Beginnings of thinking

The bottle has been maturing on my vegetable garden for quite some time. My dissatisfaction with listening to various wine wiseguys, who mostly only care about their own interests, has been growing lately, and so I decided to do something about it.

From the harvest in Sromlje to a metropolis of 10 million

Okay, but who am I to get so angry? Aren't I one of those smart-ass guys? I think it's appropriate to introduce myself to you, the reader, first. My name is Lenart and my relationship with wine is... interesting. I first got close to it as a child, namely the family had two vineyards, which of course had to be managed somehow. When you're a child, of course, you don't want to be poking, cutting, picking, and even less washing old barrels. And honestly, at the time, I completely resented the whole thing. But fate is interesting, you never know where it will really take you. At 26, I had had enough of the monotony of life, I felt trapped in Slovenia, as if I had no bright future. I sold what little I had, wire a hundred from everyone who had it, and moved to London on a whim.

Beginnings in London

The beginnings of London were again... interesting. I think my blog from the first few months is still online somewhere, if you're interested in more, just google it. But London was important for something other than just building my personality. It connected me to wine again. As I mentioned, I'm quite ambitious, so I wasn't interested in standing still. I wanted to advance quickly, and in the restaurants I worked in, all the bosses were pretty entrenched. When I observed them a little better, I noticed that they all had the same weakness. They were very bad at understanding wine. I thought, what if I focus on that and it gives me the opportunity to advance in a different way.

From WSET to three stars

I was lucky that my company offered free training according to the WSET system, so I did the 1st, 2nd and 3rd levels in a fast-track procedure and in less than 2 years I was offered the opportunity to become a real sommelier. I applied for 8 jobs, 4 of them replied on the same day and my first interview was set up, with Mr. Frederic Brugues at the legendary restaurant sketch, which today has 3 Michelin stars. He invited me for a trial shift, it was a Thursday evening, I still remember everything vividly, where I was "allowed" to be present during the service. At the time, I didn't even understand that this was extremely rare. During the evening, I noticed Fred cutting the foil on the wine in a "strange" way. It is correct under the lip, some Italians like to cut above the lip, but Fred cut in the middle. When I asked him why he did it, his answer was "Because it's difficult." At that moment, I decided that this is the place where I want to work, to develop. If it's not difficult, I'm not interested.

The selection in Butelka will be crazy! (eventually)

I learned how to put together a wine list in Sketch. The way Fred put together one of the best lists in the world really impressed me, and to this day, when I finally have the keys to Butelka in my hands, I haven't been able to fully replicate his system. There have always been some kind of obstacles. This is where I will finally be able to truly express myself with my list. I just hope you'll be patient with me until I really succeed.

Elitism... phew, phew!

To continue with my story. Namely, in the sketch I also felt elitism and snobbery for the first time. Fellow sommeliers were arrogant, conceited and generally unpleasant if a guest dared to show ignorance, or their wine budget was only 50 pounds instead of 200-300, where they could sell wines they themselves want to drink. I could never fully identify with this thinking, even later in my career, whenever I met new sommeliers the story was the same. Always the smartest. Never guilty of anything.

The key is simplicity

This approach stinks so much that after a year, I changed my environment, moved to the M group of great steak restaurants, where I managed the wine program for all 3 restaurants and also the wine shop. I bought (mostly) wines that I found interesting, for the first time I had the opportunity to curate a selection that went well with the food, the guests, and my favorite part of my job was my monthly Wine Dinners. Every month we hosted a different winery, drank their wines with a superb dinner, but what I liked most was that normal people asked normal questions. Unlike sommeliers, winemakers, cellar masters, enologists and biologists are much more generous with their knowledge. Their only problem was that they are extremely technical. What does the pH value of the soil mean to you or how many oechslovs a bunch has before harvest. They inspired me to simplify the world of wine for everyone. Not to make me crazy. I just wanted to present wine in a way that we can all identify with, and above all, understand. Why study something when understanding something is much easier?

If you don't mind, anything is possible!

It was at Mu that I first developed my Blind Tastings program, where people got to know and understand wine in a more fun way with my method. I developed this even further at my next stop. During Covid, I moved to the island of Guernsey, where the wine culture was catastrophic. What I noticed very quickly there was that the response from all the restaurants, distributors, etc. was the same. People want it. But it's not true at all. The fact that these suppliers didn't care meant that people didn't have a choice at all. My arrival changed that. I'm stubborn and patient. In the first months after I arrived, we sold the same 10 wines at my restaurant JB Parkers. Two and a half years later, when I left, the entire list of 105 different wines was getting regular sales and included wines from Georgia, Greece, Armenia, Croatia and of course my Slovenia. I'm still in touch with the team today, and these wines are still selling well.

Tastings

This realization in Guernsey gives me confidence that we can achieve the same in our Koper. All I want from you is curiosity and a little trust, and I will take care of the rest. Guernsey was extremely important to me, as it will be to you now, also because I started regular tastings there. I used to host 4, even 5 a week. This gave me an extraordinary understanding of how to bring wine closer to everyone, using fun analogies, humor and simplicity. My tastings never have a script. I don't know where we will end up, because I surrender to you and your guests and your questions. It seems more important to me to be able to answer all the questions than to lecture in a flowing tone all evening, where no one has any of it.

There is also too much arrogance.

I would like to return to my "distrust" of experts. I was lucky enough to be exposed to thousands and thousands of wines from all over the world. I was exposed to everyone in the wine industry. From sommeliers, influencers, to the greatest experts in the world of wine, i.e. MW (Master of Wine) and MS (Master Sommelier). I myself have started the path to Master Sommelier, which in my opinion is the best institution for wine experts. Maybe one day I will finish this study, but the higher I get (I am currently at the 3rd of 4 levels), the more I notice this same plague of arrogance again. And I simply do not want to be exposed to it. There is enough of that in the world.

We are here!

That's why I created Butelka. A place where we are normal in every sense and aspect. Where wine is not just for the elite, but for you, because you deserve good wine for dinner, on a date, as a gift, or at our Tastings. If you've read this far, it probably means that something I wrote resonated with you. So don't delay, come to Butelka. If we're too far away for you, give us a call. Our advice costs you one phone call. If you're an introvert, write an email. We don't care, as long as you're not lost anymore.

Lenart Cernelic