Hakkasan somm wins ‘Taster of the Year’

The first Amorim Taster of the Year Award has been won by Tobias Brauweiler MS, head sommelier at the London restaurant Hakkasan Hanway Place.

Tobias Brauweiler MS (Photo: Hakkasan)

German-born Brauweiler, 33, won his title by scoring the highest marks in the Tasting section of this year’s Master Sommelier examinations held at The Dorchester.

Cork producer Amorim, one of the new supporters of the Court of Master Sommeliers, put up the prize of a limited edition cork ice bucket created by artist Filipe Alarcão.

Brauweiler also won a scholarship trip to the Portuguese cork forests to see Amorim’s harvest and its production process.

Tobias, from the Dortmund area, has been working in the UK for five years, having arrived in 2010 to open Ellenborough Park in Cheltenham as Head Sommelier.

In 2012 he moved to London and joined Hakkasan, famous for its far-Eastern haute cuisine in August 2014.

“The Master Sommelier Exam is tough, with an incredibly low pass rate. So I was very relieved to have passed it on my third attempt,” he said at the award ceremony. “And even more delighted to be the first person to win the Amorim Taster of the Year Award. That’s quite an honour.”

“I don’t consider myself the greatest taster,” he continued, “I know skilled sommeliers who are much better than me, but I worked hard and trained a lot for the exam. To be recognised in this way for my tasting ability is very special.”