FINAL SQUAD

I´m very proud to anounce that we will see the talented, handsome and enthusiastic sommelier Francesco Azzarone, from Holmenkollen Park Hotel, fight for the crown in SA!

I enjoy partaking in competitions such as these, as it is always bun and educational. It allows me to focus and delve into an individual region, and South Africa is one I can not wait to dive into. Having visited wineries in the Cape a few years back, I was amazed by the the potential and have been very excited to see that emerging in the bottles. It would be a pleasure to compete with so many other great candidates, many of whom I have already competed with, and to have an opportunity to learn more about this burgeoning industry.

I've visited South Africa last week and it was so an experience...
For now I work already 9 years as winewaiter, and in the beginning of my career, my vision of South-African wines was quite mediocre. As a passionate wine taster, I'm quite sure that the quality of South African wines really is going higher and higher. I would be a pleasure to be an ambassor of your wines

On the 23rd of May, Wines of South Africa had the Swedish semi final of the Sommelier World Cup at Vinordic in Stockholm. The competition consisted of a theoretical test and a blind tasting of six wines. The competators were all very excited and nervous when they gathered at the WOSA stand just before 13:00.

After two intense hours of tasting and writing, the jury sat down to finalize the outcome. All the participants did a great job both regarding theoretical tests and the blind tasting, but one candidate was above the others and we had a winner:

Congratulations to Marie Dahlgren at Loka Brunn.

Now Marie has to prepare for the big final in South Africa in October were she will meet other competitors from eleven other countries from all over the world.

We will keep our fingers crossed that Marie will win and bring home the victory and glory to Sweden, together with the title as WOSA Sommelier World Cup Champion!

It was sunny and beautiful in Helsinki on Monday 03 May. The candidates were all very nervous but excited about the competition that was ahead of them. After a very serious and difficult theoretical test, the competitors had to blind taste six different SA wines.

The air was almost hard to breathe when we all gathered in Restaurant Savoy’s rooftop dining room. But before the jury revealed the overall winner, the candidates and the other invited guests got the opportunity to taste through 12 other wines blind. They just had to write down the country of origin and most of them thought this was going to be a walk in the park! The only clue they got was that all the wines were from countries that had qualified for the World Cup! It was harder then they thought it would be. After the tasting, the jury returned with the final scores.

All of the candidates really did a great job but there was one with results above the others: Caroline Gullström, from the wine bar at Silja Symphony! With an extreme level of knowledge and a spot-on blind tasting, Caroline took on the hat and the big responsibility to compete for Finland in the Wosa Sommelier World Cup final in October! With many years of experience and a few other throphies in the past, I believe that the other finalists need to watch out!

Congratulations Carro!

South African wines have long been a favourite of mine, as it was one of the first non European wine countries that I tasted as a trainee sommelier. Ever since then I have had a passion for this remarkable and diverse country, having only been to visit once for a short 4 day trip it would be a great experience to see, taste and understand more about South Africa and its wine producing regions.
South Africa has great diversity with great sparkling wines, white, red, sweet and liqueuer wines to enjoy

I cannot believe what happened to me !
I got a wonderful chance to go to South Africa which I was dreaming.

This opportunity will make me share great experiences with competent sommeliers from all over the world, and it will be unforgettable memories to me.

I would like to enjoy this time and I am looking forward to seeing you !

Thanks a lot.

On March 29th twenty top sommeliers of the Netherlands competed for the opportunity to represent their country in South Africa at the final of the WOSA World Cup of Sommeliers due to take place in October this year. The prize at stake was an all expenses paid trip to South Africa where the winner will be hosted in the wine lands by WOSA, and visit some of the Cape's most prestigious wineries, meet and taste with SA's award-winning winemakers, dine in icon restaurants and explore the wonderfully diverse cuisine . Jurgen Luppes from Kasteel Engelenburg walked away with the award as the overall winner for the Netherlands, with Alessandro Matrone from Restaurant Chique (Alphen a/d Rijn) in second place, and Gill Smith from Wijnlokaal Breda in third.

Speaking to Jurgen he said “Thank you for the amazing opportunity. I have thoroughly enjoyed an informative day where I have learnt more about South Africa and it’s wines. The real trophy is in my heart and I cannot wait for the special meeting in South Africa in October.”

As excitement continues to build around South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ of soccer in a few weeks time, Wines of South Africa (WOSA) today  announced the winner of its Sommelier World Cup challenge after a close race. Congratulations to Véronique Rivest!!

Véronique is well known and loved in the Canadian wine industry. She represented Canada at the World’s Best Sommelier Competition in Greece in May 2007, and placed in the top ten. In June 2007, she won the prestigious Wine Woman Awards competition in Paris and was named Wine Woman 2007. She most recently won the Peter Lehmann Shiraz World Sommelier Award 2010, while participating in the ASI contest for Best Sommelier in the World in Santiago de Chile in April, where she also placed in the top twelve.

On May 18, the Toronto semi final took place at the Queen and Beaver on Elm Street – a fitting spot for anything soccer-themed! The competition was intense as some of Eastern Canada’s top sommeliers jockeyed for first place. At the end of the day, Véronique Rivest of Quebec placed first and William Predhomme of Toronto a close second.

On May 20, an equally intense Vancouver semi was held at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club. After several rounds, the West coast crowned Jacques Lacoste its champion, with Alison Vidug squeezing the second place win.

Leonid Sternik  (Russia)

Russian round of the Sommelier World Cup took place on 25 May in St. Petersburg. The city was chosen as the arena for the competition because of the incredibly strong and well organized local sommelier community. These are St. Peterburgian sommeliers that have been taking all top positions in professional championships in Russia over the past few years.
A theater hall in the classy five-star Emerald Hotel was decorated in a luxury czarist style, which created festive and solemn setting. The venue was very suitable for the occasion since it had an ample space for contenders and a panel, comfortable sitting for spectators and even a small stage.

15 wine professionals from restaurants, hotels and wine boutiques of St. Petersburg took part in the qualifying round, which consisted of the blind tasting of six South African wines, theoretical test and wine list mistakes correction. Most contenders demonstrated excellent knowledge of South African wine industry and its wines and only meticulous point calculation allowed to reveal three semi-finalists.
A practical on-stage contest was awaiting these three lucky winners. In a theatrical setting they had to taste and describe a wine to “a couple, visiting a restaurant,” and answer some questions about wines in South Africa in front of the live audience. This part of the competition was done in English and it was very interesting to watch how the three contenders tackled this assignment. In the conclusion they also had a blind tasting of six wines from the countries competing in the Soccer World Cup. At the end of the competition all three semi-finalists received diplomas and numerous presents from organizers and sponsors of the competition. The main prize – the trip to South African and the possibility to compete in the Sommelier World Cup Final in Cape Town was awarded to Leonid Sternik – a Chief Sommelier of a stylish “KorovaBar” Restaurant.

Leonid is a well known sommelier in Russia. He is a three times winner of “St. Petersburg Cup” sommelier competition and also won a title of a Russian Champion Sommelier in 2006. His expert opinion is frequently utilized in different wine contests and ratings.

The event was attended by Dr. Bheki Langa, the Ambassador of South Africa in Russia, and George Bezoumatov, the DTI Marketing Officer, who came to St. Petersburg from Moscow specifically to support the competition. Dr. Langa made a short welcoming address to all competitors, organizers and guests.
The full photo report from the event could be seen at http://www.sa.imperiavkusa.ru/2010_05_25/index.html .

Sebastian Wilkens (Germany)