Teenage sommelier still loves £10 wine from Tesco
ONE of Britain’s youngest sommeliers has revealed that she still loves to buy £10 wine from Tesco – despite tasting some of the most expensive vintages.
Drew Mackenzie, 19, began working at Annabel’s members’ club in Mayfair as soon as she was old enough to drink.
The teenager from Birmingham moved to London at to study fashion design and textiles at college. Two years into her three-year course, she travelled to Amsterdam to intern as a styling assistant and began helping a family friend with her wine-tasting business.
Ms Mackenzie said: “Before, I wasn’t much of a wine person at all – I didn’t really like wine.”
Upon returning to the UK in 2022, she applied to work at Annabel’s, starting last year and is working towards her sommelier qualification alongside her job, with ambitions to become a buyer.
Despite developing a discerning palate, she is still happy to buy cheaper wines from a supermarket. Ms Mackenzie said: “I can definitely still find £10 wines in supermarkets like Tesco that I love. I always like a nice Australian Chardonnay or an Italian red.”
Her mother Keely, 52, works in graphic design, while her father Wayne, 54 is employed in a car factory.
Since beginning her training, Ms Mackenzie has completed two of four qualifications set by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust and hopes to be fully qualified there by the end of next year. She is also aiming to begin working towards her Introductory Sommelier Certificate, the first of four awards set by the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Ms Mackenzie said: “I have to prove myself to clients as a serious sommelier, not just because I am young but because I am a girl. Sometimes I have been asked: ‘Is there a male sommelier I can talk to?’”
Founded in 1963, Annabel’s has hosted a roster of celebrity and royal members over the years – including the King, Sir Mick Jagger and Kate Moss.
However, the young sommelier said none of the celebrities she has served have been “rude”. “Christine and Frank Lampard are some of the loveliest people,” she said.
Unsurprisingly, when out with friends and family, she is always handed the wine list. Ms Mackenzie, who lives in Notting Hill, said: “People are scared to give me wine. They think I’ll be a snob about it, I really won’t be.”
Most bottles for sale at Annabel’s sell for hundreds of pounds each. Among the most expensive wines she has tasted was a 1982 Chateau Latour Pauillac, sold at £5,800 a bottle.
‘I have to prove myself a serious sommelier, not just because I am young but because I am a girl’