18.3.17 Universo Santi Staff Sherry Training

Staff of Universo Santi, who all have some kind of disability, have begun their training with a visit to González Byass to learn about Sherry from that “master of jerezology” (as Diario de Jerez charmingly puts it), Antonio Flores. During morning and afternoon sessions he explained to them how to distinguish the different types of Sherry and how they match the different dishes on the menu. He stressed the importance of promoting Sherry in this restaurant saying “Sherry is at a unique moment and we must take advantage of it. Sommeliers, waiters and maîtres play a vital role in the work we do in the bodega, because we can spend thirty years ageing a wine, but it is they who present it to the diner, they who can make or break our work.

Antonio Flores shows the staff round bodega La Concha (fot:diariodejerez)

Restaurant staff face a total of 200 hours of training, or up to 800 hours if their disability is mental. Antonio Vila, president of Universo Accesible which is behind the promotion of the project, says the restaurant is 95% complete with only the decoration, gardening and completion of staff training remaining to be done, and will probably open towards the end of this year. The kitchen from the late, multi Michelin starred Santi Santamaría’s Can Fabes restaurant has already been installed so that cooking staff can get the hang of it.