Here in the first of two articles The Buyer talks to him about why he wanted to become a sommelier, what skills you need to succeed and what how those skills are changing. We always enjoyed cooking though, and I always remember us at the table discussing what the meal next day would be.
But I also cooked out of interest. I worked in very low key restaurants from the age of 15, but mostly in the kitchen. But I did a little too well in school to go down that route. In university Nanotech engineering most of my friends were a couple of years older and we again enjoyed trowing dinner parties with good beer and wine.
A friend got me a job over summer break at a wine shop, and I dived in deep, at first to be able to answer questions, but also because I genuinely found wine so enthralling. Eventually my colleagues convinced me that if I really wanted to get into wine I needed to try the sommelier route. I went to culinary school and staged my ass off at various places, and graduated in First and foremost this is a guest relations job where an ability to engage and enthral guests is paramount.
Being able to talk about something other than the product is really helpful then. It was such an effort and in the end, people still preferred something entirely different, taste is so subjective! Today, I believe that the most important thing is avoiding disasters, which after a while in the business becomes second nature. If you could only have one white wine and one red wine for rest of life what would they be and where would they come from? Excuse our distant vantage point! Click below to watch The Buyer's library of online debates, videos and webinars.
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