Okamura with her colleagues

Multicultural sommelier

Nobuko Okamura

Sydney's Sofitel Wentworth Hotel employs a wine expert, or sommelier, who defies the stereotype. Rather than a stuffy, elderly gent with a thick French accent, the Garden Court Restaurant version is Irish-born, of Japanese ancestry, young and female. Nobuko Okamura is also among Australia's foremost experts in wine, having studied in France and worked in London. She cites the weather as a major drawcard to life in Sydney, which acts as a base for her continuing exploration and understanding of Australia's wine regions.

My Japanese parents really wanted their children to experience something different in life, so I was born and raised in Ireland where we embraced the Irish culture. It just happened that we ended up learning English first. There were very few Japanese people in Ireland at the time so keeping up the Japanese language was rather difficult.

Food in our house was varied. Our mother is a fantastic cook and so we always had a wonderful mixture of Irish and Japanese food.

Soon after I left school in Ireland I had the opportunity to go and study in Osaka. I lived there for four years studying Japanese and teaching English. Then I went to Paris just to visit and I ended up staying for more than three years. This is when I started in the hospitality industry.

After several years in hospitality I decided I needed to do something more specialised without leaving the industry altogether. So in my late 20s I decided do a sommelier course. I thought the best place to learn about wines would be in France and I headed down to the Southern Rhone.

Having received my certificate, I headed to London where one can find all the wines of the world. Here is where I gained valuable experience as a sommelier. I then travelled to Sydney where I worked for one year learning about Australian wines. I headed back to London where I decided I needed a change and worked in wine sales for three years. And then eight months ago I finally made it back to Sydney to where I am working now.

Having come from Ireland and working the majority of the time in London, I have to admit that the weather is probably one of the best things about Sydney. I also love the beaches, the wonderful restaurants and of course the fabulous wines.

I really have had the best of both worlds. I am Irish at heart but there are many Japanese influences in my character. These are difficult to pinpoint but they're definitely there. In fact it's been almost five years since my last visit to Japan so I really should plan a trip there soon.

As I get older I realise that I'm very lucky to have the background I have. I'm not the stereotypical sommelier and if anything that has opened doors for me.

As for being a woman in this industry, I've found it more of an advantage than a disadvantage. At the end of the day we're in the hospitality business and it's about how you are with people that makes the difference, not your gender.

There are still so many things I'd like to do, too many to list here. At this stage my immediate goal is to be able to visit the wine regions in Australia, find great wines that are not well-known and bring them to Sydney for you to drink.