Sommerliers in China so new and so few

Emerging Chinese wine lovers taking courses at Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting

By Annie Wei

The first China National Sommelier Competition final was held in Shanghai last month. Hans Qu of the International Hotel in Shenzhen, took the top spot and Vivian Tian, of the Kee Club in Shanghai took second. Both will go to Osaka for the Asia-Pacific competition organized by the Association Sommelier Internationale (ASI) in November.

Qu, 29, originally from Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, impressed everyone after the competition. He was the only person who flew himself from Shenzhen to Beijing to participate.

In fact, Qu heard about the competition by chance. One day he was introducing wine at a hotel event when he met a Frenchman who was also a wine sponsor, who forwarded him the competition information.

“It was a great opportunity,” Qu said. With eight years of experience as a bartender and fivyears as a sommelier, Qu said that he felt himself all alone in learning wine in Shenzhen, as he knew no other Chinese sommelier there but himself.

Indeed, people know very little about what being a sommelier truly entails. It is not just someone who pours and samples wines. The work of a sommelier, and their knowledge of wines, is much more extensive, meaning they provide expertise in the area of wine procurement, storage, wine cellar rotation and guidance to customers.

“When we first registered our company in Beijing in early 2008, the authorities did not know what it was,” said Fongyee Walker, 37, who is half Chinese and half British, and founder of Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting, one of the three organizations that provide wine training courses in Beijing.

Over the past two years wine’s opularity in China has been on the rise, yet sommeliers remain unknown to most. “A lot of people her think that they are wine experts just because they went to France and they think they know about wine,” Walker said.

“You would be surprised how few five-star hotels have certified sommelier,” Walker said, giving the names of some places that had good wine and cared about providing professional service, including hing certified sommelier, like JW Marriot, Hilton and Legation Quarter 23.

Wine education matters

Tommy Lam, a certified wine specialist, sommelier and WSET trainer and organizer of the competition, talked to local blogger Jim Boyce about why he decided to hold the event.

Lam said the Chinese market has attracted many people who sell wines, but education has not been high on the agenda in most cases. Training a local sommelier plays an important role in encouraging consumer interest in wine.

Walker and her husband decided to start their company in Beijing because wine was growing in popularity, but the relevant wine training was rare.

When Fengyee Walker studied ancient Chinese at Cambridge, UK, there were many wine clubs on the campus. She learned and taught wine classes there for many years. When she did her one year study abroad at Tsinghua University, she fell in love with the city.

So far, she has over 200 students learning beginner and medium level courses. The company also provides wine training or tasting events to other organizations, like banks and hotels.

Walker said potential wine consumers in China are under 35-40 years old. She has been volunteering in a wine tasting class every semester at China Agriculture University. She even wrote requests to wine companies for free samples and received enough to supply classes for 150 students.

Difficulties for sommeliers

When asked about the obstacles for a Chinese person learning to be a sommelier, Walker said that she thought Chinese people learn about wine much more quickly than British because of the local gourmet culture. “Chinese people love food and talk a lot about food. One example is the acidity, in Chinese daily cooking, they talk a lot about whether the food is too sour or too seet,” Walker said.

But how to describe wine according to an international standard proves difficult for locals. Take the smell for example, many smells are universal like leather and black pepper. But fruits are harder because some typical fruits like blackberry and raspberry are very foreign to Chinese.

Although English is not a problem for Walker’s students now, other languages like Italian, German and French are still difficult.

“To enhance their experiene or tour the vineyards in other countries, I think they should learn how to speak to them because they need to communicate with vineyards,” Walker said.

Tommey Lam, the competition organizer said that there were a few obstacles Chinese sommeliers face. Apart from their English language skills, there is the need for proper sources of wine knowledge. Many education programs are conducted by wine importers or distributors, but few have trainers with adequate knowledge. Proper wine education should be provided by an outside source. Many sommeliers jump from job to job, but by staying in one spot is how they can gain experience, knowledge and skills that lead to jobs such as cellar master or food and beverage director.

Hans Qu said English or French might be difficult for Chinese sommeliers, but expat sommeliers face their own issues. Many hotels hire expat sommeliers due to lack of certified Chinese ones. “If they do not speak Chinese and do not know Chinese culture well enough, it’s also hard for them to communicate and service local consumers,” Qu said.

Sommelier club needed

To advance in a country with fewer opportunities and learn about wine, one must make an additional effort.

Qu said he flew to Beijing once or twice a year to take part in courses. He also went to Hong Kong on his days off to buy wine books.

Now he is the fourth person certificated to teach sommeliers in Asia and one of 58 globally of his kind.

“I hope there will be sommelier club in China and for us to exchange experience.

Places with professional wine courses

Eswine

Where: 23-B, Kenzo Plaza, 48 Zhongzhimen Wai Dajie, Chaoyang District
Tel: 5139 6036
Web site: eswine.com

ASC – fine wine

Where: 7th floor, Block D, The Place No.9 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District
Tel: 6587 3808
Web site: asc-wines.com

Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting

An independent wine consulting company provides serious WSET certificates.
Where: 2601, Building 5, Wanda Plaza, 93 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District
Tel: 5960 4050
Web site: longfengwines.com