Soft drinks, vegan menus... sommeliers create new pairings

They have two minutes to identify five non-alcoholic beverages, then must imagine in three minutes and in a foreign language a vegan menu that goes with them: these are now the skills necessary to win the competition for the best sommelier in the world.

This semi-final event, like two more classic ones around wine and service, takes place in the cozy atmosphere of a hotel in Paris which is hosting the 17th edition of this triennial event until Sunday.

The rare observers have their mobile phones confiscated and are asked to whisper so as not to distract the candidates.

Tropical fruit juice, sparkling apple juice, kombucha, beer, orange wine… We don’t know what these glasses contain, but hearing the answers that go in all directions, we guess that the exercise is much less evident only with wine.

“Very trendy”

Denmark’s Nina Jensen does it with so much confidence that you can be convinced. In contrast, Argentine Valeria Gamper petrifies when it comes to vegan dishes: “I don’t know, sorry”she lets go even before the end of the countdown.

Latvian Raimonds Tomsons told AFP that it was “the hardest”. Non-alcoholic drinks are “very trendy and it is becoming more and more important”, he admits. “The vegan menu was even more difficult. I had dishes in mind, but it was very difficult to find pairings with these drinks”.

“Of course we could expect” this kind of test, says French candidate Pascaline Lepeltier, for whom skills going beyond wine are “fundamentals” Today.

Asked how he prepared for the competition, American Mark Guillaudeu admits, however, that he focused on wine: “I set up a cellar of 150 bottles (…) and I did two to three tastings in black glasses every day for two and a half months”.

“Normalian, Centralian”

“Today there are multiple expectations and the sommelier has to be in tune”told AFP Philippe Faure-Brac, president of the Union of French Sommellerie and winner of the competition for the best sommelier in the world in 1992.

The Latvian candidate Raimonds Tomsons takes part in the competition for the best sommelier in the world, on February 10, 2023 in Paris AFP photo.

Seven countries took part in a first competition in Belgium in 1969, 25 in 1992 and 65 today in Paris, plus three continental champions. “When there is an evolution in numbers, there is a mix of cultures” and they are asked for knowledge of drinks from around the world, he explains.

“You have to have an impeccable technical background and find words that are understandable, precise and that release enough emotion”, emphasizes Philippe Faure-Brac.

All now pass the tests in a foreign language: the French did in English and the American in French.

“I have in front of me a normalien and a centralien!” (graduates of the Grandes Ecoles in France, editor’s note), enthused Eric de Saint Victor, winemaker at the Château de Pibarnon in Bandol, when he had his wines tasted by young sommeliers in January as part of the Vinapogée fair. He finds this new generation “less peremptory, more open with an incredible level of knowledge”.

Underutilized creativity

“I am filled with admiration in front of these people, their ability to brighten up a table, to make things simple, affordable, but not simplistic”supports Véronique Dausse, the director of Château Phélan Ségur in Saint-Estèphe, partner of the competition.

The American candidate Mark Guillaudeu participates in the competition for the best sommelier in the world, on February 10, 2023 in Paris **AFP photo.**

Despite the enthusiasm for this profession in Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States, it does not sell as many dreams in France.

“In countries like ours, the sommelier can be the victim of a traditional image, we will confine him to wines”told AFP Gwendal Poullennec, director of the Michelin guides, which has been awarding a sommelier prize for several years.

While the idea of going beyond wines divides France, he finds that creating cocktails or non-alcoholic food pairings could improve this image.

“There is a great space for creativity which has only been partially exploited. I see no antagonism with our culture” you wine.