The post-millennial renaissance of UK restaurants began in London, but has since fanned out to encompass most of the country’s leading cities, along with a number of rural destination restaurants and hotels.
With the upsurge in the quality and originality of the food has come an increasingly sophisticated wine offer, combining new destinations and styles with the traditional restaurant listings of Bordeaux, Burgundy and other classic regions.
The white-tablecloth on-trade is also a dynamic sector, with sommeliers frequently on the move to new roles and fresh new ventures. All of this makes compiling a top 10 of the most influential sommeliers currently working in the UK a difficult task, but one aided here by the input of key on-trade players (brand owners, distributors, etc). Their help has been invaluable in the compilation of this list, which runs in alphabetical order.
Isa Bal MS, Fat Duck Group
Largely self-taught, Isa Bal MS has spent the past decade as head sommelier at perhaps the UK’s most famous post-millennial restaurant, the three-Michelin-starred The Fat Duck at Bray in Berkshire. He has been described as the right-hand man of innovative chef Heston Blumenthal, relocating with The Fat Duck team to an Antipodean offshoot of the venture in Melbourne last year while the restaurant was revamped, prior to reopening last September.
Born in Turkey, Bal began his restaurant career as a commis sommelier at The Vineyard at Stockcross – a restaurant with one of the UK’s most lauded wine lists. He was named Best Sommelier of Europe in 2008, and will represent Turkey in the ASI Best Sommelier in the World contest in Mendoza, Argentina, this year. He is described as an “example of consistency and success” by one leading on-trade distributor.
Gerard Basset MS MW OBE, Hotel TerraVina
If UK sommellerie has a father figure, it is French-born Gerard Basset, who now holds dual UK and French citizenship after spending three decades in England. The list of achievements is far too long to detail here, but he is the only person to achieve the hat-trick of Master of Wine, Master Sommelier and the Wine MBA, and was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2011.
That award came a year after Basset won the ASI Best Sommelier in the World title in Chile, after finishing second three times in past competitions. He co-founded the Hotel du Vin chain in 1994 with Robin Hutson and, after selling the business in 2004, opened Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest with wife Nina in 2007.
Chef, sommelier, and gifted businessman, Basset has also been a huge influence on the younger generation of sommeliers, identifying, nurturing and inspiring talent throughout his career. “He is the ultimate sommelier really,” said one member of the UK wine trade. “He’s set the benchmark on what a great somm can do.”
Nor is he one to rest on his considerable laurels: Basset is currently studying for the MSc in Wine Management from the OIV.
Jan Konetzki, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road
Konetzki has been head sommelier at Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant since 2009, but he trained as a baker, waiter and bartender before discovering a passion and talent for wine. There followed stints in Michelin-starred restaurants, training and stages in Switzerland and Greece, before he arrived on the UK restaurant scene in 2007.
Konetzki has been with Gordon Ramsay Holdings ever since, moving through roles at Maze, Maze Grill and Claridge’s before taking up his current role. In 2009, he took the Court of Master Sommeliers advanced certificate, passing with distinction, and winning the Riedel Trophy for best result in Europe. He was also named UK Sommelier of the Year in 2012.
“He’s nurtured some great talent since taking the helm at RHR and has also transformed the wine list,” said one senior member of the UK wine trade. “He’s open-minded, keen to discover new regions and new wines – and also has a unique way of communicating about wine that is not stuffy or elitist.”
Christine Parkinson, Hakkasan Group
Group head of wine for a company that currently has 38 sites worldwide, Parkinson began her hospitality career in the kitchen, spending three years as a head chef before taking on operational and managerial roles for the next 20 years. In 2001, she created the first wine list for Hakkasan and now manages a business that encompasses Sake no Hana, Ling Ling and Michelin-starred Hakkasan, HKK and Yauatcha.
According to Parkinson, half of any job is training – a statement reflected in the group’s comprehensive wine and sake training operations, and its sponsorship of Plumpton College and the Court of Master Sommeliers. She judges numerous trade and consumer wine competitions, including the Sommelier Wine Awards, Decanter World Wine Awards and New Wave Spanish Wines. Parkinson was the first European to judge at the US National Sake Appraisal, and in 2014 was the first British panel chair at the International Wine Challenge Sake Awards.
Laure Patry, The Social Company
Three years after completing a catering course in the Loire Valley in 1997, Patry joined The Angel in North Yorkshire, building up her English language skills and wine contacts, before moving to Gordon Ramsay’s Claridge’s restaurant as assistant head sommelier in 2003.
During this time, she helped launch Maze and Maze Grill, but left the company in 2011 to join fellow Ramsay alumnus, chef Jason Atherton, as group head sommelier for the launch of the hugely successful Pollen Street Social in Mayfair. Since then, Patry has managed Pollen Street Social’s drinks team, as well as acting as wine consultant to clients of The Social Company, before launching Atherton’s Social Wines & Tapas in June last year.Small growers and wines made with minimal human intervention are a particular passion for Patry, described by one leading distributor as “a strong character and a velvet glove, brilliantly in charge of the beverage programme for one the most dynamic chefs in the world.”
Clément Robert MS, 28-50 Group
Robert is a name to watch after a 2015 to remember. After creating a list described by one wine trade member as “fantastic” at Medlar restaurant in London, he joined 28-50 as group head sommelier/buyer, replacing founder Xavier Rousset (see below). Also in 2015, he qualified as a Master Sommelier.
The job at 28-50 is a daunting one, selecting the wines for one of the most concise and on-trend lists in London. “Xavier’s are big shoes to step into,” observed one UK wine trade member.
Robert was named International Young Sommelier of the Year in 2010 and UK Sommelier of the Year in 2013, and also boasts an impressive CV, having worked under Eric Zwiebel at Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, and for the Hotel du Vin group. “He created a fantastic list at Medlar and is now going from strength to strength as head sommelier and wine buyer at 28-50,” said one senior member of the UK wine trade.
Xavier Rousset MS, ex-Texture, 28-50
Rousset was only 20 when he moved to the UK and became assistant chef sommelier at Hotel du Vin in Bristol. In 2002, he won the Ruinart UK Sommelier of the Year competition, as well as becoming the youngest Master Sommelier in the world.
Progression was swift: head sommelier at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in 2004, where he met chef Agnar Sverrisson. In 2007, the pair co-founded Texture, a restaurant concept where food and wine would be on an equal footing, and which was awarded a Michelin star in 2010. Shortly afterwards, they also established 28-50 Wine Workshop and Kitchen, a more relaxed take on the food and wine combination; then, last year, and to some surprise, Rousset quit.
The new plan, he says, is a 40-cover restaurant five minutes from Bond Street in London, with a Mediterranean influence and – naturally – a strong wine orientation. Rousset is described by two UK wine trade insiders as “an inspiration to fellow sommeliers”, with the success of 28-50 “testament to his vision and professionalism”.
Ronan Sayburn MS, 67 Pall Mall
“The man seems to be able to do no wrong at the moment,” says one member of the UK wine trade of Sayburn, a Yorkshireman who has been involved in wine for roughly 20 years. He is currently head sommelier at the much-talked-about 67 Pall Mall in London – a private members’ club centred on offering fine wines to its members. “The team he’s set up at 67 Pall Mall is excellent and reflects his professionalism,” the wine trade insider adds.
The club adds to a CV that covers an eight-year stint as executive head sommelier at the Gordon Ramsay Group, mainly focused on Royal Hospital Road but also including the creation of lists and team training at Claridge’s, The Connaught, The Savoy, Boxwood Café, Maze and ventures in Dubai, Tokyo and New York. He’s also worked at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Pied à Terre, merchant OW Loeb, the Dorchester Collection and the Greenhouse restaurant – and has even started his own consultancy business, The RS Wine Academy.
Seamus Williams-Sharkey, The Ledbury
Head sommelier of this two Michelin-starred restaurant in London’s Notting Hill, Williams-Sharkey is another home-grown talent in a sector often dominated by ex-pat continental European sommeliers.
Brought up in the Midlands, he began his career at The Dormy House Hotel in the Cotswolds, before moving on to Oxfordshire’s The Nut Tree Inn and Hampton Manor. An 18-month stint at Restaurant Story near London Bridge brought him wider acclaim – one leading on-trade distributor describes his work there as “brilliant” – before landing the Ledbury job. Another on-trade manager sums Williams-Sharkey up as “young, very hard-working, very knowledgeable – and amazing to watch him work a room. The best I have seen in ages.”
Eric Zwiebel MS, Summer Lodge Hotel
One of the many protégés of Gerard Basset, Zwiebel has been cellarmaster at Summer Lodge in Dorset since 2004. This year, he will travel to Mendoza in Argentina as the UK representative in the ASI Best Sommelier of the World competition – in which he has previously finished second and fourth. Zwiebel was in some ways born to the job of sommelier; he grew up helping his parents with their restaurant in Alsace, and had experience at no fewer than three three-Michelin-starred restaurants by the time he arrived in the UK in 1997. There followed stints at Hotel du Vin and Cliveden House in Berkshire before the move to Summer Lodge.
Zwiebel was UK Sommelier of the Year in 2004, and finished third in both 2006 and 2008 as France’s sole representative in the Best Sommelier of Europe competition.
