Raising a glass to Algonquin

Posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2017

Sommelier grad has made a career out of wining and dining

Véronique Rivest sips wine for a living. Just call it a perk of having many people’s dream job.

But her life as a sommelier is certainly not all play, and no work. “A lot of people think sommeliers just drink wine,” she says. “But it’s a job to manage a wine program, to manage an inventory, to manage a staff… to serve customers.”

Rivest graduated from Algonquin’s Sommelier program in 1996, and her career grew faster than a grape vine. She is recognized domestically – and internationally – as one of Canada’s leading wine experts. In 2012, she won Canada’s Best Sommelier competition and also took home the Best Sommelier of the Americas 2012 title. In 2013, she placed second in the World’s Best Sommelier Competition, the first time a woman ever made it unto the podium. Also a well-respected wine writer and educator, Rivest’s wine tastes are showcased for patrons within a short drive of Algonquin. She opened SOIF wine bar in Gatineau in 2014.

Algonquin opened her horizons to the global world of wine, and the sheer variety of opportunities in the industry – from restaurants to wine marketing, and wine commerce. The program also helped cultivate her knack for wine and food pairings.

Rivest says her love affair with all things wine and culinary dates back to her first restaurant job at age 16. She initially resisted the industry’s call, choosing to devote her first post-secondary degrees to German, Spanish, and international trade. It took a seven-year stint living in France to make her realize where her professional – and personal – heart belonged.

Seeing wine as a potential “professional career” for the first time, Rivest knew attending Algonquin was the next logical step. Her College experience certainly wasn’t a case of sour grapes. Today, she loves her job. Her favourite part of the work is the people she meets – whether customers, hospitality professionals, wine makers, and other sommeliers. “It’s the humanity behind the wine that I love,” she adds.

So what’s the secret to becoming a world-renowned sommelier? “A lot of hard work,” she explains. “But work is fun when you love what you do.” Rivest enjoys sharing her hard-earned wine wisdom, including as a columnist for La Presse newspaper and commentator on Radio-Canada. Her versatile career has included working as sommelier at Les Fougères in nearby Chelsea, Quebec, and teaching Sommelier courses at Algonquin.

Rivest has three pieces of advice for current students: “be curious, be humble, and work hard.” And always keep wine pairings in mind. Not just with the food being served, but also your clientele. She believes a good wine list takes into account factors beyond the menu – including customer base and neighbourhood.

“That’s the mistake that too many sommeliers make – to make a wine list for themselves and not the clientele their serving,” she explains. That said, as a wine bar, SOIF’s menu is “heavily based” on Rivest’s own personal preferences. And people appreciate her tastes; SOIF was named one of Canada’s best new restaurants by enRoute magazine in 2015.

Having business savvy is also just as important as being able to tell a Chardonnay from a Pinot. “Sommeliers are asked to manage other people’s assets and money” – especially when they work for a restaurant, she says.

Rivest feels prospects are good for Canadian wine gurus. “(Our) sommeliers have a great reputation and have been performing extremely well at the international level” – partly because they have tremendous access to global wines here at home, she explains.

To this day, it’s impossible for Rivest to choose a favourite bottle of wine. It’s almost like asking a parent which child they prefer. “What I love about wine is its diversity – you could drink a different wine every day for the rest of your life and never drink the same wine,” she says. “I would be bored to death if I had to drink the same wine.”

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