Semi Final Competition

Andrea Martinis makes the Semi Finals

The Process

The morning started with a 30 minute written exam which included questions on contemporary issues in the wine and beverage world and an essay on being a sommelier.The candidates then individually went to complete tasks in two separate rooms.

Room One

1. Organoleptic Blind tasting of red wine (4 minutes)
Organoleptic description is where candidate uses the senses to evaluate the aromas, tastes and quality of the wine by using the sensory organs of sight, taste and smell. They must also identify the grape variety/ies, region and vintage.
2. Blind tasting of 3 white wines (3 minutes)
Grape variety/style, appellation, vintage
3. Three rocks depicting soil types where then presented to the candidate and they need to place them with the correct wine. These were limestone, silex and granite. (1 minute)
4. Three beverages were presented to be identified (2 minutes)
There were two fortified wines and one beer.
5. For the food and wine pairing, a Belgian chocolate tart was presented for the candidate to pair with the best of the beverage in section 4.

Room two

1. Here a table of six guest were seated. The candidate had to aerate and serve in a decanter two bottles of Trapiche Chardonnay however one bottle was not chilled. (6 minutes).

2. The second task was to make recommendations of how to promote Georgian wines into Belgium with the candidate coming up with ideas of how to do this. (5 minutes).