Good taste is to be rewarded but not pitted in a competition. I admit to this paradox yet I have ben eagerly organising the Annual Sommelier Championship in India, since last year. This year the venue was a new wine fair, the International Food & Drinks Expo, which recently concluded at the Pragati Maidan in the capital.
So what exactly do sommeliers in a competition do? It isn?t exactly an athletic meet as they are not essentially being timed solely for quickness. Nor is it utterly cerebral with marks only for intelligence. It is mostly a test of passion and common sense. These are the only two main requisites while serving wine.
This year the judging panel comprised of Kavita Faiella (Aman Resorts), Angelo D’Ioia (The Oberoi) and Dirk Reinhardt (The Claridges) and I assure you it wasn?t easy having three such busy people find the collective time to come and judge at the competition. All the three judges sat themselves in front of the area where the contestants stepped up to hold stage. They commented on dishes, suggesting wines to go along, suggested dishes that could pair with a given set of wines and finally, they opened a bottle and tasted it live. To make sure that the candidates weren?t just making up random aromas to throw the judges off, the same wine was also served to the judges, and as far as the bottle permitted, to the spectators as well. Post the tasting the judges asked one question each and marked the candidates on their answers.
Not a beauty pagent but yes I can see the similarity. For one, in both cases, the one who wins may not necessarily be the prettiest. The rewarding factors for almost any competition remain more or less the same. But before I finish here is a third-party critic of the results.
What I found the contestants lacked was this: confidence. The boys (and the one lone girl) took themselves too seriously. Even as they suggested wines to go with dishes, it all seemed too rehearsed. They were obviously not having fun and it showed. The result was that although the pairings were not bad (which is, mind you, a very subjective thing in the first place), it failed to enthuse the judges to the point where they, as consumers, would have felt deeply inclined to buy the wines being suggested. They pronounced badly, intruded conversations, made unnecessary small talk or else were too quiet. The winners were then the people who didn?t just display exemplary wine knowledge but also showed unflinching confidence in such a tense situation.
Shubham of Aman won and Gandhib from the same hotel came in third. Rachna from The Trident strolled to a convenient first runner-up spot. Some hearts were broken but many a spirit were raised. I just hope these young enthusiasts only find more encouragement in this to try harder next time.
The competition will return next year and preliminary classes for budding candidates will be held in alliance with IWBS, India?s only wine and beverage campus- based institute. If the difference in the level of competence between the first two years is anything to go by, needless then to say or add that the third year should be a lot tougher and more gruelling not only for the participants, but also for the judges.
The writer is a sommelier