The relevance of sommeliers was highlighted by the popularity of the best attended Rootstock session of the year.

Rootstock is a platform for wine industry discussions – particularly for young people in the wine trade. Founded by Warwick’s Mike Ratcliffe in the late 90s, it was revived by WineLand a year ago. Recent speakers have included Ken Forrester, Phillip Retief, Mark Norrish and Jancis Robinson.

The Rootstock Somm Session was presented at L’Avenir in collaboration with The South African Sommelier Association (SASA). The panel for the evening comprised six of this organisation’s board members – some of South Africa’s most prominent somms (short for sommeliers). Rootstockers in attendance confirmed their enthusiasm by the Twitter action that ensued. In fact, #RootstockSA trended in second place, hot on the heels of #Rhodeshasfallen. 

Here are some key take-home messages 
Education is key

Responding to a question from the floor about what SASA would do if they had R1 million rand to spend, the answer was unanimous: “Spend it on education”. Because somms are particularly involved in direct interaction with consumers, they have a unique and important role to play in sharing their knowledge.

Fine Wine Events somm, Jörg Pfützner, emphasised that somms were not only employed to sell wine, but to raise the knowledge of their colleagues and to “fire up the passion”. Protégé and internship programmes were mentioned as one means of lighting the fire. Swedish somm Joakim Blackadder emphasised that the possibility of progression from being a waiter to becoming a sommelier could be life changing and that the foundation to do that had to be provided.

In discussing the all-important, recurring topic of education, it was emphasised that patrons did not attend restaurants to be lectured, but to relax and have a good time. Somms were therefore required to share knowledge, without being intimidating or patronising. The profession had shifted away from “penguin chested” arrogance, with somms also providing a quality customer service beyond fine dining establishments.

Sell the dream

Winemakers should drop the technical jargon and “sell the dream”. This according to French-born Jean Vincent Ridon, who argued that a winemaker’s philosophy and passion were a lot easier to sell than a southern slope or particular soil.

“Debunking the myth of wine” was a key topic during the Q & A and it was reaffirmed that to stop confusing technical notes for marketing talk was part of this crucial process.

A changing environment

Restaurateur and somm Neil Grant suggested that stricter drinking and driving regulations had led to a decrease in wine sales during lunchtime. This had not impacted as severely on dinner sales. He commented that hubs, like the hip and happening Bree Street scene, provided a one-stop experience of food and beverages, while Uber played a significant role in providing an alternative to driving without having a tipple.

Wine Cellar’s James Pietersen commented that wine by the glass sales were playing an increasingly important role, with women accounting for a significant part of these sales.

The elephant in the room

The topic of fierce discussion at a previous #RootstockSA session, paid listings, was surprisingly not raised at the Somm session. It was, however, one of the questions that were posed to the panel on social media after the event.

It is no secret that the size of your wallet, rather than the wine itself, plays a bigger role in getting on some winelists. Large sums of money, as well as fancy umbrellas, fridges and even sponsored areas are part of the horse trading, resulting in branded restaurants and generic winelists, lacking authenticity and soul.

David Clarke, Aussie SASA board member who was not able to attend the Rootstock session, commented on winemag.co.za that it was not uncommon practice in South Africa for restaurants to charge to stock their wines. He cited a recent example, where he was requested to pay R6 500 for an annual listing of one wine, with no guarantee of subsequent orders.

Wine lists can clearly be lucrative, cashing in beyond the mark up of wine that is actually sold. Sadly, the wine industry is happy to pay its way into glasses, with bigger companies flexing their checkbooks at the expense of smaller producers – and often interesting wines.

Jean Vincent and Jorg both confirmed that the practice was not unique to South Africa, with Jorg even quipping that in Germany some restaurants were so plastered with branding that they looked like Formula I cars.

But what can be done about what seems to have become a wellestablished practice? The somms suggest that social media can play an important role in exposing wine lists that have been “sold”. Although a wine list can be a lucrative source of income, in the long run, wine sales and happy customers pay the bills.