AFWS unveils Sommelier of the Year finalists

The 16 finalists have been revealed for this year’s Piper-Heidsieck UK Sommelier of the Year Competition, organised by the Academy of Food and Wine Service.

Following regional finals held last week, the team from The Fat Duck in Bray took three of the places, with sommeliers Loic Avril, Remi Cousin and Lukasz Kolodziejczyk all qualifying.

The Hotel du Vin & Bistro chain also performed well, sending two of its sommeliers, Wiremu Andrews and Mark Periaki from its Cheltenham and Harrogate branches respectively, to the final.

The finalists will now compete in the final, to be held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London on 1 June 2011. Rounds include blind tasting, food and wine matching and a detailed questionnaire.

From the 16 contenders, three will go through to the afternoon session, where a live audience will watch them compete in another blind tasting, wine list correction exercise, role play scenario and Champagne pour challenge. The winner will be announced at the Sommeliers’ Dinner that evening.

Predicting “one of the most exciting finals in the competition’s 32-year history”, AFWS chairman Nick Scade said: “This year’s finalists includes some familiar names but we’ve also got some exciting new sommeliers coming to the fore such as Adam Pawlowski from Northcote, Arnaud Bardary from Maze and Loic Avril from The Fat Duck.”

The judges of the 2011 competition include Nick Lander, food writer and restaurant consultant; Gerard Basset MS MW, technical director of the AFWS and owner of Hotel TerraVIna; and Matt Wilkin MS, AFWS director and owner of H2Vin.

Last year’s winner was Christopher Delalonde MS from the London-based private sommelier service, Sarment Wines.

The full list of finalists:

Wiremu Andrews, Hotel du Vin & Bistro, Cheltenham
Loic Avril, The Fat Duck, Bray
Arnaud Bardary, Maze, London W1
Tobias Brauweiler, Ellenborough Park, Cheltenham
Remi Cousin, The Fat Duck, Bray
Sergio Dos Santos, Atlantic Hotel, Jersey
Bavand Foroughi, Claridge’s, London W1
Michael Jenni, L’Autre Pied, London W1  
Johann Jousselin, The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury
Lukasz Kolodziejczyk, The Fat Duck, Bray
Kathrine Larsen, Le Pont de la Tour, London SE1
Philippe Moranges, Hakkasan, London W1
Adam Pawlowski, Northcote, Blackburn
Mark Perlaki, Hotel du Vin & Bistro, Harrogate
Stephen Raducki, Lime Wood, Lyndhurst
Clement Robert, Summer Lodge, Evershot.

Gabriel Savage, 19.04.2011