Acclaim for some real corkers
Oct 12, 2008 By Aubrey Buckingham
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SOMMELIER Lu Yang has won the inaugural "Penfolds China Sommelier Competition", pipping two other wine waiters to the title and a trip for two to the 2009 Penfolds Grange release dinner at the producer's Magill Estate in South Australia.
"It is my great honor to be part of the first annual Penfolds China Sommelier Competition and I am very fortunate to be the first champion," Lu said after his win at the ASC Wine Residence.
"The profession is still very new in China and this event provided tremendous help to Chinese sommeliers by giving us a platform to communicate with our peers and promote a better understanding of the profession to the general public."
The Xinjiang native currently plies his trade in Toronto's highly-acclaimed Canoe Restaurant and Bar under renowned chef Anthony Walsh.
Originally a physics student at the University of Toronto, Lu has a diploma in viticulture and wine making and assisted in the 2007 vintage at Canada's Le Clos Jordanne winery.
The competition, organized by Penfolds' parent company Foster's Wine Estates Asia in conjunction with local distributor ASC Fine Wine, drew more than 100 applicants from which three finalists were selected. Besides Lu, Fujian-native Stephen Li from the Hilton Sanya Resort and Spa and Jean Georges' Shirley Zhu also competed in the September 22 final.
Judging the competition was Penfolds' Senior Wine Maker Kim Schroeter, who is responsible for making the company's white wines.
The Australian was assisted by ASC's Fine Wine Consultant Andy Tan, M on the Bund's Restaurant Manager Marcus Ford and acclaimed wine writer Chantal Chi.
"Lu Yang's tasting ability really impressed me," said Penfolds' Schroeter. "It was almost as if he had the tasting notes in front of himself. He described the wines exactly as I would describe them myself and not many people have this kind of ability. I think if we can educate people and get more interest it can only be good for the industry as a whole."
The final involved three components - food and wine service, decanting and a blind tasting.
The first involved the local media sitting down to lunch and grilling the finalists on wine knowledge and service skill. JG's Zhu impressed initially with her professional demeanor and competent service, even if her familiarity with the brand was a little shaky. Hilton's Li also held a steady hand, although he may have benefitted from reading up more about Port. Lu's overseas experience was evident in this opening salvo, as he was very slick.
It felt like he was selling himself more than the wines and tried too hard to engage the crowd. The decanting segment was a vigorous scrutiny of the trio's ability to decant and understand what the process entails.
Li proved to be the most nervous, despite his earnestness, while Zhu was the most professional, albeit aloof, though her added step of rinsing out the decanter with the new wine impressed the judges.
Again, Lu's confidence was all too apparent, although in keeping the presentation going he forgot that the purpose of the candle was to eye sediment approaching the neck of the bottle.
It was during the blind tasting segment that he really impressed. The three were served the Yattarna chardonnay 2004 and the Bin 389 cabernet shiraz 2003 and had to present a detailed description of the aromas, flavors, structure, quality and a final conclusion to identify the wines.
His thought process and approach was spot on, and in addition to identifying the majority of the details, he also picked the right vintage for the white.
ASC is looking to build upon this competition in coming years. According to Andy Tan, talks are underway to initiate some form of sommelier training so as to raise standards throughout the industry.
[From Shanghai Daily] |
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