Maître-Sommelier

Since May 1st, 2011 Sietse van Zanten is the Maître-Sommelier of Restaurant De Vrienden van Jacob. He gained his most recent experience as Assistant-Maître at Restaurant Ciel Bleu at Hotel Okura in Amsterdam. Before this period, he was employed as Maître-Sommelier for many years at Restaurant Merlet in Schoorl, where he began as an apprentice. In 2006 Sietse gained the title of most talented Sommelier of the year from restaurant guide Gault Millau.

The wines of De Vrienden van Jacob are from classic châteaux, as well as from small vineyards from self-willed wine makers in the noted wine regions. Van Zanten: “Selling a great wine is absolutely fabulous but my challenge is more in finding small unknown wine regions. With these varieties of wines, we are able to surprise our guests and many of this selection are part of our wine arrangements. With wines, I am always searching for the right balance: Sweet is good, but only when there is also the right degree of acid.  This also counts for wood aging, in which process the wine must contain a sufficient amount of fruit. In fact this balance can also be found in the kitchen. The dishes of Alain always have the right balance between fresh and ripe tones, sweet and sour. Because of this fact we are able to serve surprising wine-food combinations, which are in perfect balance. When a sommelier has the opportunity to work without ‘borders’ they have the opportunity to surprise your guests time after time and this makes the profession even more pleasant and makes it a great privilege to be a sommelier.”

With 650 different wines in the cellar of De Vrienden van Jacob, some twenty varying wines and six house wines, the palette of scents, colours and tastes are very pleasant and quite comprehensive. Every time a new dish is created, we have a taste experience to find out which wine is the best partner for the particular dish. Van Zanten: “Our whole team takes part during such a taste experience and every opinion counts. By doing this, we stimulate our own creativity and reach the right combinations: we combine the right wines with the dishes and add an extra dimension to the dish. Subsequently we see that the guest enjoys it, the best compliment we can gain.”

The wines of De Vrienden van Jacob are presented to the guest by using two wine lists: ‘The Wines of Jacob and  ‘The Cellar Secrets of van Jacob’.