As frequent readers know, Terroirist regularly poses questions to winemakers, sommeliers, and wine shop owner. Today, we’re featuring Joe Campanale, the owner, wine/beverage director, and sommelier at L’Artusi, dell’anima, and anfora in New York’s West Village.

In addition to being named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Food and Wine, running marathons, and spending time with his mom (who gets a shout-out in the interview), Joe helped to start and now helps to run these three wine-driven restaurants/bars. Many of his selections are from Italy — from places like Piedmont, where he’s pictured among Barolo vines to the right.

I first visited Anfora for a Domenico Selections tasting soon after moving to the city. Since then, I’ve been back for a tasting with the Columbia Business School Wine Society on one of Anfora’s delicious “Raclette Mondays.” The place was filled with wafts of melty cheese and they were serving up “gooey goodness” with traditional accompaniments. It was cozy, delicious, and I highly recommend. So before I get hungrier, read below the jump for more about Joe and his wine program(s).

When and how did you fall in love with wine?
I first got interested in wine as a freshman at NYU, a local winestore was doing free weekly tastings and I’d go every week. Then when I studied in Madrid and Florence, and saw how wine was such an intricate part of the culture, I was hooked.

How’d you end up a sommelier?
I heard that the great Italian restaurant Babbo was hiring and thought that if I’m going to do this, I might as well be a sommelier at the best place. Honestly, I didn’t think I would get the job.

What type of training or experience prepared you to become a sommelier?
Having a loving and caring mother. Really, its true. I mean before I was a sommelier I took a ton of wine and cooking classes and that is all useful. But, I believe that the role of sommelier is to first and foremost take care of people and show them a good time. Mom instilled love, empathy, good humor and sensitivity which I think is a lot more important than knowing all of the soils of the great vineyards

How did you end up at your current job?
While I was working at Babbo, my friend and former boss, August Cardona, asked me if I want to open up a restaurant with him. When he took me down to the space that dell’anima is now located, I was sold. It has been exciting for us to grow together and with our partners Chefs Gabe and Katherine Thompson and Director of Operations Kevin Garry.

Tell us something interesting about your wine program.
I have 4 different wine programs, each with a different, unique focus. At dell’anima we showcase the multitude of grapes available in Italy. Italy has more grapes growing than anywhere in the world and this diversity creates the opportunity for new and exciting experiences. At L’Artusi we have wine from all of Italy’s 20 growing regions. Italy is made up of 20 different political regions and each of them grows wine and is incredibly diverse. At anfora, the winebar we focus on natural wines from small producers. The winelist has the profiles of our favorite winemakers so you can order the wine and learn about the producer. At Ellabess, we focus on American wines with balance. That means these are American wines that are handmade and speak of where they come from, I guess more in the European style than what has been typical of America recently.

If you could only pick one bottle, what would you order off your own list — and why?
I still love Barolo most of all and my favorite producers are Bartolo Mascarello and Giuseppe Rinaldi.

What’s the best value on your list?
I’ve been able to find some older bottles that we can offer at a reasonable price. One of them that I love is the Malvira` Roero Superiore 1995 at $78. It is all Nebbiolo but soft and elegant. Because of the age it is well-integrated and I always find it exciting to drink older wine.

Forget about your wine list. What wines are you most excited about right now? And why?
Canary Island wines, Greek Wines. I love how these extreme climates produce elegant and earthy wines. I also love showing people pictures of the strange and beautiful looking vineyards especially on the Canary Island of Lanzarote and the Green Island of Santorini.

Who is the most famous person you’ve ever served — and what did they order?
It’s hard to say, we are in the West Village of NYC and we get so many famous people. I’ve found that they generally like good wine.

What do you like to drink?
An ideal night of drinking might be – negroni, Riesling, white Burgundy/Chablis, Barolo and finish with amaro.

I also drink a lot of wine from the Loire Valley, they are such great values.

Do you enjoy beer? What about hard liquor?
I do love beer, especially after a shift. Sometimes when you’ve been running around all night, there is nothing better than a refreshing beer. I don’t drink much hard liquor unless in a cocktail.

What is the most challenging situation you’ve been in or request you’ve received as a sommelier?
What we do is not brain surgery, no one is going to die. The most challenging situation is when a table is not having a good time for reasons you can’t control, trying to turn that around and make sure they leave happy. It doesn’t matter how much you know about wine, I want to be a sommelier who can do that every time.

Interior of dell'anima

What is most rewarding about your job?
Working as part of a great, talented and passionate team.

What’s least rewarding about your job?
It’s hard to say, I love my job. I was going to say bussing tables but in reality, I like doing it because it is helping someone else out on my team to do a better job

If you weren’t a sommelier, what would you be doing?
I used to think politics, not sure about that anymore.