Sergey Podporin, Leo Wine & Kitchen, Rostov-on-Don (Southern Russia)
We are developing ways of sales over the Internet, working out delivery schemes, thinking about how to more or less painlessly deliver alcohol to more or less known people. It’s clear that this will last for 2-3 months at the the very least, so this is the possible lifespan of our idleness. If you recall how much time a full training course in the wine school takes, you can seriously raise your professional level even staying at home. In this sense, this is a unique opportunity — provided that you have a supply of food and wine and don’t have any significant payments sinking you down. I still see this period as an opportunity for self-development for those who really work on the floor.
Wine trading companies are still open, so the opportunity to buy and sell wine remains. Any decent sommelier is always a trendsetter in certain circles, including private clients. We need to spin our heads, do wine selections and recommendations. The technical aspects of wine delivery can, in theory, be handled; sommeliers know how to do it.
A very good exercise is to imagine that people who have money and who want to drink wine are locked at their homes. It’s time for them to pay attention to things they’ve never paid any attention to. It’s clear that when such people are in the “normal mode”, they don’t have time to be interested in some aspects of wine, they choose wines they’ve been drinking all their lives, but this situation is completely different. There is time to learn something. Customers will get new emotions, each consumed bottle will be like a new consumed book.
It’s a good idea to use this time to increase one’s “market capitalization” and knowledge. One needs to be prepared for the moment when it all ends and be ready to quickly find a job in this new environment. We need to think about how the sommelier’s work will be useful in the future. We must look for new wines now, find smart alternatives to the classic wines that are rapidly growing in price. There will be a new quest to find “alternative” wines and we need to start looking for them right now.
