Words get in the way: The China sommelier contest and the challenge of wine vocabulary

By Chantal Chi

Everything related to wine is chic in China and that goes for sommeliers.

I remember three years ago when sommelier was just a simple French word, but now it has become a symbol of high class in the wine world of China. Well, I am not surprised. Chinese learn quickly once they decide to engage a subject as they have with wine.

In late September in Shanghai, Penfolds and its local agent ASC Fine Wines co-organized the first sommelier competition in China. I helped “give birth” to this event by participating on the four-member judging panel as the sole person who speaks Mandarin as a mother tongue. (My fellow panelists were Andy Tan from ASC, Marcus Ford from M on the Bund, and Kym Schroeter from Penfolds.)

“A sommelier is the bridge between wine makers and consumers. They are ambassadors, the messengers of wines. People feel terroir and passion through the sommeliers.”

These are the words I used to insist that candidates describe wine in Mandarin, apart from English as the organizer demanded. After all, we were choosing a “made in China” sommelier, weren’t we?

Three finalists stood out from the more than 100 candidates, of whom 90 percent were Chinese and 10 percent were Westerners working in China. (Interestingly, consumers were keen to participate, with some “clients” of ASC taking the challenge.)

Two finalists are working in China and one is working in Canada. The English fluency of the two “home-made” sommeliers’ naturally is poorer than the one who works overseas. So I presumed that they would be better able to express themselves in Mandarin. But after almost five hours of tests, including on service, decanting, and blind tasting, I found a bothersome issue – wine vocabulary!

These candidates are not at ease at all in describing wines with Mandarin! I found it sad that they blended English words such as “full-bodied”, “blackberries”, “tannic” and “oaky” into their Mandarin sentences. As well, their references to things such as blackberries have no meaning to a Chinese who has never tasted these flavors.

I asked one finalist why she could not find the proper word in Mandarin while describing wines. The answer: she is used to English, not Mandarin, terminology. I further asked, how do you recommend wines to guests? The answer: most clients are Westerners and overseas Chinese who understand English. Finally, I asked, how do you deal with local Chinese who are uncomfortable using English? The answer: she had none.

This inability to connect with the majority of the market is regretful. It is as though the market is an iceberg and the great mass of local consumers is that part hidden beneath the waves.

I believe this situation will change and hope that sooner, rather than later, we have sommeliers who can properly serve wines to their Chinese clients in Mandarin, and that we are all charmed by their passion and professionalism.

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