A Sommelier (Somm) is the French term for a specialised wine waiter. They exist in Australia and mostly they are pretty good – they really do want to see a customer enjoy a wine. They can be overly enthusiastic. Plenty of customers are scared of them because they fear that their intermittent wine knowledge will be exposed. It is a blokey thing and women are not so easily worried. Sommeliers call themselves “somms” for short. They can be too readily influenced by trends. They usually hunt in a pack, going together to the same trade tastings and coming away with the same conclusion that (a) French wines are passe, go to Greece; or (b) French wines are the best but you need a small owner operated biodynamic producer.
