Investing in a good wine program can be a significant effort. Hiring a Sommelier as full time employee is not always affordable: the fully loaded cost in the US is $38k-$70k; the country median is $49k; an advanced-level Sommelier’s salary can be $78k. This could make the Sommelier one of the most expensive resource to a restaurant!

e-Somm is very cost efficient: digital, externalized and not fully loaded on the Restaurant p/l, its cost range is a one-off of max $5,000, and an annual fee of $200 if the Restaurant desires to subscribe to the ongoing services. This makes e-Somm very affordable!

Considering fine dining restaurants in the US, 25%-35% of all sales come from beverages. Wine has a far higher margin than food: pour cost is at 28%. Wine is a key driver of sales: it generates 35%-50% higher sales.

From a qualitative perception point of view, some diners may avoid restaurants without a (good) wine list; and once at the table, they would not enjoy themselves as much, or order as much food in the absence of appropriate wine on offer.

e-Somm designs wine programs intended to make the Restaurant a more appealing choice for diners; the dining experience more satisfactory; and the resulting profitability of the business a compelling proposition for the Restaurant owner.

e-Somm is not a wine producer; nor a wine retailer; nor a distributor. At e-Somm we employ wine experts certified by the International Association of Sommeliers; the Wine and Spirits Education Trust; and other similar institutions, but they have no affiliation to any players in the wine industry. e-Somm will first and foremost look at the Restaurant food offering; and recommend wines for the perfect match, starting from generic categories (for example, the grape variety, the wine taste profile) and - only as final step - going to the choice of possible labels (provenance, winery, producer).

Restaurants will keep the option of sourcing wines from their preferred distributor or winery – equipped with a much stronger focus on the desired wine profile to create harmony with the cuisine offered, for a better customers’ experience.

Italian professor Pietro Mercadini first suggested a theory in 1978 and tested it with the Italian Association of Sommeliers (AIS). The idea is to use the basic taste components of wine and food (acidity, sweetness, structures, etc.) to create and suggest harmonic pairs. The pairings are usually visualized through a diagram, copyrighted by the AIS, and this school of thought of harmony through contraposition and concordance (contrast and complement) is commonly referred to as the Italian approach, adopted in the Latin world. Examples of the AIS © diagrams for a harmonic, and a not-so-harmonic pairing are reported below.

At e-Somm we broadly adopt the Mercadini theory, employing a proprietary tool equipped with Artificial Intelligence, developed to fit the purpose of generating suitable pairings, starting from food menus. We also consider other food/wine pairing theories, including looking at bridge ingredients, regional provenance/terroir, the principle of matching weights, and of course the specific personal experience of our trained Sommeliers, dedicated to finding the ‘perfect’ match, and very conscious that perception of taste and harmony is very personal.