Christopher Sawyer is a nationally-known sommelier and a proprietor of the Vine and Barrel wine shop in Petaluma. This past April, Sawyer paired wines with film for the Sonoma Valley Film Festival as the world’s only film festival sommelier and has served wine to everyone from the Gorbachevs to the Gettys.

DH: Slow Food is interesting to me seeing as it’s a bit of a riff on fast food isn’t it?

GE: It’s the exact opposite.

DH: Versus, say, merely “lethargic food,” or “listless food?”

GE: Exactly. It’s not snails.

DH: What drew you into it?

GE: Meeting Carlo Petrini. He’s the founder of Slow Food and kept McDonald’s from going onto the Spanish Steps in Rome.

DH: And it’s since grown into an international movement?

GE: 80,000 members.

DH: What sort of mandate do you abide by as someone who creates foods?

GE: My local philosophy about it is teaching kids where food actually comes from.

DH: Where does it come from?

GE: Well, milk doesn’t come from the supermarket.

DH: That explains things. You also proffer olive oil, right?

GE: I buy it and give it away.

DH: Like a négociant?
GE: [smiling] More like Robin Hood.

DH: Why olive oil [as a fundraiser]?

GE: When my niece was growing up she sold me all kinds of gift-wrapped See’s Candy that I absolutely don’t need. I always thought it would be great if the schools sold food that they could actually eat.

DH: That’s brilliant. As regards Sage Marketing, have you considered marketing other spices? Basil perhaps? Or are you going to stick with sage?

GE: [laughing] Yeah, all legal crops.

Sage Marketing, 525 1st St. East, Sonoma. 707.939.9394