For the first time, Indian sommeliers tested their skills at an international-level sommelier competition, The Best Sommelier of India 2025, by the all-new Sommelier Association of India. A behind-the-scenes look at how it unfolded and why it is significant for India
It was January of 2025. The lobby of The LaLit, a 5-star hotel in suburban Mumbai, was busy. Tourists were checking in. Businessmen sat, laptops before them, frowning at their screens. But the gaggle of young men in a corner, smartly turned out in suits, with lapels adorned with pins of various hues, were oblivious to the noise around them as they huddled together. In hushed tones, they were discussing ways in which to tackle an all-important hour ahead of them.
Maybe the most important hour of their lives.
The group of men (sadly, no women participated this year) were young sommeliers from various parts of the world – Singapore, Italy, Mauritius, New Zealand, and Dubai. What they had in common was the fact that they were Indian. The hour in question was for the semi-finals of the mint-new Best Sommelier of India competition, run by the Sommeliers Association of India (SAI) in association with the world body, Association de la Sommelerie International (ASI).
Testing for excellence
This was an event of major significance for Amrita Singh DipWSET and Mattia Antonio Cianca DipWSET, co-founders of SAI along with decorated sommelier Salvatore Castano. While they were busy setting the stage for the imminent Best Sommelier of India competition, they were aware that this edition would set the benchmark for SAI in India, affiliated as it was with ASI, the name behind the highly-coveted and profoundly difficult Best Sommelier of the World title.
SAI, at the time, had been in existence for a short 11 months since being unanimously voted in as a member of ASI’s College of Applicants. It had notched just over 100 members and was growing quickly. The founders had a slew of ambitious plans to grow the wine community in India. But the timing of the competition held its challenges. Would India, with its small but passionate sommelier community, be ready to enter the world stage? The Best Sommelier of Asia and the Pacific competition was slated for September 2025, leading up to the triannual Best Sommelier of the World, just over a year away. So, holding the Best Sommelier of India competition early in 2025 was important. If not, it would mean another four years until the next opportunity for SAI to enter a candidate from India. The question of assessing national standards in sommelerie had become an urgent one.
Plenty of passion, far less opportunity
It is no secret that while talent and passion abound in India’s small wine community, infrastructure, costs, and opportunities are often out of the reach of young sommeliers. This does not stop them, though. Many, with an eye on long-term, international achievements, push themselves hard, often taking jobs outside the country to upskill and earn better, doubling up a full-time job with intense study.
India’s wine story itself is not without challenges. High taxes, a federal system of excise, and a large populace of which only a small percentage are wine drinkers meant that India still qualifies as a developing wine country. It started producing wine only about 40 years ago, with a growing band of consumers eager to discover more about wine. A definitive move towards premiumization and quality wine consumption had begun to rise post-pandemic. Still, most hotels and restaurants were reluctant to hire sommeliers, given the relatively small proportion of wine-drinking guests. Moreover, the global dip in wine consumption seemed to have echoed in India over the last year, causing its hitherto steady growth to hit pause.
But the fact that working with wine is a passion, not merely a job, was reflected in the enthusiastic response the competition drew from the sommelier community. Fourteen Indian sommeliers, based all around the world, showed up to participate in the quarter-finals. Of them, five were India-based.
Competing at international standards
Mattia, who was handling the practicalities of the competition found himself surprisingly relaxed before the start. He had finalised every scheduled task for the competition ahead of time and created extra banks of questions. “This competition had to be treated not as a national-level competition, but an international-level one. The structure had to mirror that of the Best Sommelier of the World. As I worked on putting the segments together, I would ask myself, Is this question too easy? Is this acceptable?”
Salvatore Castano, crowned Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa in 2021, and Mattia himself were both veterans of several international competitions, having competed on the world stage previously. So, they knew the level the tasks needed to be pitched at. “My advice to the sommeliers is to manage their stress levels, this being their first time on a big stage,” said Mattia.
At the welcome dinner on the eve of the competition, the mood was one of excited anticipation mixed with nervous energy. What surprises would the next two days hold?
Came the morning of the quarter-finals, and the contestants arrived at The LaLit bright and early. Many of them had taken leave from work to fly to India, and there was a palpable sense of excited anticipation in the air. No one knew what to expect, only that there would be a blind-tasting component, a theory section, and a practical test for service.
Being the first competition of its kind to be held in India, there was little to benchmark against – but things became clear soon enough. “I knew that ASI standards were tough, but this was an eye-opener,” said Pankaj Singh, 29, assistant head sommelier at Dubai’s Arts Club. Many participants found themselves wrong-footed by the theory questions – 46 of them to be answered in an hour and requiring a substantial depth and breadth of wine knowledge.
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