Young, gifted and French

Medlar

Not so long ago a New York restaurateur remarked to me that sommeliers are becoming restaurants’ new superstars. But, he added, there is an acute shortage of good ones in his city.

Superstar or not, a sommelier can make a big difference to a restaurant. Restaurateur Sam Hart recently chose Jack Lewens, who trained at the River Café before becoming a wine broker in Hong Kong, as wine buyer for his restaurants Fino, Barrafina and Quo Vadis. Lewens’ first initiative, to redesign the placemat-menu at Barrafina to give wine greater prominence, led to a 2 per cent increase in wine sales in its first week.

Of course, a sommelier can also make a less positive impression. An e-mail from Anthony Hanson, a Master of Wine and director of Christie’s wine department, recounted a private dinner at The Gilbert Scott. He had wanted to take, and pay an appropriate corkage on, a bottle of wine from his personal cellar that the restaurant simply could not match. He was told that this was not possible. The gesture of goodwill was not in the management handbook.

All this was in my mind when I recently accepted an invitation to be a judge at the UK Sommelier of the Year 2011 Award, won by Frenchman Yohann Jousselin of The Vineyard at Stockcross, Berkshire.

During the course of a day, the 16 finalists were subject to a rigorous examination. The morning’s written paper whittled the number down to three (Jousselin, plus Loic Avril, another Frenchman, and Lukasz Kolodziejczyk, a Pole, both from The Fat Duck). In front of an audience, this trio had to identify two wines and pair them with a suitable dish; identify eight spirits, including the now rarely seen Tia Maria; open and pour a magnum of champagne into 16 glasses to a consistent level, without, of course, going back.

They also had to pass what looked at first sight like a drugs test. Sommelier turned wine merchant Matt Wilkin stood on stage holding an envelope from which he poured a stream of bright crystals. Rather than put these anywhere near his nose, however, he poured them into a bottle of white wine to provide the contestants’ final test. These were harmless tartaric acid crystals, often precipitated in white wines, particularly German ones. The finalists had to explain to a table of customers what these were and why they could safely enjoy the wine.

As the sommeliers did so, they could witness the relief and pleasure on the faces of those they were serving, a privilege rarely available to any chef. It’s one of the reasons people are attracted in such great number to this profession.

I was the inadvertent beneficiary of the intimate relationship that can develop between a sommelier and his customers at an excellent dinner at Medlar, which opened in April on London’s King’s Road.

Medlar sommelier Clement Robert: a natural bridge-builder

Medlar is a partnership between David O’Connor in the restaurant and Joe Mercer Nairne in the kitchen, both of whom worked under the inspirational Bruce Poole at Chez Bruce in Wandsworth.

The dining room is comfortable but not ostentatious. Medlar bakes its own excellent breads, and the fixed-price menu is compact and highly seasonal. A considerable amount of thought and care has gone into its construction. The persillade of snails added another dimension to the steak, the garlic scapes did the same for three different renditions of rabbit. The cheese board, too, is exemplary.

And in Clement Robert, Medlar possesses a French sommelier who won the Young Sommelier of the Year competition in 2010. He is bright, quick on his feet and readily aware of what his customers want.

Two wines on his list are from Domaine Mathis Bastian in Luxembourg, and before we ordered the 2009 Pinot Noir, we asked Robert why this was a good choice. “There are several reasons,” he replied. “I’m a fan of the producer and he’s organic. But the main reason is that we have a very good customer who comes from Luxembourg but now lives nearby. So he is always very happy to come here and order these.”

The wine is light, fresh and suited a warm evening and such good food. When we responded that this was a style that was unlikely to appeal, say, to an Australian diner reared on much stronger stuff, Robert’s response was immediate. “For sure,” he added with a smile.

Another sommelier had shown quite how easy it can be to bridge that often awkward gap between restaurant and customer.

nicholas.lander@ft.com

More columns at www.ft.com/lander

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Medlar

438 King’s Road, London SW10

020 7349 1900

www.medlarrestaurant.co.uk

Barrafina

54 Frith Street, London W1

020 7813 8016

www.barrafina.co.uk

The Academy of Food and Wine Service

Organisers of the UK Sommelier of the Year 2011 Award

www.afws.co.uk