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Light-bodied. Silky in texture. Creamy and velvety. Mineraly. Peppery. Maybe even a little bit of a “sting on the palate.”
Those descriptions might sound like they belong at a wine tasting. But Cameron Smith is talking about water.
At The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia, Smith is doing for water what sommeliers have long done for wine: exploring where it comes from, how it tastes and even what foods might pair best with it.
That includes bottles such as Vellamo Natural Mineral Water from Finland, sourced from water connected to ice age glaciers, and Three Bays, an Australian mineral water drawn from hundreds of meters below Victoria’s southern coast.
The Inn carries about 15 waters with some seasonal, limited-supply selections designated as its “Waters of the Moment.” For Smith, offering diners a water menu is an extension of the choices already expected at a fine-dining restaurant.
“Why do we give guests a selection for every single beverage in the world, except for the most important beverage of our lives?” Smith said.
“The water is the only beverage that every single guest gets when they come to dinner. So wine is an option, cocktails are an option, beer is an option, everything else is an option, but water is a given.”
And choice, he said, is part of what makes an experience feel luxurious.
“To have a choice of water is really an important thing,” Smith said. “And then the other concept here was actually that water, like wine, can be paired with food.”
Much like a wine sommelier, a water sommelier is trained to recognize how factors including a water’s source, age, mineral content and geology affect its taste and texture. It also lends to figuring out how those characteristics can complement food.
At The Inn at Little Washington, the title is only one of several roles that Smith has accumulated.
He calls himself the Inn’s “cheese whiz,” having earned certification as a fromager through the American Cheese Society and helping curate its cheese selections. He is also a certified tea master through the International Tea Masters Association and curates the Inn’s tea menu. And after training through the Fine Water Academy, he became a certified water sommelier, a role that also includes training other staff members on the Inn’s water selections.
“I’ve been here for almost 20 years,” Smith said.
Now, guests can experience some of that training themselves.
On Sundays, Smith leads the Inn’s “World of Water” experience, a 45-minute guided tasting for $75 per person. Guests taste still and sparkling waters sourced from springs, glaciers and aquifers around the world, while learning how characteristics such as minerality and mouthfeel can change what they experience in the glass. Food pairing is part of the discussion, too.
Water also plays a role in the Inn’s “Wellness Wednesday” experience. The program includes a visit to the Inn’s gardens, a “Goose Walk,” canapés and mocktails and a guided “Waters of the World” pairing.
The response from guests, Smith said, has been enthusiastic despite how ordinary and simple water can appear at first glance.
“It’s been very, very popular,” Smith said. “And the reason why is because people have seen beautiful restaurants, people have seen great wine, people have seen great food, they’ve seen great beer, they’ve seen great cocktails and they’ve seen great mocktails. But now they’ve never seen how water works and pairs and can be so interesting.”
Smith approaches pairing water and food somewhat intuitively.
“To me, the way that I do it is I taste the food first and I let my mind tell me what I think would be really nice with that water,” Smith said.
The process involves searching for a combination that simply clicks.
“I’ll just find this moment where in your heart and in your mind, and you say, ‘This is a great pairing,’” Smith said.
Among the pairings in Smith’s repertoire are waters served alongside Chantilly cream with blueberries or a washed-rind cheese. The bottles can also range widely in price, from around $9 up to $75 a bottle.
But for Smith, the fascination goes beyond finding an unusual addition to a luxury dining experience.
“As far as water goes, I’m just very excited about it, and I want to spread the news, and I hope that we can have more water sommeliers across the world and that everyone gets excited about it,” Smith said.
“And I just think of how many waters are all over the world as well. So it could be something that we trade from country to country.”
Then Smith takes the idea one step further.
“Maybe it could lead to world peace,” he said. “So that’s what I think about the natural water sources of the world.”
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