This week we had the chance to meet Daniel – a Danish student from the Swiss Education Group, who is currently finishing his studies at César Ritz Colleges Switzerland . In this interview, Daniel explains the exciting world of competitions, gives an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to live and study in Switzerland, and shares the secret to selling a bottle of wine for $4,500. Read the full interview to learn more about his story.

Hi Daniel, nice to see you. To begin with, can you tell us about when your interest in the hotel and restaurant industry arose?

It pretty much started with my uncle having his own restaurant, where I got to help, which was a lot of fun. Later, when I chose my education, I already knew with my dyslexia that learning in the typical way was not for me, so I started studying at Copenhagen Hospitality College. Funnily enough, this is where I learned that hospitality was so much more than just working in a restaurant and that there was a whole other world of competitions to enter as well. I have participated in various wine and champagne competitions since then and am already planning the next one with my current coursemates from César Ritz.

Many people start in the hotel and restaurant industry without any previous studies. Why did you choose to train in this field?

All my course mates and I aimed to do our internships in exclusive places. This is what we study for and what we want to work with in the future.

Why did you choose bachelor studies in Switzerland and César Ritz in particular?

Switzerland has an exceptional culture of hospitality and is one of the best places in the world for this type of education. This is especially true if you want to gain a higher position in the hospitality industry in an international arena.

In addition, I learned that it only takes three years to get a double degree at César Ritz, while it would take seven years to get the equivalent education in Denmark. I think three years is much more fun than seven, haha.

Besides, I wanted to see the world. Choosing to study at César Ritz sounded like a great opportunity to spend 3 years in a beautiful country like Switzerland and then be able to spend half a year anywhere in the world for an internship.

What attracts you most about working in exclusive places?

I really enjoy being a part of this luxury life. Well, not exactly a part of it, but I definitely get to see and experience it all around me. I am currently doing an internship at one such place, the luxurious Hotel Victoria-Jungfrau in Interlaken, where our guests come to have fun. Being a part of this and being among people enjoying life makes me very happy. That’s the most important thing for me – to go home after work with a smile on my face, and also to have no two days the same.

What is the most memorable experience of your studies so far?

It definitely had to be when I sold a bottle of wine for $4,500.

Wow, that’s impressive! Do you have any tips on how you managed to do it? Is there a secret to selling a high-end bottle of wine?

The secret is that you have to know what you are talking about or at least make the guest think you do. I also think it’s about building the guest’s trust.

In this case, I had already met the guest before, and I had been given the chance to converse and demonstrate my knowledge of the drink of his choice. The next time he came, the guest wanted guidance on how to navigate our wine menu, which by the way is like a 50 page book and would be a lot for anyone.

Generally, I start by asking questions like what type of wine the guest wants, then follow up with country of origin and style—anything that can help narrow it down to a smaller list of options. A customer then often wants to know how the bottles compare to each other and wants my recommendation on, for example, which year he should choose.

You have to be prepared to answer such questions and know things like how the grapes were in a certain year in a certain place.

That time I was really well prepared and was able to gain the guest’s trust and help him find what he was looking for, which turned out to be a bottle of La Tâche.

You mentioned that you have dyslexia, how do you deal with such amounts of information that you have to memorize?

I have found that it helps me a lot to see the information visually on repeated occasions. That’s why I use flash cards as a way to test my memory.

I also have a small notebook to keep track of all the facts and my own experiences from wine tastings. But in the end, everything has to go into my memory because I wouldn’t be able to open that notebook in the middle of a conversation with a guest.

Which courses do you like best?

It has to be the wine and drink course, where you actually have to taste a drink and then talk about it, find out the nuances behind the taste and try to understand how it came to be and how changing one factor would affect the taste.

What is the most challenging thing about studying abroad in general?

I really miss my family and friends. At home in Denmark, we used to meet at least once a week. And now, during the pandemic, it’s sad not to be able to see them. Even before the travel restrictions, I didn’t get to visit them as often as I wanted.

At the same time, I have received something close to a family here. My coursemates know each other so well, we always help each other and even now, when we are in different parts of the world doing our internships, we all still keep in touch with each other and check how everyone is doing.

How does Switzerland differ from Denmark as a country?

People are incredibly friendly in Switzerland. When you walk alone on the street or on a hike, people say hello to you, even if they don’t know you. Whereas in Denmark, if you did that, people would look at you and think “what a cuckoo”, haha. So I have to tone down my smile a little every time I come back and visit Denmark, haha.

Besides, I really like the mountains. I have a joke where I say that the only time I miss flat Denmark is when I’m running uphill, haha. I also think it’s cool that you can walk around in a t-shirt and see the snow up on the mountain tops. I loved going on ski holidays as a child and now I can do it basically whenever I want, you can even do it in the summer. I feel that you generally have more different activities here.

What are your future plans after you graduate from César Ritz?

I haven’t really decided I love diving. I worked in Indonesia for six months, when I got my diving master certificate there. So I could definitely imagine working as a manager at a resort, where you combine diving with sophisticated food at a luxury hotel.

To conclude our interview, what would you recommend to someone who has just started their journey into the tasty world of wine?

A wise teacher has told me that the best way to learn about wine is to try it. I follow that advice myself. Once a week I gather with my friends to try champagne one week and pinot noir the next. It’s both fun and challenging trying to capture the flavors of different types of grapes or harvests or whatever.