A good sommelier should have nine abilities.

A good sommelier should have nine abilities.

Lv Yang, wine director of Shangri-La Hotel Group. In 20 14, he won the best sommelier competition in Greater China, and also won the three national sommelier competitions. He is the first senior sommelier in Greater China with a WSET-4 diploma. He is also one of the best wine lecturers in China. The following are nine abilities that a good sommelier should possess, which I compiled for you. I hope I can help you.

In China, the whole sommelier industry has just started, and the overall level of sommeliers is at most fledgling. However, some educational institutions and media list sommeliers as "golden occupations", which only highlight the glamorous side of sommeliers and publicize their salaries intentionally or unintentionally. Coupled with the freshness of society to new things, more and more people are interested in sommeliers. Many young people regard sommelier as their career goal, and many people want to be named "sommelier".

In fact, to be optimistic, more newcomers, more social attention and more industry support will definitely do more good than harm to the development of sommelier industry. I believe that the first generation of sommeliers also hope that the sommelier industry in China will be more professional, stronger, more promising and more influential.

More importantly, as the first generation of sommeliers in China, we need to make it clear what a sommelier is, its nature, responsibilities and obligations, including colleagues in the wine industry, colleagues in the catering industry, media friends, consumers and young people who want to be sommeliers, so that everyone can have a correct understanding of sommeliers.

The word sommelier has nine letters. For me, summing up the meaning of each letter is the quality, ability and quality that a professional sommelier should have.

South sales skills

How to judge whether a sommelier is excellent or not? Do you have all kinds of glamorous and difficult certificates, won the first prize in the sommelier competition, or have high media exposure and popularity? These are indicators, but they are not the most important. The best sommeliers are always those who can bring stable and long-term economic benefits to restaurants or hotels; This is what most young sommeliers don't realize. In the final analysis, hotels or restaurants are all businesses, and the ultimate responsibility of sommeliers is to bring business success to employers; To put it bluntly, you can sell wine and make a successful deal.

Of course, a gentleman loves money and takes it wisely. The sommelier needs to make himself a successful businessman by making customers comfortable, professional knowledge, complete team, balanced and personalized wine list, innovative and reasonable meal and wine collocation, keeping up with the market public relations of the times and his own unique style. Perhaps many colleagues are unwilling to accept the fact that sommeliers are associated with salespeople, but in fact, as Gérard Basset, a wine master and sommelier, said, "Sales is a noble profession", sommeliers must understand the importance of sales.

O. Operation (from house to house)

The translation of "sommelier" is very good, because it embodies the original meaning of this profession-headed by "waiter". Therefore, working in a restaurant is a very important part of a sommelier, and service (not just wine service), that is, the so-called operation (restaurant operation), is the foundation of a sommelier.

Some young people who aim at sommeliers often ask me how to find a job as a sommelier. My first question is always: "Do you have any working experience in restaurant service?" "I have never worked in a restaurant, but I have an ISG certificate and passed WSET level 3."

A sommelier doesn't have to recite Bur gundy's 33 Grand Cru or all the small producing areas in Central Otago, but he must have the ability of service and communication, and be comfortable, clear and fluent.

If you don't know the basic service etiquette of western food, how can you know the correct wine service process? If you don't know how to clean the table quickly and gracefully, how can you help your colleagues when the restaurant is busy? If you don't have the experience of communicating with guests, how can you know the preferences of guests and recommend the corresponding wines in a short time? If you don't have the ability to read and write, how do you know how to interact with guests with different personalities? In foreign countries, almost all sommeliers start by running tables and ordering food at the bottom.

Service experience can't be learned from books, which is not only the most basic ability of sommeliers, but also very important for sommeliers to form their own style in the future.

Meter (short for meter) management (logistics) management

If sommeliers used to recommend drinks and serve guests in restaurants, the scope and responsibilities of sommeliers today are more extensive, including wine cellar management, inventory control, cost-profit analysis, activity creativity and promotion, and staff training. , also known as background management. At present, in China, hotels and restaurants only have the ability to hire a sommelier, so the management ability of sommeliers is particularly important.

You need to spend a lot of time to build appropriate inventory and arrange more time to manage the wine cellar; You need to organize all kinds of wine activities, including wine tasting and dinner, and promote and sell these activities; You need to attend all kinds of internal meetings, communicate frequently with the chefs and managers of the restaurant, and often run to the offices of finance department, purchasing department and receiving department. You have to deal with a lot of emails, organize regular staff training, and even manage tragedies. Especially in hotels, sommeliers still need to make a lot of reports. Excellent "clerical" ability is very necessary. In addition to excellent language and writing skills, you must also use management systems including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and even CheckEAM, InfraSys, Micros and MC.

These jobs sound so boring and time-consuming, that the actual time for recommending and serving food in the restaurant may only account for about 35% of your total working time. But as a modern sommelier, these are all necessary skills and tools to maximize the profit of drinks.

Mi (short for meter) is modest and modest.

A sommelier needs confidence: confidently recommend wine to guests, confidently communicate with colleagues, and confidently communicate with peers. But self-confidence doesn't mean arrogance. Humility is a necessary quality for a sommelier.

Only modesty can make the guests who are new to wine feel no pressure when communicating with them, make the guests who have some experience in wine more confident, make the guests have confidence in the sommelier and help the sommelier recommend wine;

Only by being modest can we constantly urge ourselves to learn more knowledge, go further in wine tasting and have a deeper understanding of wine in an endless world of learning.

Only modesty can set a good example among colleagues and peers and make everyone accept, trust and promote the profession of sommelier.

I think humility is a virtue of us orientals. Please don't forget this when you become a sommelier.

E. Education and learning

If service and restaurant operation are the basis of sommeliers, it is an important step for more successful and excellent sommeliers to further their studies and distance themselves from their peers, because only in this way can they be more competitive.

The world of wine is so vast and broad, and the upgrading is so rapid, so sommeliers must be eager for new knowledge and constantly learn to enrich themselves; You must always train your wine tasting skills to deepen your understanding of wine; You must also know about other drinks, including spirits, cocktails, sake, coffee and tea; You must be curious about the catering industry, understand the basic knowledge of different cuisines, and understand the latest fashion trends.

Many sommeliers will aim to acquire a sommelier. In the wine industry, only 200 people in the world hold the top certificate, which is one of the two titles with the same reputation as wine masters and the academic peak of sommeliers.

There is a reason why only 200 people have passed the master's degree examination for sommeliers for decades: sommeliers need to invest a lot of time, money and energy to turn their studies into another full-time job and sacrifice their personal hobbies, family life and friends' parties ... Even if they do, they only have a little hope of passing this exam. Of course, the process is more important than the result. No matter for individuals or for work, the knowledge and skills learned in the process of textual research are more meaningful. We all hope that in the near future, China will have its own local sommelier.

Length leadership role model

The sommelier has a special position in hotels and restaurants. The sommelier is basically a team of one person in the wine department. The position is generally manager level, but the salary will be higher than that of colleagues at the same level. Because sommelier is such a new title, many colleagues may not understand its importance, what sommelier is doing every day, and even question its significance. I think this is a problem that many sommeliers will encounter.

Therefore, sommeliers must set an example and have leadership skills. We can't force others to change their minds, but we can do what we should do, work hard, help colleagues, make guests enjoy the dining process more, bring tangible economic benefits to restaurants and hotels, and let sommeliers let the catering industry see their importance and particularity, which will play a positive role in the promotion of this profession.

It is also important to establish an internal wine team and staff training. This is not only a part of leadership, but also a necessary prerequisite for improving restaurant service quality and increasing wine revenue.

Li Meiyu, the sommelier of Park Hyatt Beijing, is a good example in this respect. I remember once having dinner at Park Hyatt Hotel in Beijing. When there were no guests, I heard two female waitresses next to me start asking each other questions about wine. I said to Nicky, who served me food, "You are really serious." Nicky said, "Sister Mei-yu is always so serious that we will be sorry if we don't work hard."

I think if most sommeliers can lead their teams and set an example like Meiyu, China will have the best sommeliers in the world in ten years.

I. Innovation

A sommelier needs innovative ideas, open and divergent thinking, and even a little adventurous spirit. Try different styles of wine with an innovative spirit and an open mind, and accept and try to understand different wine concepts. The same is true of catering, especially Chinese food and red wine. Chinese food with wine is a relatively new topic; As the first generation sommeliers in China, we must make more efforts in this field, be creative and be the leader in this field. At work, sommeliers also need to have their own unique and innovative ideas and styles, so as to make personalized but reasonable wine lists, design unique wine tasting activities and put forward new business ideas, thus bringing more selling points and benefits to hotels and restaurants.

E. Ethics

A sommelier must abide by professional ethics and have an upright professional quality. When dealing with suppliers and importers, the sommelier is the position of the buyer. In such a highly competitive market, the position of buyers always has certain advantages. But this definitely does not mean that sommeliers can make unreasonable demands for their own interests. Some suppliers will be forced by market pressure to offer some unprofessional conditions, which may be money, gifts or other things, but sommeliers can never accept them.

After working in this industry for a long time, I will naturally know many suppliers. Some can become friends, and some will break away from their personalities. However, I can't influence my work decision because of my preference for people, and my personal friendship can't affect the interests of the company.

Remember, as a sommelier, you should always put the wine in front of yourself. The sommelier also has strict professional ethics for the guests, and he must never deliberately cheat the guests, deduct the guests, change drinks without permission, etc. -This may bring high economic benefits to hotels or restaurants one day, but in the long run, it is definitely a self-destructive behavior, which will bring bad reputation to the sommelier industry and employers.

R. respect respect

As sommeliers, we provide a kind of "service", so we should respect our guests: respect their preferences, rights and privacy. "The guest is God" can't be said casually.

In addition, as a sommelier, we only present wine to our guests in the most perfect situation. We are the transmitters of wine, so we should respect the creators of wine, that is, growers and brewers.

As sommeliers, we don't exist independently in the wine industry and catering industry. Our colleagues and colleagues around us have helped and influenced our work and growth, so we should respect our colleagues, suppliers, media and sommeliers in hotels or restaurants.

As sommeliers, we all love wine, a delicious and complicated drink, and are fascinated by it for no reason. Therefore, we should respect wine, give it a good storage environment, and present its best state to our guests in various ways.

As a sommelier, we feel proud and happy from this profession and get many opportunities, so we should also respect the title of sommelier, do our job well and make our own contribution to the growth and development of this profession.

These nine words are the sommelier I understand in my mind. As a member of the first generation sommelier in China, I love this profession. My colleagues and I studied and grew up together. We all hope that there will be more professional local sommeliers, that this profession will have greater influence, and that sommeliers will develop better and better in China.

Extension: A sommelier is not a sommelier.

The functional objectives of sommeliers revolve around the purchase, storage, inventory, sales and service of alcoholic beverages. They are important positions in the catering industry, experts in the catering industry, managers of catering enterprises, including customer service and employee management, and of course, the continuous improvement of self-potential.

In enterprise management, the function of sommelier is to create wine list. Similarly, when arranging a dinner party, the sommelier is also a consultant and arranger of drinks. The sommelier needs to constantly maintain and update the wine list to meet the market demand. Establishing the service standard of sommeliers and ensuring the implementation of this standard is the work goal of sommeliers. For western-style restaurants, it is also the responsibility of sommeliers to create, update and maintain the cheese list.

A good horse needs a good saddle, and a good wine needs a good cup. Therefore, the sommelier is also responsible for the budget and selection of all glassware for the banquet in the restaurant, ensuring that the wine selected by the guests should be used in suitable cups so that the guests can enjoy the wine happily.

Managing wine cellar is the top priority of sommelier's work, and the state of wine is closely related to the environment of wine cellar. How to keep wine in a constant temperature, humidity, light and shock-proof environment requires close observation on weekdays. The management, inventory and purchase of wine inside and outside the cellar are all set within a reasonable range, which needs to be evaluated by a sommelier. The environmental sanitation of wine cellar and the formulation and implementation of cleaning standards are also essential work contents.

The sommelier also needs to hold some promotional activities with the front desk department to increase the sales of wine. The formulation and implementation of publicity activities need to be coordinated. The sommelier needs to promote cooperation with the front desk to ensure the improvement of service quality.

For catering, cost control is the key, and the excellent control of wine cost by sommeliers is helpful for catering to expand profits.

In terms of customer service, sommeliers mainly provide suggestions on wine catering, ensure the temperature of wine service, ensure the use of correct glassware, and provide professional sober-up services. Sometimes, in order to improve the stickiness between customers and restaurants, it is necessary to hold regular wine tasting meetings and wine seminars to grasp customers' demand for wine.

The sommelier needs to make handouts of wine training courses in line with the current situation of the restaurant and carry out training, so as to encourage and cultivate everyone's love for the catering industry and provide them with more opportunities for wine training.

A sommelier, a lifelong learner, always maintains a humble attitude, regularly attends wine tasting meetings in some industries, learns about new wine years and products on the market at present, and establishes relationships with other sommeliers. If there is an opportunity, he will go out for a walk and visit the world-famous wine producing areas to broaden his horizons.

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