When La Ville Hotel & Suites City Walk Dubai opened, it was only natural that the property would have a serious focus on its beverage programme. Its general manager, Markus Roeder, has been an avid supporter of F&B development in hotels, and has seen great experience within Marriott International’s Project Canvas programme as well. Certainly, the hotel’s director of beverages Juan van Huyssteen seems to be in tune with the unwavering focus on promoting beverage and food as cornerstones of a great guest experience in the hotel.
We are sitting in Grapeskin, La Ville’s standalone wine bar and kitchen, where Huyssteen explains the core strategy for the property’s beverages. He says: “What we wanted to achieve with La Ville is for all the F&B outlets to have its own identity; in this current market, you have to be different to stand out. So we really tried to work with each identity and see what are the trends coming up in 2017 and really start to be trendsetters.”
While Huyssteen is directly responsible for Grapeskin as well as the rooftop bar, Look Up, he also oversees the beverage programme across the entire hotel. With each venue, he aims to strike out a point of difference. For example, in Chival (the all-day dining restaurant), the concept is cosmopolitan with sustainably sourced produce where possible, which is mirrored in the drinks as well. “If you look at any outlet in Dubai, or any hotel, nobody has got a pure focus on organic wines, natural wines, or environmentally friendly wines. We wanted to get wines that are globally sourced but are friendly to the environment, farmed organically,” he says.
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In Graze, the steakhouse, Huyssteen has chosen to focus on Mediterranean wines, which he says is a growing global trend. “What makes Mediterranean wines really stand out is that they match very well with seafood and meat,” he says. Huyssteen adds: “Moving into Lookup the rooftop bar, we delved into a good selection of champagne. There we focused on classical varietal mix of grape varieties and wines.”
Grapeskin, the standalone wine bar, has been dealt with differently. Instead of listing wines by grape variety or country, the venue lists wines by moods. Huyssteen says that there is a scientific reasoning behind this. “At the end of the day, everyone chooses wines according to their mood. If you’re stressed, your blood pressure is higher, and I give you a full bodied wine that’s above 15% alcohol, it’s thick and full bodied and it’s going to elevate that feeling. We want to change that feeling and give you a light-bodied Pinot Noir, for example. If I give you that, it’s going to change your mood.”
With over 100 references across the property, Huyssteen has implemented a system whereby every single wine across the property is available by the glass. For preservation, the team uses Coravin for cork closures, and Winesave for screw cap closures.
The hotel is definitely looking to the future what with its focus on serve by glass, and natural wines, and with 22 people under his command, Huyssteen had to focus on hiring the right people for the job. “We were definitely looking at skillsets. It was very important to have people passionate about the industry and the line of work,” he explains. Bartenders who were interested in flaring and cocktail competitions were considered, sommeliers with WSET qualifications, who were involved in wine-making were hired.
He plans to continue training and developing his already highly skilled team, with masterclasses with the property’s suppliers and principal visits, “which would be when a brand ambassador for a spirit comes down and winemakers visit us”.
Huyssteen adds: “We have training straight from the horses’ mouth. We try to make the connection up close and personal with the people who produce the products. Then of course from myself. I’ve been in the industry since I was 18 and I try and carry across all my personal experiences with each and every team member.”
Beverage (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) is very important in the Autograph Collection hotel’s overall operational and revenue mix, where the team has collaborated with Michael Isted, founder of The Herball, for the drinks programme. “We’ve had a collaboration with him for the drinks programme for La Ville hotel, giving a key focus in Chival to non-alcoholic cocktails and having a sophisticated, elegant, refined cocktail programme in Graze that will support the food and not dominate. In Grapeskin we looked at wine-based cocktails and in Lookup we looked at cocktails that are on the luxurious level, that use very premium ingredients with a real focus on artisanal, handcrafted cocktails that have got a lot of thought behind each and every ingredient.”
Huyssteen adds: “We’ve gone to the level of hiring for a position called ‘the chemist’.” There exists, what Huyssteen describes as a “little lab inside La Ville” where the chemist works to produce elements that go into all the drinks. Sharing examples, he continues: “In Chival, we make a beauty tonic using collagen powder, activated charcoal, rose quartz crystals, hydrosols (a non-alcoholic distillation of plant materials), so it’s like having a spirit without the alcohol. We’ve got all these different elements that you will not find anywhere else in Dubai.”
“A syrup or a cordial has been made in-house and it’s all developed in support with the chemist. Each and every outlet’s bar teams will be creating their preparations in advance with the chemist. We’ve given it a lot of focus because beverage is a big part of the percentage that we make with the hotel,” he continues.
“We want to keep growing, developing and learning, creating drinks with a lot of thought which will always keep surprising people. That’s the vision of the owner and the Autograph Collection, to have something that’s always building on its level of elegance and sophistication, that’s always got a new story to tell, that’s unique and different.
“People are always looking for a new discovery. It’s very easy to walk into any place, get food, drink, pay the bill, but what has it done to you? Food and drinks have changed civilization, it has got the power to change people’s lives,” concludes Huyssteen, indicating that’s exactly what he wants to do with his beverage strategy.
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