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