If you're lucky enough to have French ancestry and a Californian upbringing, there's a fair chance you'll know the difference between a Pinot Noir and a Merlot.

But Louis Villard's interest in wine goes way beyond spotting a decent bottle of red among the rows of plonk at his local supermarket.

The 28-year-old is head sommelier at Ashdown Park in Wych Cross, near Forest Row, East Sussex, and has just been named employee of the season.

His hand-picked wine list has put the country house into the Trophee Gosset Celebris and the first round of the much-prized AA Wine Award.

The AA award judges hotels and restaurants on the range of wines on their lists while The Trophee Gosset Celebris is for hotels that offer a diverse selection of Champagne.

Ashdown Park has one of the country's few remaining bottles of Dom Perignon Oenotheque 1959 Champagnes - one of which recently sold at a London restaurant for £3,000.

But Louis reckons the mystique surrounding the grape is slowly disappearing.

"There's no doubt people are becoming more adventurous with wine.

"The cloud of fear that used to hang over restaurant and hotel wine lists is definitely lifting and I have always set out to make wine as enjoyable and as easy to understand as possible. In most places, the range of wines available by the glass is very limited, sometimes just red or white, but the concept that guests can now sample a whole range of wines in different price ranges has been extremely popular.

"There has also been a big increase in the popularity of wines from certain countries.

"For example, when I joined Ashdown Park, there were around ten New Zealand wines on the list but now there are 40, and it's the same with Australia."

Louis gained his in-depth knowledge of the wine world by working as a wine maker at vineyards in the New World, France and Greece.

He joined Ashdown Park as head sommelier three years ago after graduating from Brighton University with a degree in wine studies.

He has introduced numerous bottles to the hotel's wine list, which now has 500 different wines, and added 18 wines available by the glass.

Ashdown Park general manager Dominic Osborne said: "The hotel has won many accolades over the years for its high standards of excellence and all of these awards are due to team work and the ongoing commitment of the members of staff, which is why we like to reward them with our own internal awards.

"Louis is a popular and knowledgeable member of staff and his recognition as employee of the season is well deserved."

Tuesday, August 30, 2005