Wine & Spirits Best New Sommeliers get down with Australia's finest

A meeting of the minds was on the cards when a group of five of America's hottest young Sommeliers won a competition to head to our shores and take in the vast and varied landscape of this beautiful country. Preconceived ideas of the largely singular story that is being told about Australian wine overseas have been smashed against the hard rocks of reality, thanks largely to a wonderful range of diverse wine styles provided by a pool of Australian Sommeliers recognised nationally as the Nation's finest.

The story behind these revelations lies in the mind of James Gosper who heads up Wine Australia USA, when he had the idea of approaching Sommeliers Australia to get a group of their members to put on a tasting for their brethren from overseas. It is a far cry from the typical push and pull of visiting vineyard after vineyard, and winery after winery, instead relying on an unbiased and even-handed approach to putting some of Australia's unsung modern heroes in front of the Gatekeepers of the American wine scene. With my Sommeliers Australia President hat on, I couldn't resist the opportunity.

To set the scene further the tasting was to be held in Melbourne with the assistance of Regional Development Victoria, an ideal place to talk about the diversity available in the smallest state of mainland Australia. Twenty-one distinctly different wine regions is testament to this. In addition to Victorian wines, there were to be examples from around Australia that highlighted the diversity of style outside of the expected norm, with Tasmania, Margaret River, Hunter Valley and other regions also represented. The results were stunning to say the least.

Participating in the tasting was a stellar line-up of talent with the US crew being chaperoned by Josh Greene, the CEO and editor of the highly influential magazine Wine & Spirits USA, and Australia's own James Gosper. The Sommeliers from the USA were Michael Engelmann of Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco, Jason Heller of Redd in Yountville, Jonathan Honefenger of Branchwater Tavern in Houston, Dustin Wilson of Montagna at The Little Nell in Aspen and Lindsey Whipple from Cut in Las Vegas. All five had come out on top as the hottest young talent in the country with fewer than four years in the primary Sommelier position as nominated by some 3,500 of their peers.

The line-up of talent from Australia was no less impressive with Sommeliers Australia Vice-President David Lawler from Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne there to add sage words of wisdom along with Chris Crawford, Wine Manager � Restaurants for The Prince Hospitality Group, Sophie Otton from Rockpool Bar & Grill Sydney, Matt Brooke from Australia's newest hotspot in Brisbane, Ortiga, fellow Wine Guide cohort & self professed Sommeliers Australia 'Chief of Staff', Dan Sims with my good self leading proceedings.

Enough said.

Now that the scene is set, let them tell you how they felt about the tasting. Thoughts?


» US Sommelier Tasting - List of Wines (36Kb)

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