Eye Candy: We Chat with Ottara Pyne, Sommelier & Beverage Director at Gaggan Anand Restaurant Bangkok

Hi y’all! For the past nine years, I’ve held every job possible from line cook to bar manager, but I began working in the wine industry specifically about four years back when I started my education with the Court of Master Sommeliers. The past couple of years have been heavily dedicated to the field of natural wine, with most of my time spent working in restaurants and vineyards alike.

I ended up moving to Bangkok at the end of 2018 after working my first vintage in Oregon wine country as I was hoping to chase the proverbial high with a follow up harvest in Australia. The city has always been somewhat of a second home with my family, parents included, having all spent some time living or growing up here. At the time though, Bangkok was a layover at the time that turned into something I never could have imagined. The scene here is hungry, open-minded, excited, and thirsty for innovation and progressive flavours.​

I think that wine has always been in my life in some small or great way for the past decade. I spent my junior year of high school abroad living in France and fell in love with the idea of stomping grapes and drinking wine all day, so when I returned to the US for my final year, I quickly applied to all the university winemaking programs I could before settling on Washington State University.

I spent my first year of undergraduate studying what was effectively lab-grade, conventional winemaking and was quickly disheartened by this path of study so I ended up getting a degree in philosophy instead. Incredibly useful, I know. After graduating though I fell back into wine, doing everything from waiting tables to delivering cases of natural wine around Seattle in the back of my old Subaru.

I’d say that my understanding of wine and why I enjoy wine so much is because it feels so personal. I’ve been lucky to plant vines and open bottles at every step in between, and just getting to be a part of the whole process really grounds you in the practice. Our whole wine team, led by head sommelier Vladimir Kojic, is like this.

We’re a group of non-traditional sommeliers that have spent time working in so many facets of the industry; conveying this, and the collective effort of creating a pairing that matches the idiosyncratic qualities of our food is what we try to bring to every dinner.

The pairing at Gaggan Anand is always made up of low intervention and natural wine made by producers whose wines we import ourselves in order to further and fully convey our personal relationship to wine. Honestly the best thing is that at the end of the day, we’re just supporting our friends and enjoying the labours of their love.

You know it’s funny, I never expected to be working in fine dining or even at the calibre that I have found myself in the past year and a half. Gaggan’s food and his restaurant are so fuelled by his completely unique personality and the fact that everyone that he brings on to the team gets to add their own quirky self to the mix.

It’s the reason why I – having hand tattoos (or painted nails) would disqualify me from working as a sommelier in the “finer” institutions of the world – have always felt like a welcome member of the team and the experience we try to create here.

To put it into perspective, I went from sleeping on a couch in the middle of Oregon looking at Gaggan’s Instagram page to working beside him at the chef’s table five months later, talking about our wine pairing.

So as you can imagine, it’s been very surreal to say the least. I can’t imagine I would have the platform that I do now without all of the people that have shown me such love since I joined and to Gaggan for always allowing me to be my authentic self, no matter what.

First off, thanks for watching the show! I actually started it in the midst of lockdown back in April, out of a desire to create a bit more outreach with all the people I interact with about wine over social media. It start as an attempt to best summarise how to look for and buy wines for my friends, but as soon as I aired the second episode with one of my favorite winemakers in the world (James Erskine from Jauma), I immediately saw some potential to do something really interesting and connective.

Since then, I’ve been going more in depth with topics on the series, taught some wine classes on Zoom, and interviewed some really rad guests. The show will be more focused from now, talking about pairing natural wine and food from different countries throughout Asia and their respective regional cuisines. These episodes will all feature interviews with chefs and wine professionals raised, educated, and working in these different culinary cultures in order to broaden the acceptance and normalize the discussion of pairing food with the flavors we love out here.

I try to get an episode out every weekend, so follow me on Instagram @amarottara and I’ll do my best to keep you updated.

Thank you, they’re getting hard to hide at this point! I’ve been getting tattooed since I was 16 but there are a few artists and friends that I would trust to tattoo me, whenever and wherever.

First off my dude here in Bangkok, Luke Satoru, the owner of Black Pig Tattoo tattooed the branch of curry leaves on the side of my face, which is one of my most sentimental pieces to date. As for back home in the States, Tessa in Brooklyn, New York, has been tattooing me for the last six years.

Brad, based in Seattle, is an incredible tattooer and a restaurant industry veteran – our friendship was founded over talks of Mezcal. Last but not least, Phil, the owner of Black Dolphin Tattoo, put in hours and sessions of work to create my whole botanical themed sleeve and the bunch of Syrah grapes that I’ve got tattooed on my hand.

I’d have to attribute my strong foundation of progressive beliefs to my parents and family. My father is an immigration lawyer who has spent his entire career helping immigrants and asylum seekers in the US, and my mother is a public health doctor who has been overseeing healthcare infrastructure development for decades in Asia, so social justice is inherently integrated into the work that they do. In addition, a lot of Burmese culture was forged in the fires of protest and dissent, and I’d like to think that my heritage perhaps influences me as well.

We are seeing a massive shift in our industry and in the world right now, there is a call for justice and equality by, and for, all the voices that have been silenced for so long. The food and wine industry, like many others, is one built on privilege and access. I’ve always preached accessibility in wine but its the realisation that if we don’t do the work to actually make wine more inclusive and transparent, then these words lose their inherent meaning.

Part of this is trying to change the course of dialogue in our industry, bringing more voices and opinions to the table, and dismantling previous systems that we are complacent in simply because it’s all we’ve been taught. So something like donating or using your platform to create awareness and solidarity can create significant small steps for good. Ally is a verb, not a noun, there is always more work to be done. #blacklivesmatter #asiansforblacklivesmatter

This is such a difficult question because I’m always getting to taste and drink such exciting things but if I had to decisively pick it would be these:

Milan Nestarec from the Czech Republic because his wines are just chocked full of life and personality. They are truly electric. Next, Kelley Fox from Oregon because her expressions of Pinot Noir are perhaps some of the most transcendent wines I’ve ever drunk. I mentioned the third earlier, James of Jauma in the Adelaide Hills – he’s one of the most magnetic and charismatic people I have had the pleasure to know and his wines are one and the same.

The yakitori chicken oyster from Toritama with a whole bottle of chilled Beaujolais, the grilled goat ribs at 100 Mahaseth and funky rum daiquiris at Tropic City, the mama noodle donut from Little Donkey, a tall can of fruited sour beer at Mikkeller, a glass of grower champagne and the chicken wings at Marchwood, the Suhring bros unbelievable

Schweinshaxe, a glass of something orange at Kang Kao, and the egg noodles with bbq pork and wontons from the woman at the end of Sukhumvit Soi 39.

The only thing I wish you had asked was where my next travel destinations are after the pandemic so that I could say Singapore and get a proper list from you of all the places I need to come eat and drink at as soon as I can! Cheers!