July 11, 2016

China wine flashback | First National Sommelier Competition seven years ago this week

Seven years ago this week, I flew to Shanghai for the first China National Sommelier Competition, co-organized by Tommy Lam and Asia Business Group, with Stacey Choe involved in the logistics. There was some excitement in the air and a feeling we were witnessing something special.
Shinya Tasaki, technical chair of Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) and “world’s best sommelier” in 1995 flew to China for the event. A large number of reps from China’s wine industry, including from the top importers, attended. And there were, of course, the eight contestants, members of a growing sommelier scene, with five winning trips to Argentina or Austria or Australia or France or Spain