Texas Best Sommelier

CompetitionForrest Eiland

To be a sommelier, it takes months sometimes years of

grueling training. What is a sommelier? While the

dictionary calls it a wine steward, in more modern terms,

a sommelier, or somm, is someone who is an expert in

wine and recognized by around the world for their

accomplishments.

Recently the Dallas News reported about the Texas Best

Sommelier competition that took place in Los Colinas,

Texas. Austin natives made a good showing.

TexSom is an important part of aspiring Sommeliers in

Texas to become Masters in their field.

Somm’s are put in front of a vicious amount of tasks that

challenge them on every angle. They are put in front of a

panel of master sommelier’s who ask them countless

questions about the history, geography, and origin of

every wine on the planet. Then they are thrust into

scenarios during the service portion that would be

considered as some of the toughest imaginable.

In the popular movie about the profession, appropriately

entitled Somm, master sommelier’s give the candidates

tough challenges designed to channel their creativity or

make them crack under pressure.

In the film, master sommelier Fred Dame, asks a

candidate to give him a wine from the rack. Then he asks

for him to make the wine cold. The wine previously at

room temperature, is just an example of a task that

seems impossible, but an experienced sommelier would

know.

Finally, it comes down to the tasting. Each candidate is

placed in front of wine glasses and they are made to go

down a list of criteria about it, where it’s from, its color and

acidity and more, all without seeing the wine itself.

At the Texas Best Sommelier competition, Joelle Cousins

from the Red Room Lounge in Austin, did it better than

anyone else. She walked away with a scholarship of

$2,500 from the Guild of Sommeliers Education to put

forth towards becoming a master.

Dallas native, Rene Fagoaga came in second and

received $1,500 and finally another Austin native, Nathan

Fausti came in third, taking home a $1,000 scholarship.

For more information go to:www.forresteiland.com