Wake Up Call

10:00am A phone call from the Hilton Beijing Receiving Department wakes me up. “Julia, the vintage of the wine that just came in is different from what is written on the purchase order, do you know about this? Do we still take the wines?” The conversation goes on for a while until everything is clarified. I just need to sign the receiving report to verify the discrepancy in the afternoon.

Power Lunch

12:00pm I arrive at One East restaurant for a lunch appointment with F&B manager Simon Amos and Colin Friedman, the Managing Director of China Expert International Ltd. to discuss a wine event that I will host. Things go very well. Not only do we all enjoy the food and service, but we also bring up some important topics, such as how I will present the wines, what catchy name we should use for the event, and how we are going to promote it. Meanwhile, we agree on specifics such as venue, time, date, reservation channels, and so on. By the end of the meeting we all know what we need to be working on, and we decide to proceed through emails and phone calls until we meet again before the event.

Checking Supplies

2:00 Having meetings with the wine supplier has become routine for me, and today is no exception. Eric from Aussino World Wines has arrived on time, bringing corkscrews for new hotel staff, some sample wines to taste for restaurant’s new listings and copies of the consignment wine agreement. One East will now be able to add some prestigious Grand Cru from Bordeaux on our Cellar List. I update him on new promotions and events, and brief him on this year’s Food and Wine Experience XII that will be held in Hilton Beijing in early November. It’s a highly anticipated celebration of food and wine in Beijing. It offers all the major and up coming food and beverage suppliers a platform to showcase their products to people working in hospitality operations as well as the general public. After all, to get mutual support, I consider it key to maintain good communications and a healthy, honest, and respectful relationship with suppliers.

Wine Training

3:30 Wine training takes place in one of our Vision Rooms; it always sparks interest among our food and beverage team members and I hold it on a weekly basis. Today is product training on four of our promotional wines. The staff need to know the region, grape variety, style, aromas and flavors both from my instruction and from tasting the wines themselves. I use a helpful tool called Le Nez Du Vin (The Wine Nose) to explain different aromas. Staff who don’t know what black currant, raspberry, prune, cassis or moss smell like can get a better understanding through sniffing essence samples.Nothing makes me feel more fulfilled than giving a useful training session.

Dinner Call

5:00 My cell phone starts to beep on my way to the Receiving Department with a reminder to follow up on the Jacob’s Creek Epicurean Dinner in One East in July. I need to call Jane from Pernod Ricard to confirm wine paring, and further discuss the flyer design and promotion channels.

Event Planning

5:30 Back in the restaurant, I gather with One East managers and staff to do the briefing for tonight’s Wine Club event. I inform the team about the wines that will be tasted in the wine club, the canapé menu, how to set up the foyer area in front of the bar, how to serve the guests and so on. I walk into kitchen and double check with the chef on the food selections and, conveniently, taste a few different canapés. Delish!

The Wine Flows

6:30 Guests keep arriving, welcome drinks are offered and canapés are passed around. Some of our guests are eager to taste the wines and start to ask questions. This is always the fun part for me–to talk about the wines and guide guests through the tasting. Shortly afterwards, our General Manager Michael Nagel joins the tasting and starts to socialize with our guests.

Calling It A Day

10:00 After reviewing my agenda and making a schedule for tomorrow, I call it a day. What waits for me outside of the hotel is a smiling face and a bouquet of roses.

Home

3:37am I’m in bed thinking about my 8am wake up call. I have to catch a 10am flight back to Shanghai.

What we think...

A hectic schedule is hard to deal with it, but a nip of quality wine here and there would definitely make things easier. Sommelier Zhu's hectic day sounds tiring, but she's obviously living her passion for wines and that sounds like a great deal to us. Tell us what you think of her day at www.cityweekend.com.cn/dayinthelifeBJ