This is a column about how hotels can increase their wine sales and use this tasty beverage to augment the restaurant experience. So far, we’ve talked about varietals, vintages, pairings, wine list design, growing regions, price points, rating systems, glassware and touched on specific tips for servers. But we haven’t addressed what you should look for when evaluating a sommelier.

These cellar masters can be a tremendous value-add to the team and your F&B revenues, on top of their fiduciary responsibility of managing the inventory. Whoever you hire will likely be tasked with purchasing, pricing, maintaining supplier or wholesaler relationships and wine list development. There’s also a ton of collaboration with the executive chef and F&B director on programs, promotions and pairings to help elevate the restaurant’s renown.

So, what criteria do you look for in a great sommelier? After a background check, there are professional qualifications that must be met, specifically the three levels offered by the Court of Master Sommeliers or Wine & Spirit Education Trust, along with a series of specialty courses for specific producing nations and other diplomas in spirits or sake. At a minimum, a somm candidate should have passed the second level, although for any serious dining establishment should consider a Master of Wine designation to add real credibility to help sell those thousand-dollar vintages.

That’s the technical and back-of-house side of things, though. The greatest success factor for a sommelier will inevitable be their ability to work directly with customers. Consider questions like:

• How do they size up a customer and recommend the right wine?
• How do they present the wine, both physically as well as verbally?
• How do they describe the wine’s taste?
• How do they refer to the various grape types as well as the relationship with wine and food?
• How do they carry a conversation?
• How do they handle objections?

In essence, this echoes one of the core hiring principles for any hospitality role. You can always train a skill, but you can never train for passion. All of the questions above relate to soft skills, yet to develop them a somm needs an innate drive. They have to inherently want to serve the guest by ensuring the wine selection is optimized to their preferred dining experience.

We have interviewed candidates for this position as part of our asset management duties over the years, and the first ingredient we look for is a die hard passion for wine. A great sommelier not only appreciates the $75 bottles that everyone else under the sun is bound to enjoy but also has a soft spot for those $10 gems.

Our interviews are always interactive, asking prospects to describe a wine, open it, taste it and comment. Like a chef who always bring their own knives, the best candidates also carry their own corkscrews (with extra points for having a Forge de Laguiole on hand). We also touch on their wine philosophy, specific vintage preferences and selling techniques.

What’s making this particular hiring process fun is that alcohol consumption is not just allowed but mandatory for each and every interview. If you heed the above tips, you will know the right candidate when you meet them.