The 'Somm' phenomenon

Tom Cannavan

Tom Cannavan

Administrator
For those more frequently on the London fine dining scene, I wondered whether the 'Somm' phenomenon is still as strong or has (hopefully) started to die down? The cult of the 'Somm' as cross between rock star and Gordon Gecko certainly started in the USA, like high school 'Jocks' in sharp suits, and I was slightly dismayed to see it begin to grow in the UK too. I saw it mainly in London, though Edinburgh and Glasgow where not immune.

Those Netflix 'Somm' movies were very much of their time, but I think fanned the flames of something that I personally thought was even more undesirable than 'celebrity chefs'. But I wonder if the phenomenon has peaked?
 
Tom Cannavan said:
It's just the whole North American cult of the 'Somm' - wine waiters being regarded like rock stars (yes, and even being described as "rockstar somm"). I much prefer chefs, waiters and sommeliers who just humbly get on with the job.
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I think the trend lost momentum in the US after a few reasonably high profile sexual misconduct cases.

Overall I think 'somm culture' just represented a transitional period as consumers (and by extension restaurants) moved away from traditional institutions of authority.
 
Andrew Stevenson said:
Is this really a "thing" in the UK?
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Well that was sort of my question Andrew: as far as I could see it was just starting to become a "thing" before Covid, but I wonder if it fizzled out? Sommeliers in this country have mostly tended to be humble and earnest wine lovers, certaiy not looking for the limelight, but I saw some evidence of that starting to change a few years ago, presumably some being caught up in the US "Somm" culture.

Some even started to refer to themselves and colleagues as "Somms", rather than sommeliers, which is surely evidence that they were being wooed by the idea.

Bring back National Service I say. Or flogging.
 
I never found it to be a thing in the UK. I’m not the most restauranted person on this forum but I think I’d have noticed if it were going on?

Certainly the US somm culture was foul. Some patronising tool telling me about which types of grapes were planted at which point in time in Tuscany but not being able to recommend a wine I actually want - oh do **** off!
 
I've not noticed it and I'm pretty well restauranted.

If anything over here the owner/head chef seems to have a lot more interest / say in the wine list and pairings then elsewhere. Whether that is a good thing is debatable
 
The Cult of the Somm is indeed annoying. However, the cult of the MW in the UK is similar. So is the cult of the Flying Winemaker, the Parker-style critic, the Naturalista or the Biodynamic Evangelist.
All of them offer knowledge, passion and experience to the world of wine but all of them try to impose their opinions and tastes on the rest of us.
Ignore the hype. Accept the passion.
I look at the wine world a bit like I looked at the music world when I was a teenager. I devoured NME, Sounds, Record Mirror, John Peel, independent record shops, Steve Wright and the Top 40. But on reflection I learnt more from my friends and like-minded people.
 
We had a truly terrible sommelier experience at a 1* restaurant in London on Tuesday evening (one I'd not been to previously):
- I had arranged by email to bring one bottle as a BYO with corkage, and also buy drinks off the list. When I produced the bottle at the start of the meal he said "we only do that if pre-agreed" and only reluctantly accepted it when I said we had (there were only 4 tables in the restaurant that night, so it would not have been hard to keep track).
- with the white we bought off the list, I tried to engage and get his views of the wine, eg by saying "is this made from [certain grape varieties]" - he replied "always" and walked off.
- with the red we brought (Mt Edelstone 92), again I tried to engage a couple of times, eg "what did you think of it" - answer "you shouldn't have decanted it". Then "did you like it?" - answer "I would have opened it hours ago" (and nothing more). This is a complete contrast to my normal BYO experiences where sommeliers are really interested in trying the wines and chatting about them.
- when the bill came the corkage was higher than we had been pre-advised (even though, at £45, it was already not cheap).
- I also heard him, when serving food to another table, be really disparaging about it - eg "You should never serve verjuice with a sweet dish" and "[one part of a dish] is way too sweet to go with [the other part]".

I have provided honest feedback to the restaurant - not sure what will come of it!
Not sure whether to name the restaurant...
Chris
 
Chris Smith said:
We had a truly terrible sommelier experience at a 1* restaurant in London on Tuesday evening (one I'd not been to previously):
- I had arranged by email to bring one bottle as a BYO with corkage, and also buy drinks off the list. When I produced the bottle at the start of the meal he said "we only do that if pre-agreed" and only reluctantly accepted it when I said we had (there were only 4 tables in the restaurant that night, so it would not have been hard to keep track).
- with the white we bought off the list, I tried to engage and get his views of the wine, eg by saying "is this made from [certain grape varieties]" - he replied "always" and walked off.
- with the red we brought (Mt Edelstone 92), again I tried to engage a couple of times, eg "what did you think of it" - answer "you shouldn't have decanted it". Then "did you like it?" - answer "I would have opened it hours ago" (and nothing more). This is a complete contrast to my normal BYO experiences where sommeliers are really interested in trying the wines and chatting about them.
- when the bill came the corkage was higher than we had been pre-advised (even though, at £45, it was already not cheap).
- I also heard him, when serving food to another table, be really disparaging about it - eg "You should never serve verjuice with a sweet dish" and "[one part of a dish] is way too sweet to go with [the other part]".

I have provided honest feedback to the restaurant - not sure what will come of it!
Not sure whether to name the restaurant...
Chris
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Definitely name and shame. Helps the rest of us avoid such establishments.
 
MW: the cult is long gone. The new crop, call it from the mid 2000s onwards, is a very different breed: really prepared, knowledgable, open-minded and, in most cases, aware that model the IMW is pushing for.

Somm in London: not as much West of Bank Station, the East London Somm is pretty ubiquitous otherwise: natural wine penchant, checkered shirt, disdain for any traditional classic (other some newcomer Burgundy), interest in obscure regions frankly irrelevant for most diners. A sweeping generalisation but...
 
Filippo Nanni said:
natural wine penchant, checkered shirt, disdain for any traditional classic (other some newcomer Burgundy), interest in obscure regions frankly irrelevant for most diners
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this reminds me of when we went to Bright in London Fields (great food, inconsistent all-natural wine)...

my friend: "I didn't particularly like this glass of wine, can you recommend me something else please?"
somm: "sure, what sort of things do you like?"
my friend: "my favourite wine is Chablis..."
somm:
1668086774209.png
 
Chris Smith said:
Yep fair enough. Was Club Gascon. Has a few decent write-ups on here so maybe a bad day/staff member.

The food also didn't impress - trying far too hard, the very opposite of "take a good ingredient and make it shine".
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I went a few months ago and comfortably chalked it up as my least favourite London Michelin. Of at 6/7 courses at least 3 of them totally missed the mark.
 
I suspect their heyday was 20 years ago. I didn't know they were still going. Has anyone been to Brutto, around the corner from there, which is I gather very BYO friendly?
 
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