{"id":373081,"date":"2025-08-25T19:30:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/373081\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T19:30:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:30:33","slug":"dont-be-intimidated-just-ask-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/373081\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t be intimidated, just ask us\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the many qualities that make a good sommelier \u2014 a good nose, an ability to retain an encyclopaedic knowledge of vineyards and vintages, patience with indecisive customers \u2014 one doesn\u2019t usually think of timekeeping. <\/p>\n

Which is a good thing for Ranjeet Shirke, a senior sommelier at London\u2019s most prestigious wine club, 67 Pall Mall. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was working in Cheltenham at the time,\u201d Shirke tells me as the club fills up on a sunny Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was studying the night before the interview because coming to this club, I had no idea what to expect on the level of questions they would ask, and it was the place I wanted to be since I realised that wine makes me happy. So I just kept studying. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I overslept, and missed my train \u2014 7.30 in the morning. So I had to take a cab.\u201d <\/p>\n

A couple of hundred pounds later, Shirke got the job. He\u2019s turned up on time ever since. <\/p>\n

His journey to 67PM<\/a>, as members call the club, is itself remarkable. Born in Mumbai, his hospitality career took him to Singapore, Dubai, back to Mumbai, then Bahrain and now London. He\u2019s worked as a flair bartender and a waiter (\u201cI dropped a whole tray of champagne glasses\u201d) but it is wine that excites him, and in that he shares his passion with the members of the club<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The lounge bar at 67 Pall Mall<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Opened ten years ago in 2015, 67 was the first new members\u2019 club to arrive on Pall Mall in more than a century. It is built around wine, and members are encouraged to store their own collections in the club\u2019s cellars. <\/p>\n

Since opening in London the club has added sites in Singapore<\/a> and Verbier, and now has plans to open in Beaune, in Burgundy, as well as Bordeaux, Melbourne and Shanghai. Shirke, and his boss Federico Moccia, the club\u2019s head sommelier, match members\u2019 wants and needs with the extensive selection. <\/p>\n

It was in the cellars that Moccia himself started. <\/p>\n

\u201cWine has always been part of my family, never fine wine but wine<\/a>, going around. I worked for a company which made sparkling wine; I was working elsewhere in the company, but close enough to the wine to learn. At some point I was made redundant, and my sister\u2019s best friend is English, and she said, well, who don\u2019t you come to London.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me London has always been the place where all the best wine is, where the wine judging was, all that stuff. So I said, OK, let\u2019s see what I can do in London.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Moccia was a cellar-hand at 67PM before becoming a sommelier<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Two pubs and a host of wine courses later, Moccia heard about 67PM opening. He wasn\u2019t experienced enough for a sommelier job, but they offered him a cellar-hand job. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just opening, so a new opening means everything is new \u2014 we\u2019re getting cases and cases of wine. The cellar is two floors down and there we were two people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of work but I was so excited. It was cases of Latour, Monfortino, P\u00e9trus, DRC \u2014 all the greatest wine<\/a>, wines that I used to study, and I had them in my hand.\u201d <\/p>\n

Eventually, Moccia started being able to snaffle a glass or two, and was promoted to a junior sommelier, out on the floor. Likeable and outgoing, he befriended everybody he could, all the while trying everything possible, and building up his knowledge. Years later, he is a walking encyclopaedia of global wine. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about memories, I believe. So there\u2019s pictures and I write down tasting notes in my online folder where I keep all the information, but the most important thing is your memory and the connection with people. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo all this information? There\u2019s a base, but what you learn is from talking with people every day, so that\u2019s where I build my library.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The opportunity to taste world-class wine is a bonus of the job<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

The pair are at home on the floor of 67, and know members by name \u2014 and taste. Their clientele here is demanding. But for others looking to get into wine, or intimidated by sommeliers, they have plenty of advice. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the best thing a guest can say is something simple like, \u201cI enjoy this wine \u2014 could you recommend something similar or maybe something new I\u2019d like?\u201d You don\u2019t need to use technical terms or know specific regions to have that conversation. Some of the most rewarding moments I\u2019ve had have started with someone saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know much about wine, but I know I like this one.\u201d That honesty is all we need to start guiding you in the right direction,\u201d Shirke says. <\/p>\n

Moccia echoes the sentiment. \u201cYou can describe things like: does it taste fruity? Is it dry or full-bodied? The more details you share, the better I can match you with something you\u2019ll love,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

As for the experts\u2019 favourite wine? Shirke loves his sparkling; the Krug 2008 Clos de Mesnil his favourite. <\/p>\n

\"Wine<\/p>\n

CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

The Brescia-born Moccia confesses his favourite comes from across the border in France, and he hasn\u2019t forgotten a single thing about it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of my first shifts as a junior sommelier at 67 Pall Mall<\/a> when a member ordered a bottle of 2004 Domaine Ren\u00e9 Engel Grands-Ech\u00e9zeaux Grand Cru \u2014 the only bottle we had on the list. It\u2019s an incredibly rare wine, especially following the passing of Philippe Engel in 2005; after that, the estate became known as Domaine d\u2019Eug\u00e9nie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the kind of wine that, if you ever come across it, you should buy and drink \u2014 it\u2019s truly a piece of Burgundy history. I had read about Ren\u00e9 Engel but had never tasted one. It\u2019s hard to put into words, but when I smelled it, I got goosebumps, and even more so when I tasted it: complex, ethereal, long-lasting \u2014 it was more than just a glass of wine, it was a journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I tasted it before serving at the table, the member noticed my excitement and generously offered me a glass. I kept it aside until the end of my shift, and then it was just me and the wine. I remember every sip I took \u2014 it\u2019s a memory I\u2019ll always carry with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the many qualities that make a good sommelier \u2014 a good nose, an ability to retain an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-373081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115091068404802060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}