cociana
The Sommelier for the Evening

Not a chef, and worth the money

The Sommelier for the Evening

€400 to €900 per evening

Hired for one evening: opens, tastes, decants, pours and talks for ninety seconds per wine. The cheapest upgrade available to a good dinner.

Most private dinners serve good wine badly: the white too cold, the red too warm, four glasses poured at once, the second bottle opened when the main course is already cold. A sommelier for the evening fixes all of it for 400 to 900 euros, which is less than a single bottle on many tables, and the difference across a four course dinner is larger than an extra course would make.

The work is practical: temperature management, decanting, a glass plan with the rental company, pouring discipline so nobody sits with an empty glass or a warm one, and ninety seconds of clear speech per wine so guests learn something without being lectured. With a tasting menu and four pairings the role is effectively mandatory, because a kitchen of three cannot also pour.

The other value is risk management: a corked bottle identified before it reaches the table, a 1998 opened at the right moment, and your best bottle served with the dish it belongs to rather than with the cheese when everyone has stopped paying attention.

Skills

What the job actually demands

  • Building a pairing for a menu they did not write
  • Serving temperature, which is where most home wine service fails
  • Decanting older bottles without drama
  • Explaining a wine in ninety seconds without a lecture

Watch out

The warning sign

A sommelier who arrives with a list to sell you. The hire you want brings knowledge and works with your cellar or your budget.

Trial

How to audition one

Give them the menu and a budget and ask for a written pairing with three alternatives per course. The reasoning is the audition.

Ask these five questions

Before you book

  1. Will you work with our cellar or do you supply?
  2. What temperature will each wine be served at, and how will you hold it?
  3. How many glasses per guest, and who supplies them?
  4. What is your plan if a bottle is corked?
  5. How long will you talk about each wine?

Questions hosts ask

Is it worth it for a dinner of eight?

For a dinner with three or more wines, yes. It also frees the host from the bottle, which is the real luxury.

Will they try to sell us wine?

A good one works with your cellar or buys to your budget and shows you the invoices. Anyone who arrives with only their own list is a merchant.

Formats

Where this profile fits

Tasting Menu for EightFormat Restaurant precision, private room

Tasting Menu for Eight

Eight to nine courses, a brigade of three, wine paired by the glass.

6 to 12 people · €220 to €420 per guest

Read on Townhouse BanquetFormat Formal service, domestic building

Townhouse Banquet

Twenty to forty guests, silver service or plated, in a building never designed for it.

18 to 40 people · €160 to €300 per guest

Read on Corporate DinnerFormat Discretion, timing, dietary certainty

Corporate Dinner

Twelve to forty guests, a purpose, a clock and a dietary list that must be right.

10 to 40 people · €120 to €260 per guest

Read on

Menus

What they cook

The Cheese FinaleMenu Three cheeses, not thirty

The Cheese Finale

The course that costs almost nothing to get right and is almost always got wrong: three cheeses at perfect ripeness, bread, one sweet element and a wine that suits them..

All year · €12 to €40 per guest

Read on The Truffle TableMenu One ingredient, six ways, six weeks a year

The Truffle Table

White truffle from late October to December, black from December to March.

White: late October to December. Black: December to March · €150 to €400 per guest

Read on The Eight Course Tasting DinnerMenu The full evening

The Eight Course Tasting Dinner

The classical arc: three small bites, a raw course, a soup, a fish, a meat, a cheese moment, a pre dessert and a dessert.

All year, best from September to April · €110 to €220 per guest

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Markets

Where to find them

ParisMarket Where catering is a trade with its own word

Paris

France gave the trade its vocabulary, and the Parisian traiteur still behaves like a restaurant that happens to travel.

Guide price €195 per guest · 4 formats

Read on LondonMarket Townhouses, mews kitchens and a trade that never sleeps

London

No city hires out a kitchen brigade faster.

Guide price €215 per guest · 6 formats

Read on New YorkMarket Six flights of stairs, one service lift and the best brigades in America

New York

New York has the deepest American talent pool and the hardest buildings.

Guide price €265 per guest · 5 formats

Read on