The 1st woman to represent Portugal for the best European sommelier
Sommelier Carine Patrício will represent Portugal in the Competition for Best Sommelier in Europe and Africa, becoming the first woman to compete for the country in the competition, which will take place between Tuesday and Friday, in Cyprus.
Patrício won the national competition, which took place at the beginning of 2020, becoming the sommelier that will represent Portugal in both the European competition and the world competition, which will take place in France, in 2023.
Despite having been in the wine sector for 20 years, Carine Patrício only started participating in competitions in 2018, influenced by her friend Marc Almert, current champion of the middle world.
In an interview with Lusa, Patrício explained that Almert insisted that he participate in competitions because “each competition is good training for an exam [de certificação profissional] that costs money, where not [se pode] fail so often”.
“The plan was not to win, it was more to train. Now let’s see,” said Carine Patrício, current ‘sommelier’ of German Joh Jos (JJ) Prüm, one of the most influential producers in the Mosel region.
The contest was supposed to take place in November of last year, but was postponed to March of this year due to the covid-19 pandemic and then to November 2021, which Carine Patrício regrets, feeling that she was better prepared for the year. previous.
Even so, asked about the expectations for a competition, which brings together more than three dozen candidates from other countries, Patrício pointed to the semifinals, which 10 professionals will pass.
“It will be very difficult, but you never know”, stressed the Portuguese, before stressing that it is a “great honor” to represent her country: “I think that it will be good training for the Worlds. If you ask me for the Worlds, I want the semi-final with absolute certainty.”
Among the more than 30 competitors, there are six women, in a professional sector that “is changing” and in which Carine Patrício hopes to lead by example.
“I am the only one to represent a Latin country. One cannot say that Portugal is ‘super sexist’. France has never sent a woman. Germany has never sent a woman. The only ones much more advanced are the Nordics. […] I hope to show the way for a new generation that may think it won’t compete because it’s always the same ones to win”, says Patrício.
The Portuguese ‘sommelier’ guarantees that she never had any problems for being a woman, in an environment dominated by men, but she reports episodes in a caricatured way, when they would ask her about the sommelier, to which she replied being herself. “What about the ‘head sommelier’? I’m still me,” he said, noting that this has been a more common interaction for 10 years.
“As I’ve always worked hard, hard, my male colleagues always have a lot of respect. At least here in Germany. In Portugal I never worked. I think that, in Portugal, more and more women in good restaurants, like [a Nádia Desidério] not Belcanto. I think it is changing, “he stressed.
Born in Leiria, in 1977, Carine Patrício rose near Paris, where she graduated in Literature and Philosophy, and after spending a semester in Germany, we realized that what delighted her was gastronomy.
Between laughs, in conversation with Lusa, she tells about this transition: “You’ve found a boy, you’re young, you’re studying, he’s a cook, you start helping out on the weekend and you start to see that gastronomy is totally your thing. in the restaurant, I really liked that contact with the customer”.
In Hamburg, where he was, he gathered as tips as he could to go to dinner at the restaurant where Mestre Sommelier worked (highly demanding certificate for industry professionals who want to obtain it, with less than 300 in the world since 1969, according to the organization’s website who assigns the rating) Hendrik Thoma. Once there, Patrício contests: “It’s really the job I want”.
“Because a person is always learning. It’s what I find most beautiful about the sommelier work, you never stay [no mesmo sítio]. You are always learning. It’s not just being the best host, “stressed the professional.
During the conversation with Lusa, Patrício recalled at various times the importance of working for the customer, who can be someone who goes “every week to restaurants [com estrelas Michelin]”like someone who has saved a whole year for a ‘beautiful occasion’ to be able to make a space meal.
“It’s very important that when they leave happy and they forget to approve 200, 300, 400 euros per person. You are a person who serves. Now, there is a change in the ‘sommeliers’ that makes me a little sad. They want to be superstars. Sorry, not superstars! You’re just someone who’s serving, don’t forget. Some think they are God. You’re not operating on dying people, you’re not having open heart surgery, you’re not saving lives. You sometimes save a dinner, “said Carine Patrício, who now works for the Joh Jos (JJ) Prüm winery, in the Mosel wine region, in Germany, and is responsible for the company’s sales to the German market and to the markets where it is located. speaks French and Portuguese.
The Portuguese ‘sommelier’ stressed that customers want to have a good time and the wine professional must know how to answer questions, but not fill the knowledge of someone who cooks a meal with a technician. However, he believes that this “disease” is not transversal to professionals in the sector.
“This is more a problem for men. A woman doesn’t have that need. ‘My house, my car, my wife.’ It’s a more masculine disease, to be honest. The female disease that we have in this profession is that you have many women who are amazing, but are much more shy towards the client“, he stressed.
Speaking of six languages (French, Portuguese, English, German, Italian and Castilian), Patrício would like to know more, although he can understand like other Latin languages and even Mandarin, which he studied for three years, but time no longer allows.
Patrício, 44 years old and with two children, has a consultant, with whom he prepares wine lists and takes ‘masterclasses’, and works for the renowned JJ Prüm winery, but continues to work a few times a month in a restaurant, despite having forced to reduce the workload.
“I had to stop restoring because I had a stroke in 2019. Otherwise I was still working in a restaurant, because it’s something I’ve always liked”, he said. In the summer of this year, in addition to work and at a time when he hoped to be able to study to advance in professional certification, he also went to help in the Ahr valley , after the floods that killed more than 130 people.
Next week, Patrício will participate in the competition for the best sommelier in Europe and Africa,. Organized by the International Association of Sommeliers (ASI, in its French acronym), a competition has been held since 1988 and has never been won by a woman. The latest winner was the Latvian Raimonds Tomsons in 2017.
A competition consists of a set of tests of ability and knowledge, having two qualifiers until the end, which takes place on Friday.