Industry body New Zealand Winegrowers has announced the 14 successful sommeliers who have been chosen to participate in the 2019 New Zealand Winegrowers International Sommelier Scholarship.
The NZ wine scholarship programme is open to sommeliers from Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US.
The 14 successful sommeliers are:
Asia
• Delphin Duan, Edition Hotels (Shanghai)
• Toshimichi Okamura, The Ritz-Carlton (Osaka)
Australia
• Ashlyn Foster, Quay (Sydney)
• Bhatia Dheeraj, Est. (Sydney)
• Wiremu Andrews, Pt. Leo Estate & Laura Restaurants (Melbourne) Canada
• Brad Royale, Brad Royale Consulting (Alberta & BC) Media Release 2 September 2019
UK & Europe
• Jacqueline Doucette, Geranium (Copenhagen)
• Julia Sewell, Hide (London)
• Philip Dunne, The Westbury Hotel (Dublin)
United Arab Emirates
• Amit Chavan, Hakkasan (Abu Dhabi)
USA
• Andrew Pettingell, Otium (Los Angeles)
• Chris Struck, Union Square Café (New York)
• Ezra Wicks, Bar Ferdinand (Seattle)
• Jonathan Lopez, The Milling Room (New York)
The 2019 event, to be held on 23 and 24 September, will see 16 international sommeliers take part including including hosts Master of Wine Stephen Wong, and Master Sommelier Cameron Douglas.
Sommit 2019 will be held in New Zealand’s northernmost wine region, Northland, and will take place over two days immediately before the 200th anniversary of the first planting of grape vines in the country.
Beginning with a full-day masterclass, the sommeliers will then head to Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, and finally, Central Otago.
New Zealand Winegrowers’ market implementation & education manager, Felicity Turner, said: “Sommit™ is like no other experience for a sommelier. It is an opportunity to taste amongst international peers, in the most astonishing New Zealand surrounds, and completely closed door. No winemakers, no wine marketers, just on-premise industry professionals tasting, discussing and debating without agenda. It’s a truly unique experience for our guests.”
This is NZ Wine’s seventh Sommit event. To date it has hosted six events and 97 sommeliers hailing from 16 different countries.
