In a one-year time the Latvian candidate passed from the 7th place at the world contest in Argentina to the first step of the podium in Austria. A quick ascent for a talented professional who bet all the odds.
In April 2016 in Mendoza, when Shinya Tasaki, A.S.I. president, and Gérard Basset, director of the technical committee, gave the list of candidates who could participate in the semifinals of the 15th A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World, we discovered some newcomers, mainly European. In Vienna in last May some of them showed it was not an accident! Starting with Latvian Raimonds Tomsons and Pole Piotr Petras, both present in the finals, then first and second of the 14th A.S.I. contest of the Best Sommelier of Europe.
For them like for all the 37 candidates representing 34 European countries and 3 African countries the competition started under a grey sky while the members of the different delegations were navigating the Danube and attending Austrian wines tastings. Very classical tests with the sensory analysis of two wines and the identification of three brandies and spirits, then a very dense questionnaire – ruthless for many – and at last a practical workshop of two minutes, for the first part of the three-day marathon. The technical committee did not need more to rank the candidates.
After the first stage they were only 12 left in the competition: Christian Jacobsen (Denmark), David Biraud (France), Terry Kandylis (Greece), Julie Dupouy (Ireland), Raimonds Tomsons (Latvia), Piotr Pietras (Poland), Jakub Pribyl (Czech Republic), Julia Scavo (Romania), Eric Zwiebel (United Kingdom), Aleksandr Rassadkin (Russia), Robert Andersson (Sweden) and Fabio Masi (Switzerland).
The next stage only consisting of practical workshops (degustation, food and wine pairings, service, commercial management) led Gérard Basset, Best Sommelier of the World 2010, and his team to select not three, but four finalists. Evidence that the difference with the very first was very small. Raimonds Tomsons remained in contention with Julia Scavo, David Biraud and Piotr Petras.
This Viennese final, the first organized during the gala dinner, led the candidates to express in different fields. They had to start with the spectacular exercise of serving a magnum of Moët & Chandon in a precise number of glasses. Then they had to serve a sake for an aperitif, propose a food and wine pairing, decant and serve a red wine, taste a red wine; afterwards they were submitted to an exercise with spirits, the identification of four sweet wines and the correction of an international wine menu.
After a last quiz, Japanese Shinya Tasaki, Best Sommelier of the World 1995, president of A.S.I., announced Raimonds Thomsons’ success. The winner, 36, head sommelier at restaurant Vincents in Riga, offers for the first time an international title to Eastern Europe. This continental victory already makes him one of the favourites of the next international appointment. It also enables Latvia to present a second candidate at the A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier of the World 2019 scheduled in Antwerp (Belgium).
Pole Piotr Petras, settled in United Kingdom, took the second place whereas Julia Scavo and David Biraud shared the third place. The Romanian candidate, who was not present in Argentina because she had a baby, thus finishes with a bronze medal. As for the head sommelier of the restaurant Sur mesure par Thierry Marx (Mandarin Oriental Paris), he did not succeed to win the title for the third time. Although he has not announced if he was going to participate in the selection of the French candidate for the 2019 world challenge (September 18 in Paris), he reminded that before they were crowned, Gérard Basset and Paolo Basso suffered the same fate and learnt to wait …
Jean Bernard
After a first successful attempt in Mendoza, the organizers of the Viennese competition, Sommelierunion Austria, set up the live broadcast of the final on the internet. Thousands of enthusiasts all over the world could follow the contest as well as listen to the interviews broadcasted between each candidate. It has now become a tradition and for the next continental contests Asia&Oceania (Japan) and Americas (Canada) the demand will be strong to follow from a distance the last workshops and the announcement of the winner.
Just like Sweden who has long structured a national team of sommeliers to support Sören Polonius, France has decided to do the same. Philippe Faure-Brac, UDSF president, confirmed this information and announced that Olivier Poussier, Best Sommelier of the World 2000, and Fabrice Sommier, Best Craftsman of France 2007 and director of the UDSF sommeliers contests, would be responsible for preparing the French Team with the sommeliers who have the will and potential to bring back a world title in France.
Let’s remind that the two first candidates of the European contest found premium sponsors to help them prepare themselves. Andreas Larsson (Best Sommelier of the World 2007) helped Raimonds Thomsons and Isa Bal (Best Sommelier of Europe 2008) prepared Piotr Pietras.
Ranking 24th of the contest, Mauritian sommelier Luciano Jeff Thomé was the first of the African candidates. Winning the title of Best Sommelier of Mauritius in last August, he confirms the excellent work of training done in the island, especially thanks to the commitment of the French who work there.
Taylor's is one of the most renowned producers with its serious vintages...
Six months after his election as the president of the UDSF, the MOF 2007 confirmed the dynamism of his board and various commissions. An overview of the first board meeting organized by the...
Created in January 2021 in homage to the great man that Gerard Basset was, ASI Best Sommelier of Europe 1996 and ASI Best Sommelier of the World 2010, the Gerard Basset Foundation...