Richard Betts

The Path

Kitchen work gave the early base to Richard Betts from 1996: heat, timing, mise en place, and the discipline of feeding guests before explaining anything to them. That practical start matters in wine service, where tasting has to meet appetite, pace, and the room. The wider trade work around wine included volunteer sommelier at Wine Experience from 2006, assistant to Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson on wine label at La Scarpetta, author at Richard Betts' Blog, Wine Spectator (2008), and Master Sommelier at Court of Master Sommeliers America until 2020. Those roles kept the practice spread across tasting, service, writing, credentialed examination, and label work. Today, Richard is partner of Betts & Scholl.

The Work Today

Agave spirits are the current production field for Betts as founder of Tequila Komos and the driving force behind Komos Tequila. For Komos, the relevant technique is the application of winemaking expertise to tequila, with aging in oak casks from fine European wines to build a rich, complex and distinctive flavor profile. The work depends on barrel memory, aroma, finish, and texture without treating tequila as wine. Komos Reposado Rosa makes the wine-cask reference visible. The expression is made by aging Komos Blanco in French oak barrels recently emptied of red wine, producing a tequila with a pink tinge likened to Provence rosé. In that construction, the barrel is not neutral storage; it carries the residue of its prior use into the spirit. Speaking of barrel influence, Betts said, "The lighter, brighter notes of the white wine barrels really shone through in such a profound and pretty way. It was really a joy to taste for the first time." Komos XO extends the same logic through longer aging and finishing. It is a complex tequila aged for over a decade, offered through The Vault with a finish in rare Japanese-oak barrels known for low tannins and rich vanilla notes. The method is built on sequence: time, wood, spirit, and finish. Wine labeling remains part of the record through Betts & Scholl, founded by Betts. Its Betts & Scholl 2001 Barossa Valley Grenache was Betts’s first vintage of “the OG,” and it became the Star Selection of Food & Wine’s Best New Wineries in the World in 2004.

Signature

Richard Betts is a sommelier focused on simplifying complex wine.

In Their Words “The lighter, brighter notes of the white wine barrels really shone through in such a profound and pretty way. It was really a joy to taste for the first time.”

Acclaim

Credentialed recognition in this trade came through examination as well as bottles. The Master Sommelier credential followed a first-attempt pass of the Master’s Exam, a rare achievement that made Betts the ninth person in history to do so. The Krug Cup added another marker within sommelier recognition. In 2004, Food & Wine selected Betts & Scholl 2001 Barossa Valley Grenache for its Star Selection of the Best New Wineries in the World, placing that early wine label in the field of new producers being watched by the trade.