Italian victorious at Sud de France Sommelier Competition

An Italian-born sommelier has soared to victory in the Sud de France Sommelier Competition held in the capital yesterday.​

Sara Bacchiori, assistant head sommelier at The Glasshouse, fought off competition from two Frenchmen, Arnaud Goubet, head sommelier, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Alexandre Ceret, head sommelier at The Greenhouse, to take the title of Sud de France Sommelier of the Year 2010.

The coveted title was handed to her by organisers Sud de France, the trade body that represents the French wine producing region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

An alumnus of Maze – where she worked under last year's winner Romain Henry - Bachiorri has been working in London for three years following the completion of a Professional Sommelier Diploma in 2007.

“They only drink Italian wine in Italy so I felt like I had to work abroad to increase my knowledge,” Bachiorri said. “I come from a small town so London was a shock, but I'm enjoying the city and the job.”

At Maze she built up an enviable knowledge of the wines of Languedoc-Roussillon, a passion she took with her to the Glasshouse where there are now a good number of the region's varied wines.

Contest​

Yesterday morning, 10 of the competition’s semi finalists took an exam, corrected errors on a wine list and completed a food and wine matching exercise, leaving the three chosen finalists to battle it out for the title in the afternoon.

First up was a blind tasting of Languedoc-Roussillon wines, followed by a wine and food matching task. Both the sommeliers and judges tasted dishes from a typical four course Languedoc-Roussillon meal, including snail dishes, cassoulet, French cheeses, and crème catalan. The three hopefuls then selected wines for each course, and explained their selections to the judges as if they were arranging wine for a table of customers.

The last task was to pour a magnum of Crémant de Limoux into 16 glasses, without returning to top each up, a task which all three sommeliers managed successfully.

Master of Wine Richard Bampfield – the chairman of judges – praised Bachiorri for striking a harmonious balance between her knowledge, technical skills and personality. “Sara managed all three beautifully – she has excellent knowledge and is both passionate and well-informed about food,” he said. “She was also extremely charismatic and drew us into the region – customers need a sommelier that can add local colour to the wine and food with the technical knowledge and skill to back that up.”