Rafters: Sheffield restaurant owner the only sommelier in Yorkshire to make prestigious UK’s top 100 list

Alistair Myers, owner of Rafters Restaurant on Oakbrook Road, and Rafters at Riverside House in Bakewell, has made the prestigious list of the UK Top 100 Sommeliers for the second year running.

The awards were held at the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London. The list is decided by a panel of esteemed judges who interview each candidate and assess their experience, career, qualifications and responsibilities.

Alistair is the only sommelier in Yorkshire to make the list.

He said: “It’s an achievement I am very proud of. I was brought up in Sheffield and my restaurant is a 10 minute’s walk from the school I went to. To gain such a prestigious listing and bring it to my home city is amazing.”

It was Alistair’s enjoyment of wine while working as a waiter that led him to pursue his passion and gain the qualifications. 

Not brought up around wine, he has had an uphill challenge to gain the achievements he has, with many of his peers taking the exams alongside him having been around wine all their life.

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“I love meeting all the sommeliers,” he said. “Most of them have been brought up around wine or worked in all the famous restaurants. I just enjoy learning, pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and, of course, wine.

“I will use this to inspire the people around me, passing knowledge on is something that gives me great satisfaction and I have enjoyed taking more than a handful of our team through their qualifications.”

Last year was the first Top 100 UK Sommeliers and 2024’s list saw only 62 of those from the inaugural list maintain their places.

Angeline Bayly, co-founder of Top 100 Sommeliers, said: “Throughout the interviews we conducted, this year there were an impressive array of highly qualified individuals, some with extraordinary backgrounds as diverse as law, astrophysics, corruption, engineering, and of course, oenology.

“Overall, the professionalism, high-level drinks knowledge, and dedication to hospitality was evident. Being a top sommelier today is a highly qualified, skilled career, and we have the results to prove it.”