![]() ![]() Demand for this course is huge, and it was pure coincidence that I managed to get hold of a free spot. In my case, I attended an eight-day course at the Doemens Academy in Gräfelfing during my spare time in 2020. As I see it, water is a very exciting topic. And that is in fact important knowledge, especially for the experts at Krones, because our customers are increasingly approaching us with questions relating to the formulation and taste of water. But I hadn’t fully realised the vital role played in this context by the water’s various ions. Thanks to my time at Krones AG, I did actually know how to produce fine-tasting table water. Peter Schropp of the Doemens Academy, who would later be my instructor, at a table-water tasting. It does not mean that you have to have special skills or talents in the field. That is precisely what being a sommelier means. When you have dealt with a vast array of technologies for water treatment for over 30 years both in theory and in practice – from engineering and installation right through to commissioning and later on in sales as well – then it is only natural that you develop a deeper interest in the subject of water and get involved in complementary topics as well. Mr Scheu, what can possibly make water so exciting that you want to become a sommelier for it? Maybe a sommelier isn’t just your wine server, but the catalyst for a zeitgeist.In our interview, he shared some interesting details about this out-of-the-ordinary job or – as in his case – this unusual hobby. Once pretentious and exclusive, it’s now genuine and approachable. It seems as our perception of what makes a sommelier has evolved, so has the world of wine. While I’m not a sommelier, it is not offensive to be called one - just not exactly accurate. The major difference is two-fold: One, I’m lucky enough to avoid the steps of service two, instead of juggling multiple tables with limited attention given to each, I have the luxury of spending all of my energy on a single interaction, without a time limit. When I’m wearing my wine sales hat as a retail employee, I do call on both the same knowledge base and skill set of guiding people into wines that fit their tastes and budget. Whenever I tell people I work in wine, the first question they ask is whether I am a sommelier. Most of the rest are B2B, limiting the average person’s exposure to the industry and the people in it. Only a few positions actually interface with consumers the way a sommelier does - chiefly, retail sales, cellar consultants, teachers, and those pouring at cellardoor. Where does that leave the rest of us who work in wine but don’t fit that narrow definition? It depends, as everyone is grouped under the heading wine professional. ![]() It can also be the person who sources wines, writes a wine list, and trains other staff members, a description that also applies to a beverage or wine director, who may not work on the floor. Today’s sommelier is a person with knowledge of beverages, especially wine, and food pairings who works in a restaurant and serves guests tableside. Suddenly, the word was applied to the stressed out nerds of the restaurant world, like in the movie, and is now shorthand for everyone who worked in the wine trade. I’ve noticed that as this particular job, of sommelier, is the only public window into wine, it’s boxed people’s perceptions around what is actually a vast global industry. Educational opportunities are exploding and the pretension is dissipating with them. Every restaurant seems to have its own wine program now. It helped break down the stereotypes and open up an interest in wine for a lot of people. The premiere of the first “SOMM” movie in 2012 changed all that. In French it means wine steward or butler, and for me - rather unfairly - it long conjured up the image of buttoned-up maîtie d’-type characters with polished silver tastevins swaying from their necks and wine-tinged teeth uttering snobbish facts about the best vintages of Richebourg. A couple of decades ago, sommelier was a pretty obscure word in the American lexicon. ![]()
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