{"id":75742,"date":"2015-12-24T01:15:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T23:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=75742"},"modified":"2015-12-24T01:15:32","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T23:15:32","slug":"first-south-african-sommelier-competition-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/first-south-african-sommelier-competition-launched\/","title":{"rendered":"First South African Sommelier Competition launched!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>The South African Sommelier Association (SASA)\u00a0has created the Best Sommelier of South Africa Competition, to recognize the best wine professional working in our country, and is calling for entries.<\/p>\n

The Sommelier Competition will be hosted biennially, and is open to members of the Sommelier Association who have at least one year wine service experience. The local winner will represent our country in the Best Sommelier of the World competition in Mendoza in Argentina in April 2016, and must be a South African citizen, and have worked in wine service for three years. A tough requirement is that the local representative must participate in the competition in a language recognised by the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale that is not is\/her home language.<\/p>\n

The international Sommelier Competition is held every three years, and next year a total of 56 sommeliers will compete for the title of ‘Best Sommelier of the World<\/em>‘.<\/p>\n

Neil Grant, Chairman of the local Sommelier Association, said about the new competition: ‘As an organisation intent on raising the standard of beverage service in the local hospitality industry, SASA is delighted to launch the\u00a0Best Sommelier of South Africa\u00a0Competition.\u00a0The intention is to test the art of the sommelier, not just\u00a0wine knowledge\u00a0or the ability to recognise a wine when tasted blind, but\u00a0the ability\u00a0to engage the client, the technicality of the service, the knowledge of all beverages, and\u00a0food and wine pairing.’<\/em><\/p>\n

The first event of the Sommelier Competition will be held at the Taj Cape Town on 11 January. \u00a0The panel of judges includes\u00a0Deputy General Secretary of the Association de la\u00a0Sommellerie\u00a0Internationale\u00a0and\u00a0the President of the Sommeliers of Morocco, Michele\u00a0Chantome;\u00a0Best Sommelier of Sweden 1986, Hans\u00a0Astrom; and Neil Grant.\u00a0The\u00a0Best Sommelier of the World 2010, Gerard Basset\u00a0MW,\u00a0will set some of the questions.<\/p>\n

Sponsors of the Sommelier Competition include\u00a0Veuve\u00a0Clicquot,\u00a0Nederburg, Reciprocal Trading, Riedel Glassware, and Taj Cape Town.<\/p>\n

South African Sommelier Association<\/strong>, www.sommeliers.org.za<\/a><\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Apply to info@sommeliers.org.za.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com\/blog<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage \u00a0<\/strong>Facebook: \u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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The South African Sommelier Association (SASA)\u00a0has created the Best Sommelier of South Africa Competition, to recognize the best wine professional working in our country, and is calling for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,1918,20,32565,19],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t