Uncorked: Jennifer Deletra

Born in Switzerland, Jennifer Deletra is armed to the gills with academic achievements – a BSc in Hospitality Management from the renowned École hôtelière de Lausanne and also an MBA in Wine and Spirits Marketing from INSEEC in Bordeaux. Deletra is the assistant manager and sommelier of Black Sheep Restaurant group’s BA Polo Club, one of Hong Kong’s newest and already most popular Argentinian restaurants and confesses to dbHK about drinking with Hubert de Montille as a teenager and having a weakness for Tanqueray No.10.

What vintage are you? 

1987. It was a terrible year for wine but a great year for people. My parents are huge wine collectors and my mother often joked that she wished that I had been born in 1985 or 1990 instead!

What bottle sparked your love of wine?

It was when I was aged around 14 and my parents and I visited Hubert de Montille in Puligny-Montrachet. In those days, the cellars were thoroughly unmodernised and I remember the dark, damp, chalky cellars lit by candles in barrels. Hubert pulled out a bottle of 1992 Puligny Montrachet and from then on, I was hooked! I progressed to red Bordeaux, Italian, Spanish, and Argentinian….

What would you be as a wine?

A Swiss wine. I am Swiss after all. A Pinot Noir from Gantenbein Winery in the Swiss/German part of Switzerland. With Swiss Pinot Noir, you have to get to know it to appreciate it. It starts off a bit reserved and closed but opens up very nicely over the next few hours.

Where are you happiest?

At work. Honestly. I’m lucky to work with very passionate people, we all support each other and also I get to try wine every day.

What’s your greatest vice?

Tanqueray 10 with grapefruit. No messing about with cucumber please.

Best advice you ever got?

Just be yourself by my mum. It’s a very mumsy thing to say, but it’s true.

Most overused word?

Same same.

Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save?

If it’s the wine cellar here  (BA Polo Club). The Caro from Domaines Barons de Rothschild and Nicolas Catena.  If it was my personal cellar at home? My prized bottle of 1990 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse.

What’s the best & worst thing about the wine business?

In general, the best thing is that you can always learn. New varietals, people to discover. And it’s also he worst thing because you never can know everything!

In Hong Kong, it’s great that we have access to a great selection of wine. I wouldn’t call it the worst but guests who come in and ask to decant their 2013 Vega Sicilia, when a) it doesn’t need it and b) it’s way too young to be appreciated.

What’s on your wine bucket list?

Petrus. I want to see what all the fuss is about. 1995 or 2000 I’m not fussy.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Friend and colleagues who just appreciate wine. That is what wine is made for. Not to be analyzed and pored over. I’d start with Dom Ruinart Rose 1990, then move on to Jean-Francois Coche-Dury Meursault then a Pauillac from Pontet Canet. I’d end with Amarone.

Personal satisfaction (Parker points – out of 100)

80/100. I’ve come a very long way but there’s always more to learn.

Which wine would you like served at your funeral?

Swiss wine. Served as a reminder that great things come out of Switzerland.