Thailand Best Sommelier Competition 2024

In November, 22 candidates gathered in Bangkok from all around Thailand to compete in the Thailand Best Sommelier Competition 2024.

This competition was last held in 2019 and it has been a major achievement of Khun Joe Sriwarin and the organising committee of Sommelier Khun Nutawan Jumpanak (Nuch) and Khun Jirawat Netihiranthach (June) to have created such an impressive competition and consumer wine tasting. The assessments were coordinated by Master Sommelier, Joao Pires from Macau with eight tasks over two days.

L-R Celia Hay, Joao Pires MS, Michel, Tommy Lam

Day One

The first day all candidates sat a theory exam taking 90 minutes. This was followed by Masterclasses from Barton & Guestier of Bordeaux and Concha y Toro from Chile.

Day Two

Day two was held at Anantara Riverside Hotel starting at 8 am with service exams. The first tast was a decantation and food pairing taking five minutes. With four judges grading the 22 candidates this culminated in 10 semifinalists being announced.

Final

The three finalists were announced on the stage near the riverbank open air area of the Anantara Riverside hotel. The finalists were Teeta (Max), Sudarat (Bella) and Suvit (Whisky).

The three finalist then had to complete a number of tasks similar to the ASI competition model. This included blind tasting of 4 wines in four minutes, preparing of 4 French cheese to French wines, making 3 Negroni cocktails and serving two beers for a table of five, images of famous buildings and people in the Wine and Sommelier world and finally the precision pouring task.

Congratulations to all the sommeliers who competed and especially to the hard-working finalists who pulled off their various tasks in 33°C with considerable humidity on the outdoor stage!