Andrew Teall didn’t wear his sommelier’s pin at first. It felt like showing off. But it wasn’t long before he got over that.
The pin is a badge of accomplishment for a difficult course of study. That depth of knowledge is exactly what’s so important about wearing it, but not for the wearer. “You wear it for the guest,” says Teall, who is the sommelier and general manager of Roselily in South Bend, Indiana.
When a guest sees that pin, they know any question they have about wine—or beer or cocktails or food—will be answered knowledgeably and expansively.
A lot of work goes into earning the sommelier designation. The 32-year-old Riley High School graduate began his studies in 2021, while doing part-time restaurant work. His full-time job was teaching grade school, which he left in 2023. It was when working at the former South Bend restaurant Render that he met Eamonn McParland, chef and partner of Render. When McParland opened Roselily, Teall eventually followed, taking a part-time job as a server.
“We were polishing silverware at the end of the night, and he said he was kind of into wine,” says McParland. He encouraged Teall to study for the first level of the sommelier certification, offering to reimburse some of the costs through the restaurant.
There are four levels of sommelier certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers–Americas (CMS): Introductory, Certified, Advanced and Master. The Master level is commonly regarded as one of the most difficult tests in the world, with a pass rate of just 10%. There are only 279 Master sommeliers worldwide. Of the 171 in the Americas chapter, 146 are men and 25 are women.
Teall is a Certified sommelier (he is one of three sommeliers in South Bend listed on the CMS website, all of whom are Certified). He began his studies during the Covid-19 pandemic, taking and passing the introductory course online and then the examination.
Subject matter is more or less “half French wine and then … the rest of the world,” Teall says. At the Introductory level, candidates learn to discern, describe and understand the different characteristics of wine, such as alcohol, acidity, oak and tannins, as well as different wine regions and grape varietals. Each step gets exponentially harder, he says.
The Certified examination lasts a full day. Teall and his wife, Lexi, traveled to Durham, North Carolina, in 2023 and he got started first thing in the morning. The day began with a blind tasting, Teall says.
Everyone in the group tastes the same two reds and two whites over 25 minutes and provides written comments about each, remarking on the nose, palate, structure and other details. Finally, in two sentences or less, they have to explain how they would sell the wine to a guest.
The beverage theory portion tests candidates on the business of being a sommelier, and they must interpret profit and loss sheets, review inventory and wine lists, and spot errors, among other things.
Since sommeliers need to be beverage experts, they are asked what cork-tainted wine tastes like, how you can tell when a spirit is barrel aged, or, given five spirits, which goes best in a daiquiri—or a sidecar. (At one point, sommeliers were required to know about cigars, but that is no longer the case).
When it came time for the service portion, he was feeling confident. Each candidate “serves” a guest, in this case, a Master sommelier. But Teall was serving not just any Master sommelier. He was pouring for Madeline Triffon, who, in 1987, was the first American woman (and only the second woman in the world) to pass the Master sommelier examination. Nicknamed Detroit’s “First Lady of Wine,” it is not uncommon to find words like “legend” attached to her name.
During the exam, the Masters pepper candidates with questions about wine and anything else a guest might ask. “I was shaking in my boots,” Teall says, adding that his hands were shaking, he was sweating and he was sure he made mistakes.
He passed tasting and theory with flying colors, he says, and his final score, weighted in combination with the other ratings, was a 10/10 for hospitality. Now he’s working on his Advanced certification.
It’s been paying off for Roselily, elevating and advancing the overall philosophy and the guest experience. Roselily’s wine list has about 275 wines, Teall says, all of which enhance the menu.
“We get a lot of compliments on the wine pairings,” McParland says. “Every wine on the list serves a purpose.”
Teall also started a wine club at Roselily, with events each month. He has also introduced “wine takeovers” that highlight wines from specific countries (Italy and Spain have been featured so far).
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of the best young sommeliers out there,” McParland says.
Teall’s next goal as he works toward his sweet spot of 300 wines is to be a bit more specific and intentional, swapping out some “clunkers” for gems. All while keeping his philosophy in mind. “Drink what you want, and drink a lot of it,” he says. “I’ve never understood the stigma of judging people for the wines they like.”
And he likes to help people find wines they like. Fan of Bordeaux? Try a Rioja (and enjoy a fascinating story about how Rioja came to be, after an outbreak of lice in Bordeaux gave rise to the Spanish red).
“I try to find the adjuncts,” he says. “Maybe I can find someone’s new love. … That is why we wear the pin.”
Roselily
701 S. Main St.
South Bend, IN
574.347.4560
roselilysouthbend.com
Mike Petrucelli is a former food editor for the South Bend Tribune who now works in nonprofit communications. He and his wife live in Plymouth, Indiana.
