This Is What Sommeliers Find Bloody Irritating About Guests
Sommeliers have a top job. They have access to the most exquisite bottles, spar daily with star chefs about the finest wine-and-food pairings, and regularly go on wine trips. But still… those guests at the table, eh? They can sometimes be bloody irritating. Want your glass to be topped up again, with a smile? Then don’t do this:
Dennis Blaaser, sommelier Le Hollandais
“One of the most irritating things a guest can do is to show off their own knowledge instead of asking for advice, usually to impress their fellow diners. Not classy, not cool.”
Isabel van Bueren, sommelier The White Room by Jacob Jan Boerma
“Older gentlemen at the table who would rather be helped by a male sommelier than by a woman...”
Erica Verweijen, sommelier Aan de Poel
“When a glass is still half full, beckoning me to top it up.”
Nabil Touires, sommelier Graham’s Kitchen
“Guests who move their wine glass while it’s being poured, guests who taste their wine first, say nothing and simply continue their conversation. And guests who ask for advice and then choose something completely different from the carefully considered suggestion. Annoying in triplicate.”
Bram Faber, sommelier Wijncafé Lefebvre
“Guests who act superior.. Come on, you’re much better off impressing someone by being honest than by spinning some bullshit story at the table that is completely wrong, forcing the sommelier to play along so that you can make an impression.”
Imil Ayoub, sommelier The Harbour Club
“Whistling to get attention, pretending to be more fun than you are and acting as your own waiter —all bloody irritating.”
Laurence Reintjens, freelance sommelier
“Ordering drinks separately so that someone has to walk back and forth ten times. Or guests who pretend to know about wine. Recently, for example, there was a guest who claimed in front of his party that the village of Mâcon, where the wine he had just ordered came from, was next to Champagne—in reality, it’s about 260 kilometres away. I just smiled kindly and said it must be a very beautiful cycling route.”
Wouter van Essen, sommelier Wijn- en Eetbar Most
“When you don’t let us finish speaking. Talking over us—in short, being rude. That’s actually the only thing I find genuinely irritating.”
Ruth Engels, sommelier INK Hotel Amsterdam
“Guests who put ice cubes in their red wine...”
Sabas Joosten, sommelier De Librije
“Calling a characterful wine that may not suit their taste preference ‘flat’.”
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