On the terrace with Véronique Rivest | Having inclusive wine

This summer, our journalists spend time each week on a terrace with a personality for a friendly discussion. Stéphanie Bérubé tasted a rosé with sommelier Véronique Rivest, a pioneer who breaks glass ceilings.

It was a Thursday morning during this June heat wave that made rosé downright a lifesaver. Véronique Rivest had opened the terrace of her Gatineau wine bar, Soif, especially for this meeting where we talked about wine, of course, but especially about a certain snobbery, dear to these amateurs who like to talk to each other.

In the world of wine, she has influenced more than one woman. And one man: in 2013, she won second place in the competition for the best sommelier in the world, a highly demanding and prestigious, but very conformist, event.

It is somewhat surprising that Véronique Rivest chose to take this avenue, that of sommelier competitions, to continue her training.

“At first I thought I would never succeed because it doesn’t fit who I am,” she says, faced with this apparent paradox. “But I stayed who I am. With a few compromises.”

Like wearing a tie to the competition for the best sommelier in the Americas because his outfit – barely more casual – had made him lose points.

Fortunately, the world of wine is changing.

And in large part, for the better. In competitions, we relax a little on the form in favor of the substance.

Véronique Rivest is proud to contribute to this evolution, she who is now part of the technical committee of international competitions. An example of what is no longer acceptable: during a recent event, an Austrian sommelier suggested that a sweet rosé wine was perfect for “these ladies”.

“We all looked at each other, including the guys on the jury,” says Véronique Rivest, who points out that just 10 years ago, this comment would have gone down like clockwork.

“It’s changing,” she said. “Little by little.”

Already, the vocabulary is evolving.

Full-bodied red wines are no longer considered “masculine” and, conversely, pale rosés are no longer considered “feminine.”

There is behaviors that are changing, too.

At the beginning of her career at the LCBO, Véronique Rivest sometimes saw customers voluntarily go to one of her colleagues to choose their bottle.

“They would rather get advice from a guy who didn’t know anything than from a girl who did.”

These customers must be kicking themselves today.

The Austrian sommelier too…

From one snobbery to another

For this accomplished sommelier, inclusion goes well beyond parity in her team – an exercise that is not so complicated in Quebec, where women have long since taken their place in sommellerie.

Inclusion means welcoming customers with all the respect they deserve, regardless of their knowledge and tastes in wine.

“Do you like Ménage à trois? Come join us!” says Véronique Rivest about this very popular Californian Cabernet Sauvignon.

There are over 500 references on the Soif menu.

The threesome is not there.

So what will this red-thirsty customer get?

“We can bring it to a Douro wine, a Priorat wine; something that has that more enveloping, richer side. A sunny wine, a red wine that has substance and fruit,” explains the owner, who is clearly delighted to meet her client in her palette.

“We always have things on the menu that will allow a path forward,” she continues. “But I don’t compromise on the means of production. Today, I believe that anyone who works with agricultural products, and wine is one of them, has an obligation to have an environmental conscience.”

Véronique Rivest really loves her job. What she hates, on the other hand, is wine snobbery; excluding a customer whose tastes don’t match hers.

“My biggest struggle in the wine world, and it’s on multiple fronts, is working against all the intimidation and arrogance that’s been around for years,” she says.

“Everyone in the wine industry has one goal: to get more people drinking wine. And yet, for years, the industry had the opposite effect. The way we talked about wine, the way we treated people, the way we spoke to people was terribly condescending and arrogant. It meant that, even today, people are intimidated.”

The sommelier’s comments about wine aficionados who once looked down on people sound very current: the discourse around natural wine is a bit like that, isn’t it?

“Completely!” replies Véronique Rivest, who details precisely to what extent certain fans of natural wines de facto exclude all drinkers who do not share their clear-cut opinions.

“It doesn’t help the cause of wine at all. They’re not inclusive and they don’t help create a larger consumer base. On the contrary: they’re erecting new barriers.”

“The best people in the world of wine are the most humble,” says the sommelier who advises everyone to avoid like the plague these professionals who flaunt their knowledge. In wine as in all fields.

“I hate dogmas. It’s gotten to the point that I hesitate to use the word nature today. It’s become a fad and, as is the case with any fad, everyone grabs it. And that distorts it… I tell people, the more it says Organic, Green or Nature in big letters on the bottle, in general, the less it is. The best winemakers don’t write it because for them, it’s self-evident. To make good wine, you have to work like that.”

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