Véronique Rivest beats two men in the Finals

Contest Brazil

A.S.I. 2012 Best Sommelier
of the Americas

Véronique Rivest
beats two men in the Finals

Once again, the title of Best Sommelier of the Americas goes to a lady: Véronique Rivest, sommelier of Restaurant Les Fougères, in Chelsea, Quebec. And once again, she is a Canadian!

Indeed, in 2009 in Buenos Aires, the title was also brilliantly won by a young Canadian lady-sommelier, Elyse Lambert. And in 2004, the winner Ghislain Caron was already from Canada. Well done for the Canadian Sommellerie! And also for talented ladies sommeliers whose number is really increasing all over the world.

On October 23rd and 24th in Bento Gonçalves, Brazil, within the beautiful frame of Hotel & Spa do Vinho in the heart of the vineyards, several women had registered within the sommeliers candidates in the 2012 edition of the competition among which—besides Véronique—Paz Levinson and Agustina de Alba, both from Argentina, the Uruguayan Adriana Bidegain, and Nancy Gonzalez from Venezuela… Five ladies out of the nineteen candidates coming from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, U.S. and Venezuela. Charming, yes, but very professional and ready to face male sommeliers!
After highly selective semi-final tests and a final proposing live restaurant situations, Véronique outstripped the Brazilian Thiago Locatelli (2nd) and Ian Cauble (3rd) who represented the USA and was for the very first time participating in an international competition.
The scores of the semi-final revealed young talents in full progress. Let’s particularly point out the performance of Paz Levinson and Agustina de Alba, of Canadian William Predhomme, of the second US representative Alexander LaPratt, of Chilean Marcelo Pino, of Mexican Omar Barbosa… Names to remember for future international contests.
Let’s remind that this A.S.I. Contest of the Best Sommelier
of the Americas, organized every three years, allows all sommeliers associations in the American continent to send one or two candidates to compete against their peers and assess their level of knowledge and skills in front of an international panel of judges placed under the authority of the Technical Commission of the Association de la Sommellerie

Internationale, its Director Serge Dubs, and the A.S.I. Presi­dent Shinya Tasaki. This time, the honorary presidency went to Danio Braga, President of the Brazilian Association of Sommeliers that provided logistics support to the competition.
The laureates were awarded the traditional A.S.I. gold, silver and bronze medals and received attractive presents from sponsors of the event, Chandon, Nespresso, Arc International, Ibravin, and Hotel & Spa do Vinho.
Véronique Rivest took advantage of the hotel’s invitation to stay a couple of days longer in Bento Gonçalves and benefit from the experience of the Spa Caudalie no later than the very following week end.
Michèle Chantôme

Association de la Sommellerie Internationale
www.sommellerie-internationale.com