Sommelier Watch, Featuring Glen Montgomery of eòrna

This is a new feature. As you know we have interviewed numerous chefs over the years, but this is the first time we've turned the spotlight on a sommelier. For many years I was a little suspicious, not to say fearful, of the breed. I have now encountered enough of them to make me realise the error of my ways. While Brian Grigor's food at eòrna is stunning, the experience owes just as much to the knowledge and expertise of sommelier and co-owner Glen Montgomery.

 

 

Sommelier Watch

Featuring Glen Montgomery of eòrna

 

 

I began by asking how Glen got into the job. Was there a family love of wine?

None at all. I just fell into the job. Studying engineering at Heriot Watt University I took a variety of agency jobs in hospitality, then started work at The Witchery as a waiter. One of the wine team was leaving and I took the job.  The wine list was 100 pages long with over 600 wines. The company put me up for the Wines and Spirits Educational Trust exams. I went straight in at level 2.

Glen's restaurant experience sounds like a list of the Scottish Good Food Guide. After the Witchery he went to the Isle of Eriska Hotel, then returned to Edinburgh. Work included stints at Wedgwood, Number One at The Balmoral (where he met Brian), Andrew Fairlie and Heron. But how do you learn? I asked.

Glen explained that when a wine is decanted, it is standard practice for a sommelier to take a tiny sample (15 - 20ml).

As well as knowing your own list, it's important to keep your knowledge up to date. One of the biggest challenges is setting up a wine list for a new venture. One of the reasons I left one job (not in Scotland) was because I wasn't given the autonomy I had been promised to develop the list. Wine merchants are always keen to expand their trade customer lists and to exhibit their wares at trade shows. Nowadays my suppliers know me and have a pretty fair idea of the types of wine I want to stock.

Do you have a favourite wine or is that like being asked to name your favourite child?

It's a question I'm often asked. The answer is an IGT Toscana Soldera. It used to be known as a Brunello di Montalcino, but since 2013 the company has labelled its product Toscana IGT/IGP Soldera Case Basse 100% Sangiovese.*

Finest wine memory?

A meal in Meursault with a bottle of Francois Raveneau Chablis Premier Cru.

The world of wine is constantly changing. How do you keep up to date?

I don't set much store by wine critics, but I do do a lot of reading, especially of publications aimed at professional sommeliers. There are people online like Tom Cannavan (whose website Wine Pages was the first ever wine website in the world), Jamie Goode (Wine Anorak), and I really like The World of Fine Wine magazine.

Do you have any unfulfilled wine ambitions?

I'd like to visit South Africa and also vineyards around Vienna.

Do you have any wine hero(es)?

Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to become a sommelier?

Definitely do it. Do a lot of research with a continuous, creative mind. Make friends with your local wine shop for advice, tips and samples, and study for the WSET qualifications.

Glen is currently listed at number 32 in the influential Harpers Top 50 Sommeliers in the UK 2025. The 2026 edition has not yet been published.

*The latest vintage available is the 2021. London wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd have it listed at £1020 a bottle. Delivery is free.

eòrna is one of a tiny handful of places to have scored a perfect 25/25 in Tom Eats! Don't miss it.

There will be no Tom's Food! next week. Thereafter we will be out researching. Columns in September will depend on circumstances and WiFi availability