Sarah Simonnet of Berlin's Frea on zero waste in wine service
When Star Wine List celebrated the top wine lists and teams of Germany at Prowein in Düsseldorf in March, Frea in Berlin won the Gold Star in the Sustainable Wine List category. Frea's Wine Director Sarah Simonnet also joined our panel discussion with Sustainable Wine Roundtable at the fair to share her thoughts and tips on how to work sustainably.
“Frea was one of the pioneers in this in Berlin,” Sarah Simonnet explained on-stage in Düsseldorf. “And because of us, more people started thinking about it. Now it is becoming quite normal and when I talk with other sommeliers they share the same philosophy, and want to move forward with sustainability. I really, really love it.”
Frea is a plant-based fine dining restaurant that aims to have zero waste. It holds a Red Star from Star Wine List, a green star from Michelin, and won the Sustainable Wine List category at the Star Wine List of the Year Germany awards in both 2023 and 2025. The sustainable work started in the kitchen, says Simonnet.
“The full concept of zero waste was there from the start. Deliveries are made either without packaging or in boxes that are taken back by the suppliers. And everything that is used by the kitchen is used until the end. And when I joined I said: wine is missing.”
For the wines, Frea works with low-intervention, organic, biodynamic and sustainably-minded producers in Europe.
“My work is really to get to know them, know exactly how they work, and then after that decide if we work with them.”
It's not just glass that's recycled
Packaging is a main theme for wine at Frea: glass bottles are recycled; corks are recycled by a dedicated company; and when a winery from Austria delivered wine in clay bottles, the supplier agreed to pick them up and bring them back to the winery, to be washed and reused.
“We always need to think about these things,” says Sarah, “what do we do with things that go to waste.”
In conversation at ProWein
Sometimes I get the feeling that restaurants care very much about the growing of the grapes for their wines, but are less focused on the sustainability of practices in their own restaurants – would you agree?
“I think at a lot of restaurants, the sommeliers don't have that much time. And that's maybe why they can't do such a deep work and deep research. Not because they don't want to, but I think it's a lack of time and possibilities. I am very lucky because the owners of Frea are giving me trust and a lot of opportunities to visit winemakers. I really have a lot of time.”
If you were to give any tips to a sommelier in a restaurant thinking about getting started in this direction, what would they be?
“I think if you do a bit of research it becomes easier. It takes time to launch the process but, once you get going, it's pretty easy. There are a lot of options now for wine, such as kegs for by the glass or reusing the bottle. If you take a bit of time in the beginning to do some research and see what are the options that can work for your restaurant, then you can take it from there.”
What kind of feedback and questions you are getting from your guests around these areas?
“People are very curious – they are wondering how we work with the list, they ask about the glass and even what we do with the corks. The only thing that I think is switching now is the low intervention trend: people don't really have an interest anymore. I think it's a bit because of the [economic] situation in Germany at the moment – people want to be sure when they spend the money that they get quality, and low intervention wines are sometimes a bit too funky, so they want to go for clearer wine.”
View Frea's wine list and read more about the Star Wine List of the Year awards through the links below.
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