With a superb lunch at KayuPuti Restaurant, the St Regis’ Sommelier and Restaurant Manager welcomed FRV magazine over to talk about wines, life and poems.

Text & Photos by Herman von Bernhardi

Harald, please tell us about yourself.
I was born in 1957 in Germany in a wine area north of Bavaria called Franconia. I am the first of six children and my parents were both deaf so I use my hands a lot when I talk, because of this, many people tend to think that I am Italian or French rather than German.

How did you get involved in the world of wines?
I grew up in a wine area. My father also used to make some wines from apples which I used to enjoy a lot because of it sweetness when they were just made. Also when I was young I used to grab every opportunity to eat grapes from around the area. I have loved grapes as long as I can remember so my interest in wines happened naturally.

When and why did you decide to become a sommelier?
It was around 1993 when I was looking for a new challenge in Switzerland and the director of the quite famous five star hotel called Guardalej in Champfer called me and asked if I also could work as a sommelier. I said yes right away and started. At that point I found out how little I knew about wine and I wondered to myself, seeing as I had worked for already 20 years as an apprentice, commi de rang, demi chef, chef de rang, second headwaiter, first headwaiter and even Maitre d’Hotel, about my wine knowledge. Since then, I have developed this knowledge of wines. Even when I work at Kayuputi as Manager, my main task is to select the right wines for guests dining in the restaurant at the St. Regis Bali. To learn about wine never stops and it is a challenge everyday to make people happy with the right wine.

How long have you been working in Bali and why did you decide to come here?
I have been in Bali for nearly six years; I came here as a tourist and I fell in love with an Indonesian woman. After a year I was already married and now we have two kids.

What is the best part of being a sommelier in Indonesia?

Working in Bali allows me to be with my family everyday and to see my wife and two sons growing up so happy in a relaxed ambience in this child friendly atmosphere of the island.

The not so good part of working/ living here?
Definitely has to be the traffic and the way some people drive. I am from Germany and our way of driving is very different from here, we have lots of rules and regulations.

Wine Spectator magazine is one of the most important publication in the world of wines. How many times have you been awarded by them?
I was first awarded while working in Switzerland in a place called Le Grand Chalet. Then already living here and while working in a restaurant in Ubud I won the first ever award of excellence from Wine Spectator magazine accorded to an establishment in Indonesia. In all I have been awarded four times so far in Indonesia, twice working in Kayuputi at the St. Regis Bali.

Which are your favorite types of wines available in Bali?
Quite a lot of Chilean red wines like the carmenere and the cabernet sauvignons. The price nearly matches the quality and I am happy for this, seeing as the taxation is so high here.

What is the best wine you have ever tasted?
It was 1997 when I worked at the Hotel Waldhaus in Switzerland in Sils/Maria. The wine was called Falleto Barolo 1985 made by one of the most famous winemakers in Italy, Bruno Giacosa, from the Piedmont area. I decanted the wine around 4pm in the afternoon and tasted the wine with mixed feelings as the wine was so closed. At 8pm I tasted the wine again and what I felt in my mouth was like an eruption, an explosion of taste and the perfumes were like the Garden of Eden of Piedmont. The aftertaste did not stop for about twenty minutes. Since then, I only had one more sensation which came near to this wine and that was a Romanee Conti from 1975.

What is your opinion about new world wines?
I love them because they are different from old world wines, they might not always be the most interesting wines but they are usually very intense and powerful. I enjoy having and Australian shiraz, California chardonnay, Chilean carmenere and New Zealand sauvignon blanc just to mention a few that I like.

Why do you think having a sommelier is important in a fine dining restaurant such as Kayuputi in St. Regis Bali?
Normally the profile of guests in fine dining restaurants dictates that they expect a service staff who can match the right wines to the premium dishes for a more complete experience, and only a sommelier can do that.

How important is the relation between food and wines?
Without wine food does not have the same impact or sensation, with wines the experience is more complete, especially for those people who grew up with wines.

Could you recommend us three dishes and their wine pairing?
Stilton blue cheese and vintage port.
T- Bone steak and cabernet from Maipo Valley Chile. Lobster sashimi with vintage champagne.

I know that you and your apprentice sommeliers at St. Regis just came back from a trip to some of the most important wine regions in France, how was that?
I think for them being there and seeing how the wines are made gave them as future sommeliers unforgettable moments. These moments will surely stay written in their hearts and will help them to understand more about wine and what surrounds it.

What are your goals in terms of wines?
I often feel many people are too shy to drink wine. I wish they would ask me more often how to drink wine together with their dishes to provide them with the full experience. We can offer them this experience here in Kayuputi Restaurant.

I know you have a passion for poetry, how is that going these days?
At the moment with a full time job as a sommelier and restaurant manager at Kayuputi, wine advisor for our sister hotel, the Laguna Nusa Dua and a father of two boys, there is not much time for it. But I still enjoy using my poetic background for writing wine descriptions for our wine list and time upon time I surprise guests with one of my own written poems to take home.

Thanks for your time Harald.
You are welcome…

___

Sommelier

A Child who sees the Sommelier,
hides right away, behind the back of mother,
it laughs tears oh dear so many, they give phantasms,
the highest children fun,
and the child says:
he has a skirt and is hoping like a buck.

Another being,
sees in the Sommelier of the first sight
a holy man,
and he thinks:
Who is walking like he does,
in such fine cloth, must be blessed.
However, so much is his disappointment,
when he sees,
that the assumed cross,
is only a bowl, also called
“Taste De Vin“ in wine circles,
on the Sommelier’s sublime chest.

Again another individual
is terrified with the Sommelier,
if face to face
indeed no hat is seen on the top of the Wine Master,
nevertheless he equals
a grave-digger
who shovels the tomb,
in the moon light,
for the dead.

Now, to all who are not sure yet,
what he is,
the Sommelier,
I may say:
“he is a man like you and me,
only, he loves the wine,
like a fisher the sea,
like a servant his master,
and in his bowl will always be wine
and not water from the holy ghost,

his skirt is an apron
which shields his trouser
also keeps his finger dry
from the wine of Bacchus,
and who is thinking,
that he operates with Sir Death,
he is not wrong in thoughts,
as the Sommelier says:
“If you drink too much
without a bite,
than you are alike a soldier
in a warfare trench,
already seen by your foe“.

Now, you know ,
who he is the Sommelier,
he travels like a tramp,
from wine to wine,
speaks well,
like a trying to do good priest,
have mystic’s thoughts for the ones
who take too much
from the drink of Dionysus
and he is merry
with thoughts
he received from children every day.

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