Welcome to the Moët UK Sommelier of the Year website where you’ll be able to find everything you need to know about the competition and how to enter it.
The Moët UK Sommelier of the Year competition is organised by the Academy of Food & Wine Service and has been running since 1980.
Past winners include some of the UK’s best known sommeliers including Gerard Basset, Ronan Sayburn, Alan Holmes, Matt Wilkin, Gearoid Devaney and Laura Rhys – to name just a few.
Many of our past winners took part in the competition for several years before they finally won it including this year’s winner, Jan Konetzki and last year’s winner, Yohann Jousselin.
Taking part is a great education in itself – and of course if you get through to the final or even win, it’s a fabulous way to boost the profile of yourself and the establishment you work for.
The Moët UK Sommelier of the Year competition is open to professional sommeliers and waiting staff working in the UK and all entries must be supported by their employer. Once you’ve registered, you will be sent a first round questionnaire. Only those achieving at least 75% on the questionnaire will get through to the regional finals – usually 50-70 entries.
The regional finals were on 30th April 2012 and were held in four locations – Manchester, Bristol, Tunbridge Wells and London – and entrants undertook a written paper, a blind tasting and an oral service element. The three highest scoring entries then complete two practical service elements and an oral food and wine matching sessions.
The five regional winners and the four highest scoring candidates then made up the 12 candidates who competed in finals in London on 23rd May 2012. They were joined by the previous year’s runners-up and the winner of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs junior sommelier competition.
This year we had some exceptional scores in the Regional Finals. The 12 regional Finalists were:
- Loic Avril, The Fat Duck
- Arnaud Bardary, Maze Gordon Ramsay
- Tobias Brauweiler, Ellenborough Park
- Remi Cousin, The Fat Duck
- Sergio Dos Santos, Atlantic Hotel
- Bavand Foroughi, Savoy Grill
- Lukasz Kolodziejczyk, The Fat Duck
- Jan Konetzki, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
- Kathrine Larsen, Orrery
- Stephen Raducki, Hotel du Vin Winchester
- Laurent Richet, Restaurant Sat Bains
- Clement Robert, Medlar Restaurant
For an Application Form and further details, please contact:
Sarah Peters, Events Manager, Academy of Food & Wine Service
Telephone: 0845 600 1488
