Antonios Askitis

I am a child of gastronomy. My father took me to ProWein more than 20 years ago. Honestly: At first, I only went along to get drunk. But at some point, there was this one wine that really touched me. I asked: "What is this?" And when the person across from me started to explain, I immediately felt: Where this comes from, there is much more to discover.

Later, I went into business with a chef friend and ran our place for ten years – today, you'd probably call it "casual fine dining." The place was called D'VINE and received 15 Gault&Millau points. In parallel, I trained to become a sommelier. Our wine list quickly grew to over 500 entries, and the first awards soon followed. During that time, I also did an internship with Christian Bau (3 stars) – his head sommelier at the time is a very good friend of mine.

Wine is like music to me. Our world is so diverse – just like a record shelf. I originally come from hip-hop, but by now I am genre-free. Good music is good music – period. It’s the same with wine. I don’t close myself off to anything, I like to try, constantly discovering new things. You don’t need a hype if something is simply good.

The role of the sommelier is clear to me: We are guides. We help people taste something good – ideally in connection with the food. What I really don’t like is the arrogance of some colleagues. They build walls instead of doors. I want to excite. To tell people: “Hey, it’s only wine – don’t be afraid!” I see myself as a door opener to this complex but beautiful world.

And yes: A good sommelier generates revenue – usually one of the most important contributions in the evening. But much more than that: We are hosts. We can retain guests, tell stories, create memories. That is not just important – it is a gift. And that is exactly why I love this job.