We are delighted to share some very exciting news with you all… our very own Tanguy Martin, Head Sommelier here at Hotel TerraVina was recently crowned as the 2015 UK Sommelier of the Year, following a tense final held at The Savoy in London. This prestigious competition, now in its 35th year, is organised by the Academy of Food & Wine and attracts over 100 entries annually making it the most highly regarded accolade for wine service.
Tanguy is the second winner from Hotel TerraVina following Laura Rhys’ win in 2009. Gerard himself won the competition in 1989 and 1992 and then of course went on to become European Champion Sommelier in 1996 and World Champion Sommelier in 2010 so who knows what lies ahead for Tangy too! For those of you who know us and TerraVina well, it is our ethos and passion to train, nurture and mentor young people and Tanguy’s win highlights yet again what a talent Gerard has for creating award winning sommeliers as there have been no fewer than 11 of the past 22 winners whom have worked for or been mentored by Gerard.
So what was the competition all about- well, 12 semi-finalists were reduced to three final candidates with Romain Bourger from The Vineyard at Stockcross and Arnaud Bardary from Maze the eventual runners up. A series of demanding tasks followed including a restaurant role play, designed to test customer service, management skills and the ability to cope under pressure; a blind tasting; food and wine matching exercise; wine list error spotting; and a quick fire Q&A. The culmination of the afternoon was the service of a magnum of Moët & Chandon. All the finalists’ tasks were performed in front of an audience of some 400 industry leaders along with a panel of judges comprising former competition winners.
Speaking about his win, Tanguy said, “I am so overwhelmed by the support I’ve received from my peers and particularly from Gerard. This award is the one that every sommelier aspires to win and it is the culmination of months of hard work.”
Gerard and I and all the team are very proud of Tanguy and his recent success. Tanguy has worked tirelessly towards this competition and is a worthy winner who has an exceptionally bright future ahead of him and we are thrilled that it all started here at TerraVina
Till next time
Nx
