Vanessa uncorks the sommelier's secret of success

IT HAS had plenty of experience in raising a glass to success, and now the Michelin star Restaurant Pine has more cause for celebrations with the news that its head sommelier has shot up in the UK rankings.

- BARBARA HODGSON

Vanessa Stoltz is part of a small team behind the huge success of the restaurant in Northumberland and also has been working hard to raise her own profile over the past year.

Vanessa made the list of Harper's Top 50 Sommeliers in 2024 when she also made a debut - at number 45 - in the UK Top 100 Sommeliers list, which singled her out too as one of just five rising stars to watch.

And it was proved right as she has climbed to 26 in this year's list, which she's "delighted" about while her Pine bosses "couldn't be prouder".

The restaurant, run by chef-patron Cal Byerley and his front-of-house manager wife Sian at Vallum Farm in East Wallhouses, which first won a Michelin star in 2022, was recently ranked at number 26 in the National Restaurant Awards' list of the top 100 restaurants in the UK.