mai82018

Press release

Two weeks to go on the ASI & APAS contest of Best Sommelier of the Americas 2018.

The perfect stage for Sommellerie of the Americas 

May 7, 2018 – President of the Alliance of PanAmerican Sommeliers (APAS) and vice president of the American countries of Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI), Ricardo Grellet, from Chile, confirmed that the ASI & APAS Best Sommelier of the Americas 2018 contest will be the perfect stage to show the significant growth of the sommelier community in the continent.  “As a sommelier community in the Americas, we are growing, becoming a better and bigger family every year and now is the opportunity to demonstrate what we’re capable of doing” he added.
“The APAS countries feel strongly about the future of their sommeliers and show this by putting down a lot of effort in organizing contests, both on a national and continental level. A contest highlights the trade of the sommellerie: knowledge and skills through fair competition”, said Grellet, who was in charge of the organization of the previous contest in Santiago Chile in 2015.

For Grellet the event will not only show the performance of the competitors, but it will be a unique opportunity to see “organizations like
APAS and ASI growing in size as well as experience. We are confident that The Best Sommelier of the Americas 2018 contest in Canada is going to be even more professional and exciting than previous competitions. With our big family of sommeliers in the Americas we look forward to showing the rest of the sommelier world what we have been working on for the past year”, he added.
Grellet thinks the contest is “like a picture of what we’re doing. It shows we’re focusing our efforts and investing in the development of the younger sommelier.  The contest shows the best part of Sommellerie: knowledge, partnership and fair competition.  As a singer said many years ago: “Participate in a competition only if other competitors can teach you something new.”
Organizing a contest like this in a country of Canada’s size has proved challenging.  Mark DeWolf, President of The Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) / L’Association Canadienne des Sommeliers Professionels (ACSP) explains that the sommeliers of Canada live and work as much as 6,500 km away from each other and he lives 1,200 km away from the event location of Montréal.

“To organize an event of this magnitude with the limited resources we have means you have to roll up your sleeves, put your ego aside,
and make sure to surround yourself with a core group of competent individuals that you trust implicitly. Without the tireless work of Jean-Benoit Hinse (President of the Québec division of CAPS) and his team in Québec, this wouldn’t be possible, and Michelle McCarthy (previous president of CAPS) continues to do a good job acting as our international liaison.”

For the national and international guests alike many exciting seminars and tastings are planned. These shed light on Canada’s wine and cider production across the country’s different territories and provinces. Also, international partners of CAPS and ASI organize tastings relevant for everyone in the wine trade. For a full description of the week’s events: www.bestsomm.ca

Make sure to follow the contest through ASI social media and feel free to tag ASI through your channels.

Facebook: @AssociationSommellerieInternationale
Instagram: @Sommellerie_ASI
Twitter: @Sommellerie_ASI

Please also use the following #-tags for all posts:
#ASIBestSomm
#ASIAmericas2018
#ASISomms

For questions concerning press matters please contact Liora Levi
For all other questions please contact Michèle Aström Chantôme
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