After a career in fine dining, Hendrik Thoma switched sides and founded his own distribution business – with which he attracts a lot of attention, especially via social media. How did he achieve this and what does he thinks about current developments in the wine market.
From sommelier to wine merchant
Mr. Thoma, you spent 13 years as a sommelier at the Hotel Louis C. Jacob in Hamburg but left the profession in 2008 to become a wine merchant. Why the change?
In America, there's the story of going from dish washer to millionaire. I started out in the kitchen, actually washing plenty of dishes before becoming a cook. Then I wanted to be a sommelier, and that took time and wasn’t easy—especially when you don’t come from a family with a wine cellar dating back to the 18th century. I had to work hard for everything and always wanted to achieve more. So, what's next after being a sommelier? The trade. Because, to me, trade is the ultimate discipline.
Wine merchant or sommelier: Which is the better job?
Both have their advantages and unique aspects. As a sommelier, you see your results relatively quickly. A friend of mine, who was a sommelier at Ducasse in New York, called it the 'Sommelier Satisfaction Thrill.' In other words, you know by the end of the evening whether it was a good or bad night. As a merchant, you might say, ‘We had a good or less-than-good day in sales,’ but your planning has to be much more long-term. You also need to keep a much closer eye on the numbers.
The future of Specialty Wine Retail
Speaking of numbers, the outlook for the wine market doesn’t look very promising at the moment. How is the wine crisis affecting you?
Of course, we're feeling it as well. But you have to be careful not to focus solely on short-term developments and assume everything is dire just because things are on a downturn for now. In my opinion, it's almost a natural part of the process—just like a stock price, sales can’t always go up.
So, you're not worried about the future of the wine industry?
It depends on how you respond to it. Our approach is to curate our portfolio more carefully and think about where our strengths lie. We'll reduce from around 80 labels to about 50, and perhaps work with smaller quantities, focusing on something more unique. We have to be constantly on the lookout for new products and new ways of doing things.
Social Media Marketing
You were one of the first to gain significant reach with your digital wine show—wine videos on the internet.
I was the first in the German-speaking world.
How important is social media—for sales or for branding?
Social media is a tricky tool for selling wine. However, it can be very effective for explaining products and creating a story around them. Most of it is pure marketing. It's about perception, and if you do it in a polarizing way, you get a lot of attention. This helps build a community, a sort of fan club. At 'Wein am Limit,' we have a passionate following, like the hardcore supporters in a football stadium, who appreciate that we've offered them something of value.
To me, social media is a matter for the boss!
The term 'Thank You Economy' comes to mind—it’s about going back to a store where you were well-advised, even if you didn’t buy something the first time. The concept comes from the U.S., where service and customer interaction are approached differently. I worked in the U.S. for a few years and found it to be a great model. I believe we’ve managed to create a new form of customer communication in our small cosmos, one that focuses on a personal connection.
Is this how you attract younger customers to wine?
You have to go where the customers are, and the wine industry has severely neglected this when social media became relevant. For many, that meant leaving the social media channels to the apprentices. To me, social media is a matter for the boss! There are only two options: Either you wait until the young customers come to you. Or you go to them, to where they are.
Would you say the wine trade is too serious? Your content, which can be quite playful, is at the opposite end of the spectrum…
I think everyone has to figure out the right way to communicate with their customers. But I wouldn’t mind if the industry took itself a little less seriously. Certain technical topics don’t need to be discussed in the public sphere. Customers don’t want this technical jargon. Most of the time, their decision to buy wine is emotional. And they want to be engaged emotionally.
As an industry, we have to deliver on that. We’re not in the rock music or television business, but the wine industry deserves more sex appeal. By that, I mean how we define and present the world of wine. Is it just a trashy product, or is it something more? To me, it’s definitely more.
The right storytelling
You just mentioned that many people aren’t interested in the technical details of wine. Is wine still too complicated?
For a long time, we upheld the image of the wine connoisseur or sommelier as someone with encyclopedic knowledge. I think it wouldn’t be bad to consider that a wine connoisseur is someone who has drunk, earned, and lived their knowledge—authenticity is key. I believe that’s what resonates with people.
And I think all these facts that are often shared—another vineyard, another quality level, another bottling—communicating every detail to be transparent can become overwhelming. But we can't try to fit everything onto a piece of paper and say, 'This is the only truth,' because it’s not. A great example is Gut Oggau, who introduced a very new concept with their wines from Burgenland. They broke free from the idea that vineyard location and grape variety are always the most interesting aspects. For them, it’s the character of the wine. They turned their wines into people, living characters, represented by faces on the labels. And they’re successful—they’re always sold out.
The current wine law follows rule that the more specific the origin, the higher the quality. Is this valid?
We all know that a single vineyard wine doesn’t necessarily taste better than, for example, a winery’s generic wine. You have to look deeper: What’s behind this single vineyard? Does it deserve its name? Is it truly special, and how long have we known that? There are few single-vineyard wines whose character is so distinct that I would buy them for that reason alone.
We all know that a single vineyard wine doesn’t necessarily taste better than, for example, a winery’s generic wine.
In Burgundy, it works. At least, the prices and demand reflect that, don't they?
Yes, because Burgundy’s storytelling is exceptional, and they’ve managed to elevate the quality level immensely over the past 30 years. Let’s be honest, how many consumers can distinguish a Musigny from a Pommard? Even professionals struggle with that in blind tastings, so how can customers be expected to? I think what matters is that people believe there’s a great wine behind names like Pommard and Musigny. Burgundy has successfully placed an entire region on the map using just a few grape varieties—mainly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And it wasn’t the German market that drove that success, but rather international markets, especially in the U.S. and Asia.
And what are the trends in Germany?
There are ongoing megatrends in Germany, like Pinot Grigio and Primitivo.
You're more niche-focused. Do these trends affect you at all?
I definitely notice them—how could you not? Whenever I talk to someone about wine, it often comes up: 'I bought a Barolo at the discount store for only €10, and it’s very good.' People who buy wine at discount stores often argue that 'all that high-end stuff' is nonsense. They wonder how anyone could spend so much on a bottle of wine. On the other hand, those at the top ask how someone could spend so little on a bottle of wine. I don’t really have a stance on it. For example, I recently tried a Doppio Passo…
And?
I was surprised at how good the product was for what it is, especially considering the price. But the question remains: What do I want from a product? Do I buy my chocolate at a gas station, or do I go to a shop that sells origin-specific chocolate with varying levels of bitterness? These mass-produced wines are often faceless, but they’re perfectly made to meet customer demand—even if I personally don’t connect with them.
Interview conducted by Weinwirtschaft.
Hendrik Thoma is a trained chef and sommelier. After stints at the Hotel Intercontinental in Leipzig and Auberge du Soleil in California, he worked as Head Sommelier at the Hotel Louis C. Jacob in Hamburg from 1995 to 2008. In 1999, he became one of the first Germans to pass the Master Sommelier exam. In 2012, Thoma, along with his partner Bianca Ganson, founded his own wine retailing company, Wein am Limit, which gained traction through web videos showcasing wines and producers. Today, the business has 9 employees and offers 1,000 selections from 50 wineries, focusing on artisanal wines from Europe and overseas. The company's annual turnover is around €4m, and it is based in Hamburg.
