W L W L INTERVIEW gaining experience working alongside other sommeliers or people involved in the wine trade is invaluable. The best training can often be training on the job; so finding someone that can train you up on the job is equally as important. Obviously I can talk about my path to becoming a sommelier – a hospitality degree, invaluable work experience in a Michelin starred restaurant and I also had passed my WSET level 1, 2 and 3 exams before I became the head sommelier at The Art School. But it doesn’ t have to be this route. The more you do, the more you learn, the more passionate you are – the easier your journey will be. Doesn’ t matter how you achieve this; as long as you do.
What are the qualities that you believe make a good sommelier? Firstly you have to possess an in depth knowledge about both the world of wine and, importantly, about all the wines on your wine list( and then retain and put that knowledge to use). Secondly you have to be open minded about customers, their choices and your recommendations to them( appreciating that everyone’ s pallet is different). Thirdly attention to detail, in relation to everything you do, is vital. Fourthly you must build a rapport with individual diners, which will differ from diner to diner( and never be pushy). Fifthly, and finally, you must have the confidence to be able to share your own experiences, about different wines, with others. Never be afraid to do so.
What is the biggest faux pas you’ ve ever made as a sommelier? This isn’ t a difficult one! A while back I was attempting to serve a very well dressed lady with a glass of champagne at the dinner table in our restaurant. I was carrying the glass, full of champagne, to the table when I lost my balance and fell. Sadly none of the champagne stayed in the glass. Even worse was the fact that every last drop of it landed on the poor lady – hair, head, clothes; the lot! In my defence, I was heavily pregnant and it was one of my last shifts before going off on maternity leave. Balance was an issue! Fortunately we managed, after the initial shock, to part on good terms( with the dry cleaning bill and a heavily discounted dinner all sorted!).
Have you ever served anyone famous and, if so, who and what? A few. The one that springs to mind was the actress Anna Friel. She came to dine in the restaurant with Sean Bean’ s wife( who was, sadly, minus her husband). They both chose our tasting menu. With it they had our wine flight. Both said they were overwhelmed by the experience.
What would you say is the hardest food and wine match? With a wine it has to be matching an orange wine with food- a style of white wine where the skin is left on the grape during production, producing tannins and leaving an often spicier and fuller white wine. Fortunately this is not an issue I have to deal with at the Art School due to the absence of such wines on our list. Were we to have any – it would be a hard match.
As to food, there is no food that, on its own, cannot be matched to a wine. There is always a match, there are often many matches, for all foods. The difficulty can sometimes come when you have a plate full of different foods, sauces, purees, accompaniments etc. and, therefore, a plate full of different flavours. So, for example, I have recently served our‘ Fillet of Halibut with shaved fennel & crab salad, heritage tomatoes, smoked aubergine puree and an Oloroso sherry vinaigrette’ with our Oliver Zeter, Sauvignon Fume Blanc from Pfalz in Germany( 2017). The dish has so many flavours that you have to find something that will sit happily with all of them. This wine was able to do exactly that. It’ s all about balance and opening your mind to choices that aren’ t necessarily mainstream or obvious. Nothing is impossible. There is always a match out there somewhere.
What is the most annoying customer habit? Adding lemonade to red wine. Criminal and outrageous in equal measure! And, yes, it does happen.
What is the best wine you have ever drunk? And why? This year I had the opportunity to taste the 1990 vintage of Chateau Talbot( from the Saint Julien appellation in Bordeaux). It was wonderful. Despite its age it was fresh, pure and full of blackcurrant. To me it was heaven in a glass. This surpassed the previous best wine I had ever drunk which was the wonderful 1961 Chateau Musar from the Lebanon. I drank this blind a couple of years ago. It too was amazing – garnet in colour, light, yet fruity and so smooth. Sadly this has now been pushed into second place – but wonderful all the same.
What are you buying for your own personal consumption at the moment? I am a very seasonal person when it comes to buying wine. As we are currently in the middle of the summer I am buying whites and roses. I can give mention, here, to two current favourites of mine. Firstly Lyme Bay’ s‘ Shoreline’ from Devon( a blend of bacchus, seyval blanc and pinot blanc). It has great length and a great finish. The nose reminds me of a New Zealand sauvignon blanc( tropical and aromatic). The palette is dry, but with refreshing citrus and floral tones. Lovely – and very quaffable. The second is Aldi’ s organic prosecco. It has great creaminess, giving it body and a complexity that you don’ t always find in a prosecco.
If a customer complains that a wine is‘ corked’ or has a wine fault what do you do( and if you don’ t agree with them what do you do)? The first thing I do is to take the wine away and taste it myself. If the wine does have a wine fault the customer is immediately given the opportunity of a new bottle of the same wine or a bottle of something different. Conversely, if the wine does not, in my view, contain a fault then I would always explore and explain what the issue might be. A recent example here involved some diners that had visited us before and had ordered a bottle of English sparkling wine from our wine list. On returning to dine again they ordered the same wine, but this time maintained that it didn’ t taste right. I took it away, but there was nothing wrong with it. The issue was that it was a different vintage of the same wine and tasted slightly different from the one they had previously consumed. This was explained – but with the caveat that I would be more than happy to open another bottle of the same wine, or that they could choose something entirely different from the wine list. This is always the bottom line – if the customer maintains there is something wrong with the wine and maintains that stance, despite any attempt by me to explain why the wine tastes as it does and that there is no fault with it, then they always get the opportunity of a fresh or different bottle. The other golden rule is that if a customer does not like a wine that I have personally recommended to them – they get that choice too. At the end of the day I want to ensure that everyone enjoys their dining experience with us. It should never be ruined by an issue over a bottle of wine!
How would you describe the wine list at The Art School? Traditional in terms of the wines on offer; but interspersed with some fabulous unusual wines and characters too. It is an exciting wine list that covers the wine world extremely well.
So there we are! An interesting insight into the life of, into the career of and into the experiences of a sommelier. And for those of you who may be interested in learning a little bit more about wine, or perhaps in even becoming a sommelier yourself, Sarah herself offers the WSET Level 1 and Level 2 Awards in Wine. She runs the relevant courses from the Art School Restaurant in Liverpool. If you are interested, visit www. theartschoolrestaurant. co. uk( and look under wine) for more details of what is on offer in this regard.
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