‘She has an amazing nose’: Ireland’s female sommeliers on the changing industry

In case you haven’t noticed, women are killing it on the wine scene. There was a time when the industry was dominated by the old boys club, but now a female sommelier will barely raise an eyebrow. Or at least, you would hope not.

“In the beginning, I got some comments, like, ‘Oh wow, a female sommelier, that’s not a job that you see a lot of women doing.’ But not any more,” says Maria Pelonero, the sommelier at Rinuccini in Kilkenny. “I don’t know if it was because they were an older generation or because more women are now involved in wine.”

Pelonero, from Piemonte in Italy, studied hospitality in school. When she graduated, she won a scholarship to come to Ireland and is still here 10 years later. Her placement in Rinuccini turned into a two-year stint, and from there, she moved to Mount Juliet, where she developed an interest in wine. After passing the WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) Level 3 exam, she was offered the position of sommelier in the one-Michelin-star Lady Helen Restaurant there.

Returning to Rinuccini a few years later, where their extensive Italian wine list is of particular interest to her, she started studying for the WSET diploma in wine, an arduous two-year programme, with several tasting and theory exams. She passed her final exams last year.

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Beth O’Brien’s lemon and poppy seed shortbread biscuits

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While studying for the diploma, she met Sinead McCarthy, sommelier at Hawksmoor in Dublin, who also graduated last year. “Sinead is one of the best sommeliers I have ever met,” she says, “She has an amazing nose.” The admiration is mutual.

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Combining this level of study with a full-time job is no easy task, and McCarthy and Pelonero became good friends as they waded through each unit of the diploma. Both say the support and encouragement they received from their employers made a huge difference. At the time, McCarthy was working as assistant sommelier in Volpe Nera, and before that she had worked with Barbara Boyle, a Master of Wine, with importer Wine Mason.

“Barbara was hugely supportive, and we very much stay in touch,” says McCarthy. “She’s talking to me a lot about the Master of Wine at the moment. There’s an introductory course in the Rheinhessen in April, so I’m trying to get a place on that and just see if it’s something that would suit me.”

There are just 417 people in the world who hold the prestigious Master of Wine qualification, and five of the eight Masters of Wine living in Ireland are women.

McCarthy says women have played a huge role in her growing interest in wine. Master of Wine Harriet Tindal was her teacher when she was studying for her Level 3 qualification, and she was influenced by Julie Dupouy when they were both working at Chapter One. Dupouy, born in Agen in southwest France, was ranked the third-best sommelier in the world in 2016, representing Ireland and the Irish Guild of Sommeliers.

Dupouy held regular training sessions in wine for the staff at Chapter One, which inspired McCarthy to follow in her footsteps and study for the diploma. “She knows so much and she is so articulate in the way she communicates about wine, so I thought: That’s the next step for me,” says McCarthy. “All of these women in wine that were around me then are around me today. I personally have never felt like I didn’t have the same opportunities as my male colleagues.”

In 2020 Dupouy was appointed president of the Irish Guild of Sommeliers, and in 2021, she passed the baton to Morgan VanderKamer, a Canadian-born sommelier and co-owner of Union Wine Bar & Restaurant in Waterford. Having worked in hospitality, VanderKamer started her studies for the WSET exams when she was living in Vancouver. She worked in London and moved to Ireland 10 years ago, where her clever wine list in Stanley’s wine bar (now closed) quickly got her on the radar in Dublin.

VanderKamer believes that not only have attitudes changed to women working in the role, but diners now have a better understanding of what a sommelier is. “I think people are coming into restaurants and they’re very excited that there’s a sommelier in place, and not just in Michelin-starred restaurants,” she says. “Because we don’t grow grapes, it’s not part of the culture in Ireland. So it’s about bringing food and wine together.”

VanderKamer says that when she started out in the industry in Ireland, it was predominantly a male domain. “Women were more behind the scenes, ” she says. “A few restaurants had sommeliers, but women didn’t particularly feature in that. There were a lot of female waiters, managers, all that kind of stuff. And even today, in the restaurant, people still anticipate that Morgan is a guy because I’m looking after the wine programme. I don’t know if that’s just my name, but I think that it’s becoming more of an even split. Women are starting to come out more on to the floor and representing that role.”

Wine, too, has had a bit of an image update. Whereas once it was the preserve of those who had cellars and the budget to buy Bordeaux and Burgundy by the case, the rise of the natural wine movement has brought a new energy to the scene. Isabelle Legeron, a French Master of Wine and founder of Raw Wine, has championed low-intervention wines made by small producers using organic farming practices, and this has resonated with younger drinkers who are not just interested in what is in the glass, but the story behind it.

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Katie Seward, sommelier and co-owner of Frank’s wine bar on Camden Street in Dublin, has followed this trajectory. She worked as a waitress when she was studying fine art in Cork, liked it, and moved to France, where she worked in a variety of restaurants. Working at Chapter One when she returned to Ireland took things up a notch, and when she moved to Forest Avenue and later was appointed sommelier at Forest & Marcy, she started to get noticed in the industry. She was on the opening team of Loose Canon before heading to London and its vibrant natural wine scene. This influenced her approach when she set up the wine programme in Note in Dublin, and most recently in Franks, where she has a list of 200 bottles with a rotating by-the-glass list.

“People can be a bit daunted, and the first thing they say is, ‘I don’t know anything about wine’,” she says. “But you don’t need to know about it. You’re here just to enjoy it. That’s my job. You give me flavours and an idea of what you like to drink and then it’s up to me to go and find it.”

Maire McHugh, the sommelier at Potager in Skerries is also a fan of small artisan wine producers, and her extensive list features organic and biodynamic wines, with an impressive number available by the glass. She has a background in fashion buying, and got into wine by accident. Having completed her degree, she returned home to Fermanagh, worked in hospitality and headed to Australia, where there was a lively wine bar scene. Returning to Ireland, she studied for the WSET exams, and landed the role of assistant sommelier at The K Club.

“I think I had a bit of a lucky start,” says McHugh. “Lisa O’Doherty, the sommelier at The K Club, had a huge impact. She opened the door to tastings and was very supportive.” Now at Potager for 3½ years, her luck has continued, and the owners have supported and encouraged her in her diploma studies, which she will be completing this year.

Bringing something quite different to the wine world in Dublin is Ngozi Elobuike, who launched the wine club Hi Spirits last year, with a focus on black-owned wines and drinks. She sees each event as an immersive cultural experience. Her most recent Tastemakers event, held at the newly opened Glasshouse cocktail bar, combined the sound of Afrobeat, fashion and art with food and drink pairings of African, Caribbean and South American spirits.

Being a sommelier is a rewarding career that can lead to different avenues. Dupouy, who no longer works as a sommelier, has been brand ambassador for LVMH Champagne houses for the past nine years. She has also developed an educational platform called SommNinja, and has been working on a number of drinks projects, which include Cognac, sake and a non-alcoholic sparkling tea that she will soon launch in the US.

Even more intriguingly, she has also been working with a start-up company based in Finland, developing a sommelier AI, focusing on food and wine pairings. Tesco started using it at Christmas, and a number of European shops have plans to join the AI revolution, which has taken Dupouy’s career full circle.