What World-Class Hotels Choose:
every glass at its best.
An interview with Sam Lacroix, Director of Beverage at Atlantis Dubai. Two flagship resorts, dozens of dining outlets, and countless glasses of wine poured every day — so what does it take to keep each one at the standard it deserves?
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Sam Lacroix became Director of Beverage for Atlantis Dubai in September 2025, leading beverage strategy across Atlantis, The Palm and Atlantis The Royal. He brings more than 20 years of international hospitality and wine service experience, and a reputation for building ambitious wine programmes that reach the highest standard.
What follows covers how a wine list is built at this scale, how by-the-glass service holds up in high-volume luxury venues, and why the right preservation system is central to consistency.
Two flagship resorts —
how do you keep service consistent?
I have been fortunate: both in my previous role and in this one, I work in environments that pursue excellence relentlessly. The standards are high and the goal is clear.
Atlantis Dubai is certainly larger in scale, but my core thinking has not changed. I still start with the basics — understanding each outlet, the style of each restaurant, and what guests genuinely expect in different moments.
The real difference is the diversity of concepts. I am not reinventing how wine is managed; I am adapting it to each restaurant and each audience.
A wine programme has to echo the identity of the restaurant, not fight against it.
How do you choose the right
wines by the glass?
It is always a combination of factors. Price matters, of course, but so do the style of the wine, its flavour profile, and what that bottle says within the list as a whole.
The concept of the venue is especially important. A wine has to feel like it belongs there. It should lift the guest's experience — not be listed simply because the name looks impressive.
Availability is another serious factor. A wine that is on the by-the-glass list but frequently out of stock frustrates the team and disappoints the guest.
I also do not want to force everyone into a single, rigid house style. The team should be genuinely excited about what they pour and recommend.
Great service: knowledge,
or storytelling?
Early in our careers, most sommeliers focus on technique and knowledge. We study, taste and analyse constantly, and it is easy to believe our greatest value is the detail we can deliver.
With experience, I came to see that a large part of outstanding wine service is storytelling. Every bottle has a story — a region, a grower, a history, a culture.
What matters is making wine feel alive, approachable, and connected to the guest in front of you.
How has BERMAR changed
the way your team serves?
It gives the team confidence, and that matters enormously. In by-the-glass service there is always a quiet worry: how long has this bottle been open? Is every glass reaching the guest in the condition it should be?
BERMAR removes much of that pressure, because we know the wine is properly protected. Once the worry disappears, the service changes with it — the team recommends more freely, including higher-priced wines.
And it is not only about preservation. With BERMAR PODBAR, temperature control matters just as much. In a busy operation, having wine held at the right serving temperature makes service noticeably more efficient.
When the team feels confident, the guest feels it too.
Does it let you be more ambitious
with premium pours?
Yes, absolutely — and it shows most clearly with sparkling wine.
Ultimately BERMAR is a quality-assurance system. It reassures us that even some time after opening, a bottle is protected and holding its condition. Naturally the team becomes more willing to open different wines and offer them by the glass.
We can list less obvious bottles, or add more exploratory choices between the entry level and the top end, without feeling that we are taking a risk. Without proper preservation, wastage becomes a real problem.
In a high-volume venue,
how much does speed matter?
It is essential. In a large operation, anything that slows the team down — or depends on one particular person — will produce inconsistency at peak times.
What I like about BERMAR is that it fits naturally into the team's workflow. It is fast, straightforward, and easy to make part of daily service.
Because the system is simple, it is not only sommeliers who can use it confidently — the whole service team can, which makes the standard far easier to hold.
Reducing waste while
growing sales
Wine always has its romantic side, but hospitality also has to face commercial reality. You cannot separate the two.
On wastage, BERMAR makes a real difference. Sparkling wine is the clearest example: without proper preservation, quality falls away quickly after opening and the loss is simply absorbed. A reliable system prevents that, and the improvement shows directly in the margin.
It also supports sales. When the team knows the wine will hold its quality, they are more willing to recommend higher-value bottles and more confident encouraging guests to try something new.
Where the market is going,
and advice for young sommeliers
I have worked in Dubai for close to nine years, and the change has been striking. The guest profile has shifted, the range of wine available is far more diverse and interesting, and the industry takes wine service far more seriously. Lists are more ambitious and more carefully planned, and I believe that trend will continue.
For young sommeliers who want to build a world-class by-the-glass programme, my advice is simple: always put the guest first. It is easy to get excited about rare or unusual wines — that enthusiasm is a good thing — but you cannot build a successful programme on your own interests alone.
Sometimes a list looks as though it was designed for the sommelier rather than for the guest. The most successful by-the-glass programmes are not built on ego; they come from balanced judgement and close attention to what the market and the guest actually want.
Hospitality always comes back to the guest.
Five takeaways for
operators in Taiwan
Seen from the distribution side, five points from this interview translate directly to the Taiwanese market.
Less wastage
Fewer losses from still and sparkling wine declining after opening — the gain is largest on sparkling.
Higher spend per guest
Staff recommend mid and premium pours once they trust the quality will hold.
A braver list
Characterful bottles stop being a gamble; there is room to explore between entry and top end.
Faster service
Preservation fits the existing workflow and does not depend on one specialist.
Consistency
The same standard across every shift and every member of the team.
Alongside the world's best operators
More than 50,000 customers in over 130 countries use BERMAR preservation in their by-the-glass service — from private island resorts in the Maldives to busy back-street bars in New York City.
This article is an edited version of a BERMAR interview, prepared by XINLIN INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD., the authorised Taiwan distributor. The five takeaways are XINLIN's reading of the Taiwanese market and are not a verbatim statement by Sam Lacroix.
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