The World's Best Sommeliers are Coming to Australia in 2017
Melbourne will host the greatest food and wine minds in the world.
You may have thought bringing the chefs behind the World's 50 Best Restaurants to Melbourne next year was enough. But Wine Australia, Tourism Australia and The World's 50 Best have decided to take it one step further and bring the world's top sommeliers along with them. If you had access to that calibre of people — wouldn't you?
Last month, we waxed lyrical on the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards and the week of foodie fun that surrounds it — industry events, workshops and eats that will go down between April 1-17. The news that the greatest wine minds in the world are tagging along for the celebration is the cherry on top of an already delicious sundae.
The pool of sommeliers are from restaurants already in the top 50 and the Best Sommelier in the World competition. They're the biggest wine nerds from around the world, and they'll be treated to trips to our most important wine regions, as well as specially tailored tastings that show off the best that Australia has to offer.
The point is to bring together the most influential people in the wine game from around the globe and really show off what's available in our Great Southern Land. So while we won't be able to attend any of these exclusive industry events, they will bring light to the Australian wine industry and hopefully encourage more chefs to explore what's available food-wise in Australia. It ties in perfectly with the restaurant awards and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, which is celebrating its 25th birthday this year. These sommeliers will sample the best wines our shores produce in conjunction with the best food in the world, which hopefully, according to Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark, will help them to "walk away with a refreshed perspective and love of Australian wine".
The wine list throughout the events will be curated by some of Australia's sharpest wine minds, with the panel being drawn from a pool of wine writers, sommeliers, winemakers and consultants with the aim of showcasing the quality and diversity of Australian wines. Panelists include Franck Moreau of Merivale, Amanda Yallop from Quay and the editor of Gourmet Traveller Wine, Judy Sarris.
As the world becomes more and more connected, the unique gastronomies and wine cultures from all around the world are becoming more apparent, and more available, on a global scale never seen before. This event and others like it are the embodiment of a spreading and sharing of these cultures and their individual bold flavours. William Drew, Group Editor of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, said: "Wine is a key aspect of the overall gastronomic experience and Australia boasts some of the finest wine producers in the world, so this collaboration makes perfect sense." And while we blush with a feigned modesty, we truly can't help but agree.
