Bibo's Head Sommelier Is Zooming Customers to Reconnect and Recreate the Wine Bar Experience
You can't have a drink and a chat at the Double Bay wine bar, but the team is doing its best to bring the experience to you at home.
Every Friday night, you'll find Bibo Wine Bar's Head Sommelier Louella Mathews drinking wine with her regulars. COVID-19 hasn't gotten in the way of this tradition, either, with Mathews now recreating the experience for fans of the Double Bay bar via Zoom — with the help of some Bibo-like virtual backgrounds, of course.
To help keep staff employed while the wine bar is closed to dine-in customers, Mathews and the Bibo team have launched Bibo at Home. Like many Sydney restaurants and bars, Bibo is currently offering takeaway and delivery meals — including an eight-course chef's menu for a very reasonable $50 — as well as wine and cocktails to go.
But, Mathews has taken the at-home wine bar experience a step further and is now offering personalised wine boxes paired with one-on-one Zoom consultations. Called Sommelier's Choice, the personalised wine boxes with bonus human interaction were launched by Mathews in response to her "withdrawal from connecting with customers on the restaurant floor".
Once you've connected with Mathews via Bibo, she'll set up a Zoom meeting (or phone call, or interview — "whatever they feel comfortable with") and "we'll have a chat about the weather, the current pandemic crisis and then, of course, to what wine they would enjoy".
"The process is very natural and as if you were ordering wine in a restaurant", says Mathews. "I don't have one set of criteria, but a few basic questions include what they generally like to drink and how adventurous they would like to be."
Once you've had a chat, Mathews will put together a box of six wines with tasting notes and food pairing suggestions, which you can either pick up from the wine bar or have delivered if you live within five kilometres from Double Bay.
All of this will set you back $200 — about $33 a bottle. Much cheaper than you'd be paying if you were to drink six bottles at the wine bar itself. And you get access to one of Australia's brightest wine minds, too. Mathews, before working at Bibo, managed the wine list and 4000-bottle cellar at Sydney's Rockpool Bar & Grill, and is currently studying for the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced (that's just one level under Master Sommelier, which is the focus of Netflix's Somm).
What you'll get in your box, depends on your tastes, of course, but Mathews says it'll be like "taking a trip around the world, but without the fuss of border patrol". In the current COVID-19 crisis, travelling via your tastebuds doesn't sound like a terrible idea.
It's been a month since bars, restaurants and cafes were forced to close their doors to dine-in customers as part of the government's non-essential indoor venue closure, and, while it looks like some restrictions could be relaxed in another month, one expert says hospitality venues are unlikely to be open again until September.
Jobkeeper allows businesses to pay eligible employees a fortnightly wage, but does not cover some casual employees and those on a temporary worker visa. This has led to businesses looking for new ways to stay connected with customers and make money, such as delivery booze services, virtual happy hours and cooking classes.
For customers looking for other ways to help their locals, Mathews suggests, as well as the obvious buying a meal or wine, to leave them a five-star review on the likes of Google, Facebook and Tripadvisor and to 'share, like and comment' on their posts on social media. "Small business can't afford — especially now — PR or marketing companies," she says. "So little things really do help and only take a second of your time."
When it's all over though, get ready for a massive party at Bibo "to celebrate that we survived this mess".
To order food, wine or cocktails from Bibo Wine Bar, head to the website. To find out more about the Sommelier's Choice box and set up a Zoom meeting, email [email protected].
