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By Jim Boyce
As mentioned yesterday, Hans Qu of the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenzhen took top spot at the China National Sommelier Competition on Tuesday in the Westin Bund in Shanghai, while Vivian Tian of the Kee Club in Shanghai took second place. Both will go to Osaka for the Asia-Pacific competition organized by the Association Sommelier Internationale (ASI) in November. Here are the top five candidates and the trips they won:
- Hans RJ Qu, Intercontinental, Shenzhen – Trip to Spain provided by Torres
- Vivian Tian, Kee Club, Shanghai – Trip to Argentina sponsored by Wines of Argentina
- Jason Shi, China World Hotel, Beijing – Trip to Argentina sponsored by Wines of Argentina
- Ma Jun, Les Millesimes Wine Club, Beijing – Trip to Australia sponsored by De Bortoli. He also won the French Trophy and a trip to France sponsored by Sopexa
- Diego Zhang, Intercontinental Puxi, Shanghai – Trip to Austria sponsored by Austrian Wine
I have more posts coming about the competition. Up tomorrow: An interview with Shinya Tasaki, chair of the ASI Technical Commission and prior world sommelier champion, in which I ask that all-important question: “What happens if I eat a cork?”
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It is interesting to note Sommeliers are getting some lime light and the quality of service hopes to be improving.
Let’s hope the rest of the Chinese cuisine restaurants also catch up in terms of service, and hopefully, knowledge.
where are the other pictures?? esp the one i want to destroy?
Congrats to all of the sommeliers!