Mia, Arnold, Jörg, Kent… where are the sommeliers of seasons recently past? Winos agree that the Cape’s sommelier crisis has reached Hurricane Katrina strength as sommeliers discard their tastevins in droves and set themselves up as importers (Jörg Pfützner), sales executives (Mia Martennson and Arnold Voster), hotel managers (Kent Scheermeyer and Miguel Chan) and commentators (various). The recent edition of the Platter sighted wine guide is bristling with former sommeliers. The reason is simple: pay, or lack of it. As sommelier-turned-retailer Roland Peens notes “when I worked in London, a head sommelier was paid as much as a head chef. In SA, this is simply not the case.”

Mia Martennson and Alex Dale

The effects on SA wine are dire, as emerged during table talk at yesterday’s spectacular launch lunch of Champagne Henri Giraud in SA. “These kind of wines are hand jobs in restaurants” noted one former sommelier surveying the line-up of bubbly beauties “it takes a sommelier to order them and then to sell them to punters.” Since one of Cape Town’s finest dining spots misplaced its sommelier, their commitment to imports has wavered. “They don’t restock anymore” moaned one retailer.

While WOSA, Wines of SA, the exporters’ mouthpiece, has embarked on an award-winning program to train 2010 sommeliers for next year’s Soccer World Cup, the next challenge for SA wine tourism will be to keep the thousands of tastevin twirling traypersons employed and not resign to join the armies of anoraks selling, sipping, sniffing and spitting for their own account. Perhaps SA wine should take a leaf out of the government’s guide on how to train doctors and make public service part of the training contract.

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