Nine new Master Sommeliers announced
The Court of Master Sommeliers has released the names of nine new Master Sommeliers (MS), including the first female MS from Poland, as well inaugural ones from Cyprus, Sweden and Spain.
The announcement follows a two-day tasting and theory exam which took place at Vienna’s Grand Hotel Wien on 22 June, and takes the total tally of Master Sommeliers worldwide to 291.
Among the nine – which is a record pass level – are a series of firsts, with Agnieszka Swiecka being the first female MS from Poland, Sotiris Neophytidis the first Cypriot MS, Andreas Rosendal the first Swedish MS, and Roberto Duran the first Spanish MS.
Ronan Sayburn MS, CEO, commented: “We have never witnessed such a remarkable result – nine successful candidates marks a new record,” before noting that this year’s crop reflected “the triumphant culmination of years of effort for nine exceptionally talented sommeliers.”
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He added, “Each of them had faced setbacks in the past; but this time, they succeeded in conquering the final hurdle.”
The nine Master Sommeliers are as follows:
- Andreas Rosendal (Sweden)
- Sotiris Neophytidis (Cyprus)
- Agnieszka Swiecka (Poland)
- Jan Van Heesvelde (Belgium)
- Tony Lécuroux (Switzerland)
- Fabien Mène (Switzerland)
- Jonathan Gouveia (Denmark)
- Stephen Towler (UK)
- Roberto Duran (Spain)
Established by Bryan Julyan in 1977, the CMS (Court of Master Sommeliers) is now present in 18 countries across 26 cities. According to the CMS, over the last 48 years, it has worked to establish an internationally recognised sommelier title by training members to the highest level of excellence in knowledge and service to become the global benchmark sommelier qualification.
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Such an impressive group this year! Nine new Master Sommeliers is huge, and it’s amazing to see everyone. Shows how global and diverse the wine world is becoming. Big congrats to all of them must’ve taken years of serious dedication to reach that level.