

“It’s a pretty intense process,” Kim said. “It’s a full-time job when you’re going through it. There are a lot of great somms who don’t have that certification, so it’s not a be-all, end-all. It’s a way to show a guest that you’re an expert in the field.”

Kim started his professional culinary career in Las Vegas at Restaurant Charlie before eventually moving to roles as wine director for the Picasso restaurant at the Bellagio and as sommelier at Mandalay Bay.

Dominique Bertolone, senior vice president of food and beverage strategy for MGM Resorts, said the company is lucky to have Kim.

“Douglas has been a first-class hospitality professional throughout his career,” Bertolone said. “His guest-centric approach and willingness to always go above and beyond to create memorable moments are key to his success.”

A typical day for Kim includes coordinating with wine suppliers and vendors as he works to create and maintain the wine programs for establishments at 13 MGM resorts and hotels on the Strip.

“There are a lot of administrative things to do, so it’s not always glamorous,” Kim said. “I send a lot of emails every day. At the end of the day, I like to go to the different restaurants themselves and talk to the sommeliers to see what they need and how best I can help them. My job is different every day.”

He said his favorite part of the job is putting a new wine on a restaurant’s list. “I like to say that I don’t have a personal wine cellar, I have MGM as my wine cellar,” he said.

Kim said he enjoys a good glass of wine but doesn’t have a favorite. In fact, if he has a drink at home, it’s often a bourbon on the rocks or a Japanese beer, he said.

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