ACFWS

The semi finals of the Academy of Food & Wine’s 2010 Sommelier of the Year competition will see sommeliers from the UK’s top restaurants pitting their skills against one another, including representatives from two Gordon Ramsay restaurants, The Fat Duck, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Hotel TerraVina and La Trompette.

The competition, sponsored by House of Champagne Piper-Heidsieck, seeks to find the best sommelier or wine waiter in the UK based on wine knowledge, serving skills, customer service skills and tasting ability. The UK Sommelier of the Year is widely recognised as being one of the industry’s toughest competitions and has now been running for 30 years.

The following 15 sommeliers will go forward to the semi final, following the four regional finals held across the country this week [22 February]:

Garry Clark, sommelier, Chester Grosvenor, Chester
Remi Cousin, assistant head sommelier, The Fat Duck, Bray
Christopher Delalonde, sommelier, Sarment Wines, London
Sergio Dos Santos, head sommelier, Atlantic Hotel, Jersey
Bavand Foroughi, sommelier, Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, London W1
Yohann Jousselin, head sommelier, Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury
Jan Konetzki, assistant head sommelier, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London SW3
David Kubler, assistant sommelier, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxford
Erica Laler, sommelier, Texture, London W1
Phillippe Moranges, deputy head sommelier, Hakkasan, London W1
Mark Perlaki, head sommelier, Hotel du Vin et Bistro, Harrogate
Stephen Raducki, assistant sommelier, Le Pont de la Tour, London SE1
Laurent Richet, sommelier, Hotel TerraVina, Southampton
Clement Robert, head sommelier, Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, Evershot
Magda Saleh, assistant sommelier, La Trompette, London W4

The semi finals will take place on 28 April 2010 at the new Westbury Gallery at the Westbury Mayfair hotel, London, from which the top three will qualify for the final being held the same afternoon. In front of an audience of invited guests from the hospitality industry each finalist will complete a timed blind tasting, correct a series of mistakes on a wine list and participate in a pressurised restaurant role-playing scenario with difficult orders and demanding customers. A dramatic finale will see the three attempt the notorious Champagne pour, where a magnum of Champagne Piper Heidsieck Cuvée Brut has to be completely emptied and evenly poured into 16 flutes without returning to any of the glasses.

The winner of the UK Sommelier of the Year 2010 will be announced at a gala dinner that evening where they will be presented with the winner’s trophy. The winner will also receive a trip to the House of Champagne Piper-Heidsieck in the heart of the Champagne region including a personal tasting with Chef de Caves Régis Camus.

This year’s judging panel is headed by the Academy’s technical director Gerard Basset MW, MS, alongside Matt Wilkin MS, Ronan Sayburn MS, and Ian Harris of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

Last year’s UK Sommelier of the Year Laura Rhys, head sommelier at Hotel TerraVina in Hampshire. In 2008 Gearoid Devaney, then head sommelier of Tom Aikens in London, scooped the top prize.