Early on Monday the 2nd of November 2009, Six of Ireland’s sommeliers turned up to do battle!  A true test of knowledge, based on international sommelier standards as layed down by the Association Sommeliere International.

Why would sommeliers want to compete in  a competition for such a tittle, well restaurant guides or magazines may hand out “winners gongs”, but are they a true test of themselves as people first and sommeliers second.

A Sommelier’s skill set and the standards they must now reach round the world in this day and age have vastly increased, thus by competing do they understand the benchmark they themselves are at. Anyone can reproduce knowledge in a written paper, but can they put together the perfect tasting note for a wine blind either written or verbal. Can they work a room and make all their customers feel as equally important even if some of them are on “house wine” and others have spent hundred’s of €, are they as nervous in front of the judges for the decantation as they might be in front of some their guests.

 The competition works along these lines, with a written paper on all aspects of restaurant service, wine knowledge, food knowledge, cigar service, tea & coffee knowledge, other beverage products including water.  From the written paper, blind wine identification along with suggested food pairings, temperature of service, potential maturation details are looked for. This is followed by a food and wine pairing with the same wines, using house smoked Irish salmon, Parma Ham and Hegarty’s aged Cheddar.

A nervous wait by the contestants follows, as the marks from the mornings papers are compiled.

Anke Hartman, the Cliff House Hotel, Ardmore, Co Waterford

Mathieu Schmutz, Sheen Falls Hotel, Kenmare, Co Kerry

Damien  Corr, Cellar Bar, Merrion Hotel, Dublin 2;

Andrez Dasiak, Annebrook House Hotel Mullingar;

Michal Tomaszewski, the Radisson Stillorgan, Co Dublin and overall winner Julie Dupouy of the Residence, Dublin 2

Judges and audience gather as the competitors are lined up to be told who is going through to the final! Going through to the final were Anke Hartman, Damien Corr and Julie Dupouy.  The other candidates join the audience to watch them being challenged to come up with answers and solutions to guest judges questions, an erroneous wine list, a decantation and service of a bottle of wine, blind verbal identification of 3 wines with suggested food match. Identification of 7 products.  Cigar service ( the inner tray of the cigar box - it lifts out!). Menu for suggested wine pairings.

While this is all going on there is a judge sitting in the room watching  for style, elegance, comportment while they are going through all these exercises. A truly critical element of what a sommelier does - being human!

It must be noted that all candidates in the world competition compete in a language that is not their native tongue!  Anke & Julie did this part in English and Damien had to do one wine in Spanish.  This service part of the competition is as nerve racking for the audience as it is for the 3 finalists on stage, you can see their body language, the unforced error or identifying a wine and then changing their minds.  But it is all part of making them stronger and more confident sommeliers “actors” on the floor in their own establishments.  All are winners for turning up on the day and giving it a go, it’s the great networking opportunity to meet new people and share ideas and grow.

The Irish Guild of Sommeliers would like to thank the following organizations for their support and help in putting together a very successful day.   William Wouters - President of the Belgium Sommeliers - representing ASI,Gilbeys of Ireland, Little Italy, Tyrrell & Co Wines, Celtic Whiskey Shop, Febvre & Co, The Four Seasons Hotel Dublin, The Decent Cigar Emporium, Searsons Wine Merchants, The members of the IGS and staff at the Four Seasons Hotel Dublin who volunteered their time.

 In a closely run contest Julie Dupouy came in 1st with Anke Hartman 2nd and Damien Corr 3rd.  As both Julie and Anke have not lived in Ireland long enough under ASI rules (3 years continuous) Damien as best placed eligible competitor has the opportunity to represent Ireland in the Best Sommelier of the World in Chile next year.

 

We wish him and all the other sommeliers luck in their quest of knowledge to improve their skills and guests enjoyment!

 

Hotel and Catering Review Gold Medal Awards 2009

Long flight to get here to find no sun and no Andes!  But honestly what a great trip to be on! Kindly organized by Wines of Chile’s Dublin Office through Jean Smullen.

First day up to Aconcagua Valley to visit Vina San Esteban - www.vse.cl ( Someone in Galway brings these wines in) and Errazuriz (now with Cassidy’s) The Gran Reserva Carmenere 2007 showed very well from VSE!    Great structure - velvety tannins, fresh balancing acidity. Loads of lovely blueberry fruit. Approachable now, love to see how this develops.  Errazuriz have $50 millon going into a whole set of inovation in the wine making concept and design of their winery. The Errazuriz Carmenere defintely has something going for it, very interesting structure, over all well made wines giving a good first impression. Better structure balance and freshness to the wines.  The Kai their top Carmenere a definite winner, voluptuous up front fruit again along the blueberry line, dipping mid palate slighlty but in a nice way.  Fresh acidity balanced against the malleable tannins.  One for the cellar.

The day finished with  visit to Restaurant La Mar in Santiago, fantastic - Perurivan cebicheria cuisine - raw fish with an edge - stunning presentation, fab   texture and flavors and all going well with the local vino!

Day 2 up and out early and down too Maipo and De Martino and a turtoured tasting with Marcelo!  This man brings a new meaning to the word passion!  Terroir driven, solar exposure understood, regional tipicity required. A classic example of this would be the Legado Chardonnay form Limari (it’s new) the soil gives it that Burgundian edge.  The real highs though was the single vineyard “El Leon” 2006 old vine Carignan from Maule, elegant fruit structure, with lovely minerality showing through and subtle white pepper notes. One to look out for!  Followed by “Las Cruces” 2007, a field blend of Malbec(60) Carmenere(30) and others, dry farmed from Cachapoal, fantastic structure and elegance to this wine.

 Day 2 continued a pace with Vina Carmen lined up….what self respecting sommelier would add this to their agenda. Low and behold we meet the young Stefano Candolini who like Marcelo above is very terroir committed.  Yet has gone down the road of the world famous Grange of Oz in his wine making philosophy - to blend the best material he has to work with & create some unusual blends such as C & C. More on that later!

Stefano’s Carmenere/Carignan 2008 barrels sample, excellent blend, great balance with the Carignan lifting the structure of the blend - very elegant.  His next blend being a Syrah/Petit Syrah barrell sample with the potential to give a great northern Rhone a run for it’s money?

The Cabernet 2008 barrel sample with great juicy cassis notes, lovely Eucalyptus and fine grained tannins - great aging potential

His final wine a blend of the best 2008 Cabernet/Carmenere/Carignan he can get his hands on from around Chile, wow! Possibly for release as Carmen’s Icon wine for 2011 after the others are released in 2010. Above all the wines showed great balance and were we surprized!

The wines of Santa Rita were up next for scrutiny, alot of wines to taste here with the Reserva Carmenre 2008 barrel sample showing very well with elegant velvety fruit and tanins.  The 2007 Medella Real Syrah (Barrel sample) from the Limari Valley north of Santiago. Big juicy wine with lots of dark fruits and hints of black olive (always a good sign on a Syrah) - fine grained tannins.  A wine that show’s the great potential of Syrah in cool climate areas of Chile, take note Australia!  The Triple C a Cab Franc/Cab Sauvignon & Carmenere blend 2005 from the Maipo Valley.  Still young with an elegant structure, balanced with fine grained tannins ripe fruit and fabulous finish. The Santa Rita Casa Real 20005 show’s the leap that Chilean wine makers are making with their icon wines, better balanced, less green tannins with fruit that is not over ripe.  Alcohol levels will always be on the highish side - too much sunshine in Chile.  Though better vineyard site placement will help manage this aspect of their wine making, such as using morning and mid day sun only and using the mountain shadow to block-out the afternoon sun.

  Terra Andina was up next, part of the same group as the above two wines, we were shown the reserva’s here all well made wines with the Pinot Noir 2007 from the cool climate Leyda Valley, showing best. Light in colour with lovely strawberry fruits and fresh finish.  Over night stay was in Casa Real Hotel  with diner and the wines of Nativa (formally a label within Carmen). Wine maker Felipe Ramirez led us through the wines which are organically grown and can now be found with Gilbeys of Ireland.  Lost my notes on these wines! But you can find more about them on their  Nativa website!

Day 3 - Heading down to the Colchagua Valley and to Mont Gras

Fab 2008 Reserva Sauvignon Blanc, lovely grassy notes - elegant well made wine.

Followed by a interesting 2009 Reserva Chardonnay - fermented under natural yeast which stopped at 13.5% leaving a wine with 8 grams residual sugar! No wine maker intervention, thus leaving a rich creamy wine partially barrel fermented and also fresh acidity adding to a fairly crisp finish.

The Quatro, a blend of Cab/Carmenere/Syrah/Malbec, showing very well for a 2008.  Elegant blend priced in the low teens in this market.  Followed by the Carmenere Reserva 2008 - well structured, velvet comes to mind to describe the structure.  Is Carmenere the new Malbec?

The Antu (meaning sun in the local language) from the Ninquen vineyards is a full on Syrah 2007 - very well put together with hints of black olive sitting in behind the layers of dark fruit and balanced use of both French and Amercian Oak. Sitting at 15 degrees alcohol which one would be hard to pick out in this very well made wine.

Next we had a look at the Ninquen Antu Syrah/Cabernet blend from 2006 a 65/35 blend with a mixture of French and Amercian oak, first and second fill, stonking glass of wine! Great elegance and structure.  Then came the big daddy of the tasting Intriga 2006 - 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, all it’s time in oak for 17 months. Comes in at 14.5 degrees but you would not feel it. Plenty of fruit - fine grained tanins and a Bordeaux like herbaceous edge to the finish.  Very good indeed - Will Barry & Fitzwilliam bring these in?

Following on from Mont Gras was the magnificant winery of Casa Lapostelle and show round and tasting with the lovely Andrea Leon!  Stunning location for the winery, set into the side of the hill of this east facing horse shoe valley and the Cos Apalta vineyards.

Michael Rolland consults here but I think you will find that Alexandra Marnier and Andrea’s stamp all over these wines, tasted 10 wines here. The Casa Sauvignon from the Rapel Valley - clean fresh, good balance, a yummy glass of wine. The Cuvee Alex 07 Chardonnay much improved on earlier versions tasted, better fruit quality, no malo, more restrained use of oak, elegant glass of wine!

Then into some back vintages and current vintages on the reds. Two 1999’s versus current release vintage of 2007, Cuvee Alex Cab and Clos Apalta, admittedly the vineyard was still very young when the ’99’s were made and it showed, dried out and on last legs. However the 2007’s really show the fantastic potential going forward of Casa Lapostelle. Great layers of dark fruits, youthful elegant smooth tannins, all important balancing acidity - these wines will certainly age 15 years plus. The Clos Apalta has a fabulous velvet texture to it, expect it to not be cheap on release! If you go for the wine make sure you try the Pisco Sours!

Day Four Organic supported by Biodynamic!

The you must be standing in the vineyards of Emiliana . They have gone organic since 1998 and the philosophy is to support their efforts using Biodynamic methods.

 

 The fun part here was seeing the whole Biodynamic side of their operation, the wines showing very well.  The two Pinot Noirs  both with tpyicity in both colour and on the nose - well made, strawberry with earthy notes coming through.  Wines from both the Novas and Adobe ranges overall showing very well. The Novas WMS (wine maker selection) 2006 Cabernet and 2006 Syrah/Mourvedre both excellent examples. Coyam 2006 - Emiliana’s Icon wine from a blend of best juice from 6 grapes, is a fantastic glass of wine. Still young and will need some more time to come round, a keeper!

Off on our travels again to Valdivieso in Curico, with a quick look around the winery it was off to lunch we headed.  They kindly put on the full range to taste in the restaurant ( famous for only having 4 dishes on the menu - earthy home cooking!) Very Good.  Out of the 30 wines on show we restrained ourselves and tasted 1/2 of them.  Tasty sound quality at the varietal entry point, from the reserve wines the 2006 Cabernet has been a favorite.  With the Syrah and Carmenere  2007 both showing very well.  From the Single vineyard selection the Cabernet Franc 2007 - reminiscent of something “right bank”!

In the upper echelons of their range the Caballo Loco releases 10 and 11 are tight and youthful, current release in Ireland is the 9 ( drinking superbly!)    Number 9 technical sheet.  This wine is non vintage as it is a blend of 50% the current vintage plus 50% of wine from the previous blends from previous vintages!

A lovely little gem from Valdivieso is the natural Botrytis Semillon 2007, sweet but with a clean finish.  WineSelect in Dublin bring these wines in.

Up next we hit the road again and headed to Via wines in Maule,  like many of the properties they have their own guest house. Time to chill and have a cold beer before dinner.  Where we were joined by the delightful wine maker Soledad Mello who entertained us royaly with the trials and tribulations of wine making in Chile!

Wines tasted came from their Chilcas  and Overa Negra ranges, with the Chilcas Pinot Noir standing out from the dinner the night before.  The Chilcas Reserva Carmenere 2007, again very good - it’s the velvet texture that gets you! The Lost Barrel 2008 from the ON range a blend of best parts by the head wine maker of Carmenere/Carignan and Syrah - very appealing & nice price point.

 Botalcura  brought in by Searsons was next!  French wine maker too!

Great range of wines from bottom up, very tasty Chardonnay/Vioginer and a new addition the Riesling/Gewürztraminer  2009 - lively little number! Definitely a European edge to the wine making here, a fab Syrah/Malbec 2007.  A very good 2006 Cabernet Gran Reserva, followed by a very fine grained Carmenere.  They even play with Nebbillo here! The 2005 with a lovely sweet spot on the finish.  The 2003 Cayao Icon wine a blend of 4 grapes, aged for 3 years - serious wine here with lovely evolved notes and meaty palate!

 Day Five Final winery Vina Casa Silva! Possibly considered Kings of Carmenere!

Possibly also had the white of the trip as well with their Cool Coast Sauvignon Blanc 2009! Very Good - from a vineyard site about 5 kms from the Pacific and certainly worth getting your hands on a bottle! Next up was a cross section of the 2007’s - Carmenere Reserva, inky soft tannins go well with Chinese duck!  Again Syrah showing very well, touch of black olive, great structure. Followed by the Gran Reserva Carmenere Los Lingues - very good, begins to explain why they are known as Kings of Carmenere.

 

2007 Quinta Generacion (blend of 5) very well balanced - fine smooth tannins!  We then took a step back to Microterroir De Los Lingues, the result of a study with a local university. Wow - great glass of wine, powerful rounded, weighty glass of wine.  Retailing in the €40 region, worth it.  Altura is Casa Silva’s Icon wine and we tasted the 2004 which after 18 months in barrel spends another 2 years in bottle before release, still very youthful and will be long lived, finished with dinner in Casa Silva’s restaurant. A lovely way to finish the trip and lets not mention the key incident Tomas!

Both Martina and Simon would like to thank Jean and Wines of Chile and in particular Alfonso and Ignacio for bringing us half way round Chile !  A very obvious jump in quality and dedication by the new wave of Chilean wine makers - keep up the great work!

 

 

 

A young Canadian sommelier from restaurant Le Local in Montreal won the APAS & ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier of the Americas 2009 in front of an audience of wine lovers in the hotel Panamericano in Buenos Aires. Second was her compatriot Véronique Rivest, third, the Brasilean Guilherme Corrêa.

For the Argentinian Sommeliers Association and his president Andrés Rosberg it was a real challenge to organize for the first time on the American continent this international ASI, Association de la Sommellerie Internationale, and APAS, Alianza Pan Americana de Sommeliers, contest , inviting many countries to select and send their best sommeliers (maximum two) to Buenos Aires. A great success indeed.

 

The semi-final including written and practical tests allowed, on Sunday May 31^st, select three finalists among the fifteen candidates representing eight countries :

Agustina de Alba and Marcelo Rebolé, Argentina, Guilherme Corrêa and Tiago Locatelli, Brazil, Elyse Lambert and Véronique Rivest, Canada, Ricardo Grellet Almerighi and Hector Riquelme, Chile, Juan Carlos Flores Mazon and Marcos Flores Tlalpan for Mexico, Juan Pablo Figueroa Crisologo and Victor Kompanichenko for Peru,  Fernando Beteta,  USA, Malvy Medina Castillo and  Marilis Susana Sanchez Orro for Venezuela.

In the huge Panamericano room, some five hundred persons, including Argentinian and foreign journalists, attended the great final. The title of Best Sommelier of the Americas 2009 would be won by Brazil or Canada on June 1^st. The candidates had to face practical and oral tests against the clock and in a foreign language : serving a sparkling wine, taking an order advising the best pairing of food and wines, decanting and serving a red wine, tasting blind three wines and identifying five spirits, and then correcting errors on a wine list.

Andrés Rosberg, president of AAS, noted the high level of the final together with Gerard Basset, MS, MW, Best Sommelier of Europe 1996, vice world champion and guest star of this contest, Michèle Chantôme, director of the ASI Technical Commission and Danio Braga, president of APAS and vice-president of ASI for the American  continent.

“I can’t realize I am the Best Sommelier of the Americas” was still saying Elyse, deeply moved, a few hours after her victory. Her next goal will be the ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World, with Moët & Chandon, that will take place in Santiago de Chile in April 2010. Thanks to her continental title she will directly represent her country with another Canadian candidate the association is allowed to select. A privilege shared also by Turkey whose candidate, Isa Bal, became Best Sommelier of Europe 2008, and the country of the winner of the next ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier of Asia-Oceania in Osaka, the next month of November.

In accordance with the Rules of the ASI contests, the members of the Technical Commission chaired by Shinya Tasaki, Best Sommelier of the World 1995 and ASI vice-president for Asia Oceania and directed by Michèle Chantôme, Serge Dubs, Best Sommelier of Europe 1988, Best Sommelier of the World 1989 and ASI vice-president for Europe, Danio Braga, APAS president and ASI vice president for the Americas, had prepared the tests for the competition helped by Catherine Doré and Paul Brunet, and, for the logistics, by Fernanda Orellano, Technical Director of the AAS. From Japan, Yumiko Ueno, assistant to the ASI president Kazuyoshi Kogai, was in charge of the coordination.

 

 

 

A great line up of wine makers from Germany - great opportunity to get to grips with this most versatile grape!   Riesling & Co Tasting Dublin June 2009

……why sommelier competitions aren’t just relevant to those who work in Michelin-starred restaurants.

Well done Laura Rhys! In case you haven’t heard, she’s the talented young woman who just won the ‘Sommelier of the Year’ title in a gruelling competition. To win she had to complete various tasks, from spotting faults on a wine list to pouring 16 glasses of Champagne from a magnum, all in front of a large audience. Every challenge was tough, but it was the role play that really sorted out the winner.Three sommeliers made it through to the role play round, and were faced with a 15-minute deadline to deal with two very demanding tables. This included serving and re-filling a chilled white wine, decanting a red wine, answering a tricky question about organic wines, and suggesting aromatic wines to match every course of a vegetarian tasting menu, all without repeating the same country or grape. Wow!Watching her, and the other competitors, I was struck at first by the up-market focus of the role play challenge. Every step appeared to involve folding a white cloth, or placing a side plate on the table; there seemed no end to the formal flourishes. This was wine service wrapped in linen and topped with bone china! I was simultaneously enthralled by the skill on display and irritated by the ‘three-star’ standards. But on reflection I started to feel differently.Clearly the competition needs a formula or standard that all entrants must follow. The chosen regime is broadly what you see in most formal, top end restaurants round the world, but is it appropriate? Even Michelin-starred restaurants don’t always have tablecloths nowadays, and most establishments are far less fussy. The simple answer, then, is ‘no’. The real answer, however, is that it doesn’t matter at all. The crockery and linen are just decoration. The real skills (brilliant service, great wine knowledge and split-second time management) are exactly the same for everyone who works in a restaurant.Laura won because she answered all the questions, served all the wine and made excellent suggestions for wine and food matching within the 15 minutes allowed. Even if different service standards were used, she would have won anyway. In other words, competitions like this are relevant to all of us, wherever we work. Each skill that Laura had to demonstrate is a skill needed every day of the week in restaurants everywhere.It’s not just fine dining restaurants that have errors in their wine lists. It’s not only Michelin-starred places where a bottle of wine has to be shared evenly round a table of six people. It’s certainly not just up-market joints where the customer needs a suggestion for what to drink, or an explanation of something they don’t understand. If you work in a restaurant, all those things are part of daily life, even if you are not a sommelier.Sommelier competitions can really focus attention on service, and any restaurant wanting to ‘do’ wine properly (with or without the tablecloths) is going to benefit by taking part. I’d love to think that sometime soon one of the finalists will come from a casual dining background. Everyone who competes is going to improve their skills just by taking part, so why not? Why leave it to the top few establishments? Especially when watching the final is such good entertainment!

John McDonnell held another very successful tasting event at Croke Park! wine-australia-catalogue-09.pdf

 Please see link for results & well done to Ian in Chapter One for wining best Wine List! http://www.rai.ie/events.jsp

 

 

 Olivier Meisonnave

 

1.       Olivier your restaurant Dax does not have a sommelier, who looks after the wine sourcing and listings, training?

               

Myself

2.       You have strictly kept your list to European wines only?  Why is this? 

                I think there is enough wine in Europe. The quality is superior to the new world and also most of the new world wine is branded. I don’t want to have them in DAX and you can buy them in O’Brien’s, Dunes Stores or Tesco…

3.       What wines/regions bring intrinsic pleasure to you?

For France: Burgundy and Languedoc / for Spain Ribera del Duero, For Portugal: Douro and Italy: Piedmonte

4.       Do you think it is important to empower your staff to taste every wine before serving to the guest? Does it improve their knowledge and ability to improve sales? 

                I think it is important to do it to make sure it’s not corked or musty and also to improve your knowledge and ability to sale your wine regarding the customer request

5.       How much time do you spend with the chef on making sure the wines you buy for your guest relates to the food? 

                I do spend time to do the menu with him but I don’t buy wine in relation with the food. Very few customers want to have the perfect wine with the food. They want to enjoy their wine and will appreciate a good recommendation for the DINNER and NIGHT. I buy wine in relation to the demand and taste of my customers. 

1.       In putting together your list, what are the dominating factors in the selection process?  Is there a synergy with the kitchen in the selection process for instance – do your guests buy into the food and wine matching thing? 

In putting a list together I take into account the food of the establishment and the seasons. A wine list should reflect the changing of the seasons for instance in the summer the wines on a list should be slightly lighter and fresher than the big heavy winter warmers the food at this time of year.  We offer a tasting menu with matching wines by the glass for both lunch and dinner which has proved to be very popular and gives the customer the opportunity to experience the great food and wine pairings. Irish people are very open minded and love to experiment.  A wine list should be balanced with wine from every country and reflect wines that can suit every ones palate and budget. It should also be kept currant and contain the small boutique producers that give quality and something special. I also feel that some of the big names are more about marketing and less about quality and make wines to suit certain wine journalists.        

 

2.       You have introduced a €25 bottle section. Is this section an important addition and are your guests buying into it?

The new €25 wine selection is a big winner and is in big demand at present as people are quite money conscious, they still want to enjoy the same quality of life as they did before but not at the same price!

3.       What wines/regions bring intrinsic pleasure to you? 

The wine regions that bring the most pleasure to me changes by the day depending on my mood , at present I love the wines from Austria, Grüner Veltliner and their wonderful floral Rieslings also my new love affair at present is with Portugal From the Douro to the Alentejano  they offer so many different styles and grape varieties to offering great value for money .   If I had a dessert Island wine it would probably be a Burgundy White or a Rhone Red (Northern) and of course Champagne who wouldn’t.

4.       Do guests know more about wine than most current restaurant managers and staff? What way do you think is the best way for staff to go about gaining an improved wine knowledge? Leading to more confident sales and improved revenue for the outlet.

Our restaurant manager and some of our staff have completed their advanced certificate course and are very interested in wine they also go to many of the tastings around town. I also do wine tastings and lectures with the staff on a continuing basis.   

5.       You’re going to Chile later this year on a vinous trip, what are you hoping to see and learn. Nice perk to the job?    

 I am hoping to learn more about the regions and the wines of Chile, about the people and their passions, their philosophy of wine making, to feel the out what is going on within each region and to find out what grapes are doing  better in each region , for what reason ( Soil, Terroir, Aspect etc) and to find out what experiments are taking place. I would love to come back with a big passion and love for the wines of Chile, the country and people.