04.10.08
Posted in Yvonne Chiong at 11:13 am by admin
By Yvonne Chiong
Since my last post, I have completed more than 30 two-hour training sessions with restaurant employees in China - all over Shanghai as well as in Beijing and Hong Kong. The idea was to give them a basic understanding of wine.
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I find it interesting that even I, someone who works in wine, can find the topic boring if it is poorly presented. My job, then, was to train more than 2,000 local Chinese restaurant employees something about wine, and not just showmanship, that is, how to open a bottle with grace and skill.
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Doing wine training in China is not as easy as some might think. Many find both history and geography boring as topics, but to understand wine requires knowledge of both.
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The employees I encounter daily sometimes have no idea of the use of a wine glass - they see it as a vessel that could be filled with any liquid. I need to explain its importance. I also need to explain to them the differences between grape wine and other beverages, such as Chinese rice wine and beer.
While training, I emphasize certain points, such as how different wines work with different foods. I also explain that in China, there are four to five different Chinese names for Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, so that actually the differing descriptions on a bottle of Great Wall and a bottle of Imperial Court could refer to the same grape.
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Teaching about serving temperature is a must. I explain that some people like their beer cold, much the way some white wines should be served. Also, there is nothing wrong with putting red wine on ice, but - as I mentioned in my last post - not in ice and water, as it will freeze the wine.
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Finally, I teach them how to hold and present the bottle to a customer. At the end of the lesson, they should understand that they have to handle the wine like a baby, and that the price of a good bottle of Latour is almost equal to the price of having a baby delivered!
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Of course, the students have questions. They might not have a lot of experience with grape wine, but they are aware of the fermentation method, because China’s local drink - baijiou - is produced this way. They will ask whether the grapes they buy in the fruit market or supermarket are the same ones used for wine. They ask why French wines are so expensive.
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In general, I keep the training as simple as possible. It is better for the employees to know and do a few things well, than to be overwhelmed by too much information.
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01.07.08
Posted in Yvonne Chiong at 3:13 pm by admin
By Yvonne Chiong
This is the second of two posts by Yvonne Chiong about her move to China to be a sommelier and her early experiences on the job.
Last time, I explained about how I came to Shanghai from my native Singapore to become a restaurant sommelier on the Bund. What were the first lessons I learned in my job?
Let’s start with my very first experience:
“Would you please put the red wine on ice? I would like it COLD,” said the customer. And it was a bottle of Carruades de Lafite.
What would I do?
I thought to myself, “It will not hurt my pride to fulfill my guest’s request without comment.”
The bottle went into a bucket half full of ice and with no water. After ten minutes, I poured. With the first sip, the guest commented that it was not as cold as he would like it.
With the most polite smile I could come up with, I explained the different ways and different temperatures with which to enjoy wine. My polite guest accepted the comments and told me that he liked them and would come back to drink and learn more!
Lesson 1: Be nice and smile, be professional, and take the perspective that the customer always comes first and is right. The customer will learn to trust you and then accept suggestions to try something different. Not that difficult? Perhaps I was just lucky…
Enter the next customer, and the next question: “Which is a red wine that is sweet?” Hmm. Chinese consumers actually like full-bodied wine, but they do not quite like wines which are high in tannins as they find them bitter.
I suggested a degustation - a sampling of several wines - to my customer and his [or her?] guests. They loved it. It was a great chance to taste wine - for free! They would, of course, pay for the full glass they eventually chose. We went from a Pinot Noir to a Merlot and finally to a Cabernet, one that was a little aged and from South Australia. Voilà ! The Cabernet was the one!
Lesson 2: Understand the customer’s palate and preferences. If it was to be “a sweet red wine” then it was to be a wine that is riper, full bodied, slightly aged and softer in tannins. Observe and understand how the customer describes his or her preference.
Enter another customer, this time from a wine-making country. “Hi! I come from [country name]. I hear that Chinese wines are not that great,” said the customer. “Is that really true?”
Well, here was another opportunity for me. I offered the customer a blind tasting game with two Grace Vineyard wines - Premium Chardonnay and Taysa’s Reserve Merlot. The tasting verdict: the customer guessed a French Chardonnay and a cold Cabernet! Seizing my opportunity, I explained a little about the history of Grace Vineyard.
Lesson 3: Open the eyes and taste buds of the customer by seizing on their interests and overcoming their bias. With a better selection of wines eventually coming from China , the wine-making world will be even more varied and rich.
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01.04.08
Posted in Yvonne Chiong at 4:56 pm by admin
By Yvonne Chiong
This is the first of two posts by Yvonne Chiong about her move to China to be a sommelier and her early experiences on the job.
I came to Shanghai in 2003 from my native Singapore for an interview to be a restaurant sommelier. I was unaware of and unprepared for what to expect. Amazed by the vibrancy of this cosmopolitan city, I wondered, “Why do so few people here only appear to be interested in wine? There is some curiosity, but no broad wine scene, only isolated pioneers.”
I heard comments that caused me to think about the wine scene. For instance, a few people told me that “some Chinese mix 7-Up or Sprite with red wine worth thousands of dollars!” I wondered if I should take the job and what I would face if I did.
After three weeks of consideration, I accepted the offer, signed a contract and started packing. I began work in a restaurant in a classic 1920s building on The Bund, overlooking the Huangpu River. From the restaurant, I viewed the sprawling construction across the river in Pudong as a visual manifestation of the increasing importance and openness of China.
People at the restaurant were curious about me. Some employees asked, “Are you a bartender?” I had to reply, “Yes.” As well as being a sommelier, I had received training as a bartender, although at the restaurant I was a “bartender for wine.” A sommelier! The questions from the staff continued. In addition, many people dining at the restaurant had to get used to having someone stand next to them at their table, talking about wine and food.
As a sommelier, I enjoy being asked questions and explaining to curious people about a particular wine or about how to pair wine with food. The restaurant gave me an excellent opportunity to contribute to a deeper understanding and appreciation of wine in Shanghai, to influence that city’s budding wine scene. At the same time, as a sommelier I had to be concerned and learn about my customers’ palate for wines.
My Shanghai experience also afforded me a rare challenge: to learn the Mandarin vocabulary of wine. In Singapore , the preferred language for talking about wine is English. It took effort to naturally speak and think about wine in Mandarin. What would be the Chinese name for yeast, for Grenache, for terroir? It’s not that easy to learn!
Next post: Three lessons learned during her first day as a sommelier in Shanghai.
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12.11.07
Posted in Yvonne Chiong at 2:27 am by admin
Yet another wine lover is joining our group of contributors at Grape Wall of China, a nonprofit site that provides info and opinions about the country’s growing wine scene.
Yvonne Chiong, wine director, WHM Group
Key focus: Sommelier insights
“Yvonne Chiong was chief sommelier at Jean Georges restaurant (Three on the Bund) in Shanghai, 2003 to 2007, and now works as a wine director for WHM Group. She has done interviews about wine for radio and for print publications in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the United States, has been a wine judge in competitions in New York, and has earned numerous wine certificates and diplomas.”
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