What makes a great sommelier? The talent to create a fine wine list helps, but that's hardly the whole story - or so we found in our first annual W&S Sommelier Poll. We asked America's leading sommeliers to fill us in on the best of the new crop. Their answers made it clear that they count characteristics such as grace, wit and energy far higher than an ability to rattle off all the first-growth Bordeaux châteaux. And why not? After all, a wine list without someone to bring it to life is nothing more than a long, dry list of names. In the pages that follow, senior editor Tara Q. Thomas interviews our respondents' top five picks.