Asia somms gear up for WOSA Sommelier Cup

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) has announced the 10 hopefuls who are through to the WOSA Sommelier Cup Asia semi-finals which will be held in Hong Kong next week.

Held once every three years, the Sommelier Cup is now the third annual event run by Wines of South Africa in a bid to recognize talented industry professionals all over the world and offer the winner the chance to visit South Africa for the finals in September.

Hong Kong is the host country for the Asia semi-finals and the competition will be held on Monday, 18 July at the L’Hotel Causeway Bay and masterminded by wine marketer, Tersina Shieh.

Each semifinalist have to conduct a blind tasting and go through an on-stage role play and service test, recommending particular South African wines with the set menu. Finally, they have to correctly open, serve and decant a bottle of red wine.

The winner of the Asia semi-final will be invited to participate in the final in the Cape Winelands, representing Asia and competing against finalists from other countries in Europe, North America and Africa.

The 10 semi-finalists this year represent Hong Kong, China, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Korea and Thailand and are listed as:

• Bruce Li, China World Summit Wing Hotel, Beijing China
• Danny Ng, American Club, Hong Kong
• Felix Zhang, Hakkasan, Shanghai China
• Gus Han, Cellist’s Kitchen, Taiwan
• Joe Yang, Studio City, Macau
• Justin Ho, Private Room TTDI, Malaysia
• Masayoshi Shiokawa, Takashimaya Nihombashi, Japan
• Nathan Kim, Conrad Seoul, Korea
• Setsuko Mukai, KAZZ, Japan
• Yuthapichai Polnakoo, U Sathorn Bangkok, Thailand
  

dbHK will report on the Asia winner next week!