The grand prize was offered with the help of Alexandrion Group and the Sommeliers Association of Romania, the organizers of the 15th edition of the Sommeliers Cup, the most important competition in the wine industry.
The night of 26th of September marked a crucial moment for the wine industry as the final of the Sommeliers Cup 2018 took place. During the event that was located at Hotel Pullman, the jury, all the members being important in the Romanian industry, but also international figures, awarded the great prize to the best sommelier of Romania, IULIA SCAVO.
In the final there were 4 candidates, from a total of 12 entrants, after a first stage of the competition that took place at Hotel New Montana in Sinaia. The 4 came to Bucharest to prove to the jury their qualities, passion and abilities and to amaze the public with a show filled with passion. The tasks of the final were complex and created specially to depict the refinement, experience and top tier training of the 4 finalists: menu analysis, wine tasting, decantation and wine serving and also a simulation of sommelier-client interaction in the restaurant. After the careful judging, the best sommelier of Romania was chosen: Iulia Scavo, the big winner, followed by Marian Muntean, Filip Florian Zota and Ionut Andries, on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions.
The winner of the great prize, a sommelier with 10 years of experience, proved a thorough knowledge of the drinks, a wide pool of information about this domain and an amazing easiness of communicating with the client, facilitated by the excellent English, French and Romanian skills. Iulia’s passion is obvious when she talks about being a sommelier:
“Wine is culture, heritage, vibration but also condensed particles which give a thirst for knowledge. In this corpuscular micro cosmos, a whole universe is hidden, an universe which presents every opened book, all the wine landscapes admired, every person behind a wine story, and especially each glass of wine tasted. A whole world in a glass of culture, history, geography, geology, science, our intrinsically chemistry, the mathematical rigour of the wine science, the majestic hazard of nature , but also an essence which is associated happily with visual arts, music, and the culinary art. A sum of precious elements in which I found myself step by step during this 10 years in the end losing myself to them forever. “
Originally from Romania, Iulia Scavo graduated from the Lyon University in mathematics and engineering. The passion for the art of wine was stronger, and this lead to many trainings and a master in beverages marketing. Experience made its mark and in time she managed to win not only the Sommeliers Cup jury, but also the juries of international competitions around the world. The big prize for Sommeliers Cup 2018 offered with the help of Alexandrion Group, will give her the chance to represent Romania at the highest level. In addition to representing the country internationally, Iulia wants to have an active role in the wine industry locally, having developed an ambitious plan of organizing trainings for young sommeliers, to share all the knowledge learnt until now and to launch and promote the most talented and passionate Romanians.
“By organizing the Sommeliers Cup we want to promote this industry and to make sure that it gets the support it needs. We are proud to take part in the development of a field maybe not that promoted in our country, but highly respected internationally and to offer a launching platform for the most talented and dedicated sommeliers. Tonight, the 4 finalists offered a real show, all being the best in their field. We trust that Iulia will represent us locally and globally at the highest level. ”declared Răzvan Vasile, CEO Alexandrion Trading.
