Vincenzo Arnese wins ‘Best UK Sommelier’ 2015

The inaugural ‘Best UK Sommelier’ competition was organised by The UK Sommelier Association & Club AIS London and was held at the Business Design Centre in Islington as part of Bellavita, the largest Italian Food & Wine Expo.

In the morning all the Sommeliers had a first round written blind wine tasting supervised by members of Italian Sommelier Association (AIS).

The afternoon, saw the three finalists showcasing their best service possible, to role-playing customers, made up of VIP wine connoisseurs, journalists and wine experts in front of an audience.

Judges watched their performances for their skills with interacting with their customer, depth of knowledge and wine and food pairing skills.

Judges included, David Bird, Peter McCombie, journalist for The Independent, Anthony Rose, from Decanter, Christopher Walkey, CEO of Glass of Bubbly and other wine and service experts from The Italian Sommelier Association (AIS).

Vincenzo Arnese from Dinner by Heston Blumenthal won the title with Matteo Montone from The Ritz London, coming in 2nd and Ramiro Fernandez from Fredericks, 3rd.

“I will be very happy and proud to show off my trophy to my colleagues and to Heston himself when I return to work on Monday”said a delighted Vincenzo.