Matilda Tsappis on what it takes to be a Top 100 Sommelier

Coming up with creative solutions that matched the needs of her clients in her former career in advertising has proved to be a good grounding for Matilda Tsappis as she moved into hospitality and, with her husband Tom, set up their own hotel and restaurant business - Killiecrankie House , in the Cairngorms National Park, Perthshire, Scotland. It’s also where she turned an interest in wine into a profession and, as well as running the business, she is also out on the restaurant floor as head sommelier. Here she explains what the journey into running a hotel and what has become a Michelin star restaurant has been like and what she thinks it takes to be a good sommelier - and reach number 20 in the Top 100 Sommeliers. As she says: “A former career in a service industry like advertising, where I had to guide clients to feel comfortable buying into marketing strategies and ideas, was probably a good grounding.”