3. Wine in France : a quick history of sommellerie and
wine education
3.1. A quick sommelier history
The word «sommelier» is a French word which in the
beginning described a professional who was in charge of the transportation of
supplies. In the fourteen century king Philippe V recognized the job as a
profession. The sommelier was responsible for the entire wine service already
highlighting a job that would become later tightly linked to French wine
culture (UDSF website)
The job really became significant when the first restaurants
appeared in France after the Revolution, increasing constantly during the XIX
century whilst at the same time gastronomy was booming. The Maître D
played a strong role and was sometimes seen as an artist.
The sommelier association was born in 1907 and the Paris
sommelier association in 1959. Numerous competitions were created and allowed
the profession to be emphasized. In 1961, Jean Chauchee was the first to win
the Best French sommelier competition (Brunet 2001).
The 1970's saw a limit in the development of the job, younger
people giving up this profession perceived as a job for old people.
The job revived thanks to a few people who were convinced that
the profession needed to be highlighted again. All these people helped to
create specific levels of wine education programmes for young people, making
the job more attractive. Wine training syllabuses were created by the Minister
of Education, giving the opportunity for everyone to access this profession.
1996 was an important date. A close collaboration between the
French National Education and the UDSF (Union de la Sommellerie
Française) allowed the renewal of the two sommelier courses: Mention
complémentaire (sommelier certificate) and the Brevet professionnel
sommelier (sommelier diploma). Professionals took an important role in the
development of the training scheme.
At the same time connections between students and restaurant
owners were enhanced and helped to increase the employment of sommeliers.
(Brunet 1996)
The seventies and eighties saw an increasing numbers of
hospitality schools in France whilst tourism at the same time developed.
Regarding restaurant service it is important to underline that
France has always had a waiting culture as opposed to English speaking
countries, it was therefore important to train students to serve customers
using appropriates techniques.
According to the FAFIH (Fond assurance Formation de l'Industrie
hôtelière), a French professional fund in charge of continuing
education, there are nowadays about 1500 sommeliers in France. Most of the time
in restaurants, the Maître d'hôtel is in charge of the wine
selling. The average wage per month for a sommelier in France is about 1980
€ (while a waiter is paid about 1570 €)
3.2. Wine education and consumers
For many years wine education focused more on product knowledge
than on staff training, selling techniques or wine service (Jones and Dewald
2006). People sometimes see the sommelier or the waiter as someone who is
somehow unapproachable, daunting, only giving the impression that «he
knows the truth and you don't». According to Ferran Centelles (Head
sommelier at El Bulli restaurant in Spain) sommeliers need to work on
communication and make things easier for consumers.
Paradoxically and if wine consumption is decreasing people are
aware about the taste of wine and want to know more about it. Wine is now
becoming more accessible and people going to restaurants no longer want to be
overwhelmed with information but want understandable words to explain the wine
characteristics, and wine and food pairing suggestions. As a result, it is
crucial to emphasise the teaching methods on communication, making wine and the
job more democratic.
The French vineyard is difficult to understand even for French
people as it offers a huge variety of different wines, appellations, coming
from a wide range of vineyards. Consequently consumers are often lost when they
face this vast amount of information, which increases the perceive risk when
they purchase wine (Amine, Lacoeuilhe 2007). In order to reduce this perceive
risk, consumers rely on mediators (sommeliers, wine merchants...) whose duty is
to explain the product and make it more understandable. As a result the main
task for educators is to focus on consumers' needs and therefore train
mediators who will be able to turn a sometimes unreadable beverage into a more
understandable one.
The sommelier has a big influence as a marketer and he is at the
same time a wine ambassador who possesses the knowledge.
The buying process for the customer in restaurants is still
difficult. If a low overall level of perceived risk is noted in the wine
purchase decision-making process in high quality restaurants (Lacey 2009),
ordering wine is always socially risky and is considered as a high involvement
process for the customer. Because the environment of consumption is most
frequently a social gathering (Judica and Perkins 1992), wine becomes a means
to social recognition. Therefore it is important for the guest to be helped in
order to avoid the guess work when ordering wine (Wansink, Glenn, Payne,
Geiger, 2006) and consequently prevents an awkward situation for the guest who
decides which wine will be drunk during the meal. The waiter or the sommeliers
have an important role to play, through understandable recommendations, to make
the order become the good one for the guests. The real art of selling is
finding out what people want and then helping them get it (Dewal, Jones 2006)).
The role of the sommelier is to meet the customers' expectations.
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