'Wino' respect

Now, after the dishes have been ordered and the waiter has gone, the conversation flows. There is chatter, gossip, complaining and flirtation. And then another authority figure on behalf of the restaurant approaches the table and everyone goes silent. The restaurant's sommelier uses picturesque words to talk about the wines on the menu. He describes faraway hills, boutique wineries and fruity tastes. The diners' lips go dry, their eyes dart to and fro. He pulls out names of wineries, degrees of dryness, numbers of barrels, three-figure prices. They are just waiting for the nightmare to pass, they smile politely and what they most want to do is to skedaddle immediately to the nearest pub and glug a cold beer.

But they have to listen to him and finally they are rewarded with the ceremonial pouring of a liquid, about the quality of which they haven't the faintest notion. They empty it into their gullets slowly and breathe a sigh of relief as the sommelier moves along to the next satisfied customer.

	Aviram Katz, 26, is the sommelier of Toto restaurant and worked in the past at Rafael and Rokach 73.
	Photo by: Daniel Tchetchik

The Israeli sommelier is a strange beast who works at local prestige restaurants and glories in a French title - but most of the pedants about these things doubt his professionalism. Abroad, you need a certificate for this profession, but in Israel, autodidacts with service awareness and a love of wine qualify. Most of the sommeliers here have not been officially trained and they acquire the missing knowledge in random courses, if at all.

Just don't call them waiters. The usual translation of the term is "wine curator," the person responsible for the beverage department at a restaurant, whose job focuses mainly on wines: their selection and purchase, management of the collection and also suggesting them as appropriate to the offerings on the menu, the character of the meal and the client's understanding.

The word "sommelier" testifies to the process whereby this role has developed and become established in Israel. Menny Peer, editor of the Magazine "Gourmet Wine & Alcohol," relates: "The word sagma in late Latin refers to a pack saddle for transporting goods. The modern word is French. In the middle ages the sommelier was the official in charge of the food and supply caravans to an estate. Eventually he came to be in charge of the supply stores and would go down to the cellar whenever it was necessary to bring foodstuffs or beverages. The nobles discovered his potential and adopted his expertise in order to obtain the finest beverages for their tables. It could be said that the old job description of the sommelier has been retained, and when we order a fine wine from him he goes down to the cellar especially for us, dusts off the oldest bottle and brings it to our table for tasting."

Avi Ben Ami, who between 1998 and 2002 worked as a sommelier at Roshfeld restaurant in Tel Aviv, says that in recent years the sommeliers' cork has popped: "The classical, old-fashioned sommelier, who strutted about pompously with a chain around his neck, belongs to history. In France they still exist but they are a bit less puffed up than in the past. The modern sommelier has become one of the important roles in a restaurant; he is supposed to be second only to the chef. Also with respect to salary. But if there isn't a serious wine cellar, the right glassware and a rich menu, it doesn't pay and it isn't suitable."

The Israeli model

In Israel the profession took root only in the 1990s. According to celebrity chef Yisrael Aharoni, "The need for a sommelier arose in parallel to the development of the wine industry. When the industry was developing in an extraordinary way and things were happening - the demand for quality, boutique wineries and an awareness of wine - naturally there were people needed also who knew how to do the work."

Aharoni was one of the pioneers in employing a sommelier at his French restaurant, The Golden Apple. "Today it isn't obligatory to keep a sommelier but a serious restaurateur has no reason to neglect this important area, which is just as important as any other part of this complex called a restaurant. Indeed it is also possible to do without a chef, or a professional designer."

	Sommelier Ella Seker.
	Photo by: Daniel Tchetchik

The sommelier's reputation is built up gradually and does not rely only on the service he gives to diners. "There are a lot of people," says Ben Ami, "who purport to be sommeliers, but they aren't. A good sommelier has first of all to be a terrific waiter, not a robot with knowledge. This is because wine, by its nature, stresses people. For the wine industry it is important not only what you do in the restaurant, but also beyond that. It's just like being a doctor: How many professional articles have you written, on what tasting panels do you participate, at which restaurants have you worked and have you won any competitions?"

Hadas Azar, an importer of Burgundy wines, points to a failing in the education for the role. "The Israeli sommelier," she says, "is in thrall to the good graces of the large importers who will invite him to tastings, and that isn't enough. In order to be a good sommelier you need a lot of study and tastings, trips abroad and visits to wineries."

There are certain characteristics required only of the Israeli sommelier - a kind of unctuous flexibility, which no European sommelier would adopt. Menny Peer expands: "A sommelier needs to know not only how to communicate with people but also how to be no small politician because in Israel people are quicker to return a bottle of wine than a spoiled steak. This makes the customer feel like the big man in the restaurant. The local clients relate to him with more suspicion than respect and therefore the wise sommelier has to adapt his suggestions to the diner, let him taste wines and most importantly make the person who does the ordering look big in front of his friends and compliment him on his knowledge and his choice. Israelis, after all, see wine as a budgetary burden."

Thankless work

Abroad, being a sommelier is a profession in every respect but in Israel it is just a temporary job, or a springboard to the next job. It is not acceptable to grow old as a sommelier. It is easier for the sommelier who has left a job to open a wine bar, give professional workshops on the subject or work at a leading winery after his professional reliability has become established. Few have persisted in the profession more than a decade. Ben Ami himself, one of he first sommeliers to have been active in Israel, retired from the profession within a few years, established the sommelier.co.il website and turned to earning his living from professional productions in the wine field. He is currently working on setting up his annual Sommelier Exhibition for the professional industry, to be held at the Nokia Arena on November 7 and 8.

Jessy Bodec, winner of the Jordan Prize for 2005, was the sommelier at Rafael and Keren restaurants, both in Tel Aviv. His French accent made him sound as though he was born into the profession, but after a few years in the field he too decided to move on, left the restaurants and opened a wine school where he conducts tastings and workshops. He says that the Israeli sommelier's average age is significantly lower that that of sommeliers abroad: "On the last winery tour I did in Germany I saw that a lot of the sommeliers had difficulty walking, because they were really elderly... and that impressed me. This phenomenon doesn't exist in Israel. Age affords an advantage because they have experienced the various vintages and this is better than any theoretical knowledge."

Another retiree from the international league is Yishay Malkov, one of he proprietors of the new Bertie restaurant in Tel Aviv, who was the head sommelier at Gordon Ramsay's group of restaurants and twice won the Sommelier of the Year prize in London. He notes that the Israeli sommelier is paid a lot less than his colleagues abroad, and moreover he says, "Even though it has a romantic aura, this is thankless work. You have to invest time in tastings and studies and it doesn't pay. It is harder to be a sommelier than to be a chef, who can rest at home. The dedicated sommelier never rests. When he gets home he sits down to prepare for a competition or a test, tastes wines and never rests on his laurels. These are people who are addicted to their work and are exploited because of that.

The leading sommeliers in Israel

*Daniel Avital, 26, is the sommelier at Mizlala and Catit restaurants and is considered a talented young fellow with knowledge and a tight style, who is in a position of influence and power. He started out at Alkalai, where he learned the secrets of wine from the manager, Eyal Dubinsky. After less than a year he started working at Herbert Samuel as deputy sommelier. After half a year he was promoted to head sommelier and was in charge of economic management, pricing, building the wine menus, stock management and training the waiters. Parallel to beginning his academic studies ‏(media‏), he left the restaurant and worked at the Pelter Winery. Later he left the winery and started working at chef Meir Adoni’s Catit and Mizlala restaurants. He says, “We prefer to use the name ‘wine manager.’” A sommelier who is only a ‘wine person’ will fail in his managerial roles, and a sommelier who is just a ‘management person’ will fail in satisfying his clientele. Ultimately my aim is to satisfy the customer, expose him to the world of wines he has not yet known and all this while creating an atmosphere that will complement the restaurant’s concept.”

*Ella Seker Sukenik, 30, was the sommelier at Messa restaurant up until last week. With 10 years of experience in the wine field, she is the most veteran sommelier on the list, and even though she never studied the field in an organized way or competed in competitions, she is considered to be professional and charming. She embarked on her professional path at Carmela Banahala and later moved to Turquoise. After a short period during which she worked at a wine importing company she stared to work at Messa. In addition she is a judge at the Godlen Cluster, a wine blogger, a private sommelier at high society events and she builds private collections in Israel and abroad. According to her, “If the stage is the actor’s bug then wine is the sommelier’s bug. At the start of my career I was regarded as a sommelier but I wasn’t really. After 10 years in the field I have reached a very high professional level.”

*Moshe Rozen of Rafael restaurant is nearly the only sommelier in Israel who did not start out as a waiter but rather entered the field after formal training in Germany. He won second place in the best wine waiter category at the 2009 Jordan Prize competition. When he returned to Israel he started working at Mul Yam, where he stayed for two and a half years. He has been working at Rafael for more than two years. He in fact thinks the situation is deteriorating. “The trend of sommeliers in restaurants,” he says, “is gradually fading, together with the trend of drinking fine wine, in the wake of the economic crisis. Four years ago we were selling wines different from the ones that are getting sold today.”

*Aviram Katz, 26, is the sommelier of Toto restaurant and worked in the past at Rafael and Rokach 73. He is considered a “star” in the field, with fine style, a winning personality and a desire to learn. He was won the Barkan Wineries prize for matching wine and food and the Moet & Chandon prize for Champagne sommeliers. He holds a sommelier’s certificate from the Italian sommeliers’ organization and a stage 3 diploma from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, and he is now studying for that organization’s diploma. He writes the wine column in the magazine “Al Hashulhan” together with Eldad Levy. “I remember a visit to New York,” he says, “when I was sitting at the bar at Balthazar and I got the most amazing service I ever had in my life. I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is how it is supposed to look. A person who laughs with you but gives tip-top service.’”
 

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