When José Luis Fernández was hired in December as the new sommelier, the well-heeled members of the Hamilton Golf and Country Club didn’t pay him much thought.
That all changed a couple of weeks ago when Fernández was named Ontario’s top sommelier with a chance at being crowned best in Canada and, maybe, the world.
“Before I was the new guy,” Fernández says with a slight Spanish accent. “After they saw that I had won this thing — it’s funny — they all listened to me. They all want my advice.”
Fernández, a Canadian citizen who came to Canada 15 years ago as a refugee from his native Colombia, is standing behind the glistening bar of the 125-year-old private club in Ancaster.
He’s wearing a crisp blue suit. A lapel pin identifies him as achieving “advanced” status with the Court of Master Sommeliers. If he passes one more exam, he’ll be one of about 255 “masters” in the world. There are only five in Canada.
The windows face out onto the rolling green of the golf course. Workers are raising temporary scaffolding for next month’s Canadian Open, which will bring some of the greatest golfers in the world here.
Fernández has lined up several bottles of expensive Champagne in front of him. He prefers to be photographed with his favourite type of wine.
He knows the seven grapes of Champagne by heart, recites them when asked.
“Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, those are the three main ones,” says Fernández, who lives with his wife Maria and their four sons, aged 4 to 16, on the central Mountain near Limeridge Mall.
“And the four obscure grapes are Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Petit Meslier and Arbane. No other grapes are allowed in Champagne.”
As sommelier, he is the club’s wine expert. He keeps the cellar stocked and advises diners on what to drink with each course. It can be a daunting task, considering about 70 members keep their own wine collections in the club’s private lockers. Some members even own wineries.
