"All of the contestants, who had to be full-time employees of restaurants or hotels, were put through a series of examinations in their home countries to assess their understanding of our wine styles and what makes our offerings distinctive and unique. The national winner of each country was then flown to South Africa and spent last week visiting the Winelands, meeting winemakers and dining in some of the Cape's most exciting restaurants."
The competition culminated in a multi-part examination held at the Grande Roche in Paarl on Saturday. A sommelier is a professionally trained wine steward, specialising in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food matching. The first part of their competition involved a written test and was followed by a blind tasting in which participants had to accurately identify a selection of wines made locally. The top four scorers also took part in a live "restaurant" contest on stage with the judges acting as restaurant patrons. There was a large audience present of wine producers and members of the local hospitality industry.
The winner was Christopher Bates from the US, first runner up Stefaan Camerlinck of Belgium and second runner up Veronique Rivest of Canada. The other contestants were:
Judging panel
Inspiring South Africans, more internationals
Birch added that the opportunity for local wine service staff to meet some of the world's best sommeliers was an important source of motivation for aspirant sommeliers. "South Africa has a few internationally trained sommeliers and there is expanding interest in the profession as a dynamic career with huge scope for personal growth. However, it is still an untapped area with enormous potential, particularly as our wine tourism industry continues to grow. When local people in the wine service industry meet trained sommeliers they get a glimpse of what they can achieve one day.
"The week-long visit, culminating in Saturday's contest, created a great opportunity to expose an important group of opinion leaders to the diversity and excellence of South African wines. Many sommeliers play a key role in compiling wine lists for restaurants and hotels and are ideal ambassadors for us.
"There has been huge interest from the international wine fraternity and judging by the level and extent of support, there is definitely the appetite to continue the competition. We hope to involve a broader spectrum of countries in future, particularly from Africa, where the profession is still in its infancy," she concludes.