Magandeep Singh
People love competitions. In fact, most members of the animal kingdom thrive on battles of various kinds. While ‘sommelerie’ may seem the most sedate of things to be converted into a competition, the ensuing battle is a match of wits for the gentlemen of the sport. The cricket of gastronomy, if you may.
I recently organised the first Indian Sommelier competition in Delhi during the concluded IFE show. From the best of judges – Andrew Steele (Shangri-La), Stephane Soret (The Imperial) and Angelo De Ioia (The Oberoi), to the best of wines to be tasted, and the ultimate wine accessories (Pulltex, Riedel) – all were brought in to ensure that nothing was left to luck or chance.
The level of participation was encouraging and reassuring, but next year I wish to see more youngsters step forward. We had eight finalists competing on the stage in front of a live audience. It was truly the cream of the crop, with the best of wine servers from the city gathered together, sitting on the edge of their seats as each of them was put through round after round of some serious sommelier grilling!
There are plenty of reasons for organising such a competition. At the most obvious and direct of levels it evaluates the level of knowledge of the people who are working in the wine service industry. It shows other aspiring servers the way forward and how they need to brush up to match up. And then, it tells consumers about what to expect from a good and commendable wine server. It helps them establish international standards for wine service, wine knowledge and wine pairing capabilities to expect and evaluate.
By themselves, none of the above functions are as useful as they are collectively. If wine service has to improve, the movement has to be routed through both ends – consumers and trade. The competition aimed at doing just that, and, if I were to judge my own work as an impartial third party, I’d sayit went fairly well.
For one thing, I didn’t make the ordeal any simpler than it is abroad in countries like France. The rounds consisted of the following:
- Suggesting wines to go with certain dishes: This may sound simple but the difference lies in how convinced the judges are about the wines. The answers normally have to be highly specific: not just down to the wine style or grape but also the region, level of appellation and perhaps even vintage.
- Suggesting food pairings for certain wines: This is a tad simpler but again the accompanying sauces and dishes need to be defined.
- Picking errors from a flawed wine list: This can be tricky as sometimes the ‘errors’ can consist of spelling mistakes, wrong listing nomenclatures, incorrect regions for certain wines, and just about anything. It is tricky but it is also the most objective of exercises.
- Wine Service: This is where the flair and confidence displayed by a candidate become most useful apart from, of course, the dexterity with which they handle the entire operation.
- Tasting and Commenting: Here the sommelier tastes and comments on the wine, providing a critique and then suggesting how it could best be enjoyed. I was a bit of a maverick here and I had the judges enjoy the wines along with the participants so that they all could see how much was true and how much was ‘wine mongering’.
Each contestant was in the spotlight for half an hour or so. The judges were not too strict but they still made their point very vividly. The contestants enjoyed participating as also learning from the vast knowledge bank that are Andrew, Stephane and Angelo.
The first place went to Hanuman Singh of The Imperial and the second and third both went to the participants from the Taj Palace – Subbaraman and Vikas Gupta. I will be delivering their etched trophies shortly.
All in all, I had a great competition. It was truly an exercise in learning for all of us involved. I encourage more people to participate next year, and also to come and see us grill these people. We all need to understand why being a sommelier is a different job from being a food server or a barman.
