Zdeněk Oudes: I’ll cherish the Michelin award for the rest of my life, but it hasn’t changed anything for me
Zdeněk, what do you think makes a someone a Michelin-starred sommelier?
In my opinion, a successful sommelier must build on three pillars. Above all else is respect. Respect for winemakers, the grapes, nature, and viticulture. And, of course, respect for the guest. Next comes freedom. I want people to come to us and feel free, in the sense that they can give me a chance to surprise them. And I then have the freedom to come and show them what I think they’ll enjoy. The third pillar is interest and enthusiasm. Because if someone drops a bottle and is only sorry about the money, they’re not truly passionate about the work. When I drop a bottle, what upsets me most is that I’ve ruined someone’s work.
How often do you break a bottle?
If I say that, I’m sure I’ll break one today.
Last year, you became a Michelin-starred sommelier and won an award you didn’t even know existed. How do you feel about that today?
For me, not much has changed. I joke that it feels like a posthumous award for a job well done. I’ll cherish this award for the rest of my life, but I have no ambition to defend it. It’s an honour for me, but I know there are other guys and girls in the Czech Republic who would deserve it too.
And does the award help with your self-confidence, website traffic, or when communicating with winemakers?
I believe that when I write an email to a winemaker who doesn’t know us yet and mention the the Michelin award, it’ll give me a head start over others. The winemaker immediately sees that we have a strong portfolio, are backed by good restaurants, and have even been recognised. Thanks to that, they can have greater confidence in us.
The winemaker is just as important as the guest
You visit wineries at least once a year. Why is it important to nurture relationships with specific winemakers?
Our portfolio includes wineries that are more on the smaller, boutique side, who are usually very selective about which establishments their bottles end up in. When I reach out to a winery like this, I don’t communicate with the sales department but directly with the owner, and between tending the vineyard and the cellar, they don't usually have time to exchange lengthy messages with me. It can sometimes take several months before we reach an agreement. I have to prove to them that I truly deserve their wine, and that’s why personal contact is so important.
How do you manage to build relationships with both winemakers and guests at the same time?
It’s actually two separate jobs that I have to squeeze into a single day, so the biggest problem is time — even when it comes to my family or those trips to visit winemakers I mentioned. Still, I chose this job, so I don’t want to complain.
Let’s move on to the restaurant. What do you look for in guests to know what to offer them?
First impressions play a big role. Empathy is paramount in service. It’s important to greet the guest right at the door and gauge their mood. Sometimes I can tell they’re not in a good mood, or that they’re full of anticipation, and we have to work with that.
How does that work in practice?
Recently, an older couple came in who had received a voucher for Marie B, and they looked terrified. At that moment, I have a choice: either I leave them to it and they’ll spend two hours feeling miserable, or I try to turn things around. I told them not to worry, tell me what they like and what they enjoy, and that we’d make it a nice evening. In the end, they left thrilled.
I was lucky enough to also work at La Degustation, where I learned how to work with people. That experience taught me so much.
From a vacation in Greece to a Michelin-starred “pub”
Do you think sommelier skills can be learned, or does one need a natural talent for it?
I don’t think you need any natural talent at all — I stumbled into it completely by accident. I’m from the Šumava region, where my dad built a car repair shop. Yes, we loved food, but just on a local level. My parents cooked at home, and we tried out TV recipes, which were something new and unfamiliar to us. But I didn’t have any special aptitude for it. The only thing I took away from my dad’s business that applies to gastronomy is respect for the customer.
Do you remember the moment when you first became interested in the world of gastronomy?
I was eleven, and we went on vacation to Greece with my parents. We stayed at a guesthouse that was severely understaffed during our visit. They were swamped with work, and you could tell they were tired. During a conversation with my parents, in which I made it clear that I wasn’t interested in the local sights at all, a local man chimed in. He suggested that instead, come help out at the restaurant the next day. So I went, and ended up working there for about three evenings in a row. I enjoyed it, and I even made a little money. And that’s how it all started.
The funny thing is, we went back there with my family this year. After dinner, I showed that guy an old photo, and he remembered me. I told him how I’d run a Michelin-starred restaurant and where I am now. Of course, I mentioned that I got to where I am today mainly thanks to him. It was a really powerful reunion after twenty years.
Did that first part-time job also influence what field of study you chose later on?
Yes, after my experience in Greece, I went on to attend the hotel management school in Vršovice. When I was looking for a part-time job during my junior year, Tomáš Brosche showed up at my door looking for help at La Degustation. I started working there, and with the exception of a six-month break when I went on an internship to China with my school, I’ve stayed ever since.
How did you go from being a part-timer to head sommelier?
I really wanted to go to America, to what was then called Hospoda, which also belonged to Ambiente. Tomáš told me that it would definitely be possible, but at the same time suggested that I stay and try out the position of commis sommelier (Editor’s note: a junior position). At the time, though, the only thing I could tell the difference between was red wine and white wine, and I’d drink boxed wine with the guys on the weekends. But it was a huge opportunity, so I took the course, started to really enjoy it, and actually became a sommelier at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
How did it go from there?
About a year later, the team at La Degu decided they wanted to try non-alcoholic pairings, and they put me in charge of it. I had no idea how to go about it, but I managed to arrange an internship at the Danish restaurants Geranium and Noma. I observed their methods and realised it wasn’t actually that complicated — we just had to not be afraid of it. After I returned, we put it all together with my colleague at the time, Adam Bencz, and launched the first non-alcoholic pairings in the Czech Republic.
Sommelier work as a craft
After all these years, do you still get nervous in front of guests?
Mostly around my family. Six months ago, I served my wife for the first time, and that made me extremely nervous.
How do you feel about demanding guests? Is it a challenge for you when someone clearly knows their wines?
Definitely. But at the same time, it’s the greatest satisfaction when we can finally shake hands with a guest like that and say to each other, “I enjoyed that.”
Is having a sommelier in a restaurant standard these days, or is it more of a nice-to-have?
A lot of restaurants have a sommelier these days and consider it a given. But it also depends on how each person approaches the wine list. Whether they just meet the bare minimum, or are genuinely interested in the field and want to offer people something extra.
When you walk into a restaurant, what do you evaluate as a sommelier?
What disappoints me the most is when I see that they only carry wines from a single supplier. I know very well that there are plenty of good wines and wineries.
And what about the wine descriptions?
Personally, I don’t think it’s that important to focus on how long the wine aged on the skins or what kind of barrel it was aged in. I’m much more interested in the winemaker’s perspective — their approach, their outlook on life, and the story behind the wine. Of course, taste and quality always come first.
And what do you like to drink yourself? What does a Michelin-starred sommelier drink?
I enjoy picking out interesting wines from wine lists that offer good value for the price. I also enjoy tasting hard-to-find wines.
What I love most of all are restaurants where certain wines are marked with a star, and you’re not allowed to order more than one bottle of them. Since they have so few of them, they must be exceptional in some way. And that’s exactly what I want to try. And I’m grateful that the local sommelier did a great job for me, as a guest.
Marie B – a relaxed restaurant without a menu
Here, head chef Jiří Šoura serves up a gastronomy experience like no other, combining traditional Czech cuisine, creativity, and quality ingredients. The Vin de Marie wine bar sits alongside the restaurant.
