by Andrew Chalk
Most diners are aware of the position of sommelier in a high-end restaurant. The waiter dedicated mainly to wine service, but also spirits, aperitifs, digestifs, cocktails, beer, coffee, tea, water and, sometimes, cigars. There isn’t a dedicated waiter for meat, or fish, so why wine?
It turns out that when wine is a very large part of a restaurant’s sales it becomes a full time job. Existing inventories must be maintained of a product that itself evolves as it gets older. A vintage wine that offered a diner a certain flavor profile this year may be unrecognizable just two years on. And yet, new supplies of that same wine vary, vintage by vintage, with the weather. Some wines, particularly European wines from temperate and continental climates, can differ out of all recognition from year to year. Thus, the sommelier has to stay on top of a product base that is forever shifting. Continue reading
