SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR Caitlyn Rees

Fred's, Sydney

It’s been a wild ride,” says Caitlyn Rees. “But it’s been exhilarating.” It’s with this contagious enthusiasm and confidence that Rees works the floor at Fred’s in Sydney, a place teeming with customers as excited to drink Rees’s wine as they are to eat Danielle Alvarez’s Mediterranean-inflected fare. The plan was for a small wine selection. One list. Easy. Now Fred’s has three: a 10-pager of bottles, and two by-the-glass selections, which Rees wrote in collaboration with Merivale group master sommelier Franck Moreau. The lists are progressive yet approachable. There are skin-contacts, pet-nats and lesser-known local labels, but you can also drop a handsome penny on big names from Burgundy and Bordeaux, if you choose. And Rees is constantly updating all three. While one of the lists is meant to be a daily rotating selection, the others aren’t. But, thanks to the wine-loving guests at Fred’s, they’re constantly selling out of wine. “We have the most amazing guests who want to drink good wine all the time,” says Rees. “And with such a high volume of people through the door, wines that normally stay on the list for a long time are flying out the door.” Her knowledge of the ever-changing lists is impressive and she talks wine with charm and ease. It’s the story behind the wine – the people, the country, the climate – that Rees finds truly engaging, so prepare to be dazzled as she takes you on a journey from BK Wines in the Adelaide Hills to areni noir, grown in Armenia in the foothills of Mount Ararat. This is Rees’s first head sommelier role, but she’s no stranger to pulling corks, having done so at a roster of some of Sydney’s best wine-focused establishments, including The Wine Library, Felix and Momofuku Seiobo. The simple take-home message here: when it comes to engaging service and suggesting the perfect bottle, Caitlyn Rees has you covered. Fred’s, 380 Oxford St, Paddington, NSW, (02) 9240 3000