1. Home
2. News

Five sommeliers from across the UK and Ireland recipients of NZW scholarship

First launched in 2015 with a scholarship for Australian sommeliers, the programme is now a global initiative with the European sommeliers joining scholars from Australia, Asia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA.

Each scholarship recipient attends a Sommit event, which is limited to just 20 sommeliers with content targeted exclusively to their interests, with next year’s Sommit will taking place in Nelson and Central Otago - two of New Zealand’s top winemaking regions.

Hosted by Master Sommelier Cameron Douglas and Stephen Wong MW, the events are a celebration of the lesser known aspects of New Zealand wine, with emphasis on the facets that resonate with the sommelier community.

In this second year of running the scholarship programme in Europe, NZW said it had received a “huge number of high quality applicants” from across the continent.

“The chosen sommeliers stood out as being extremely passionate and eager to immerse themselves in the world of New Zealand wine,” said Chris Stroud, marketing manager Europe.

The objective was for the participating sommeliers to become “true ambassadors for New Zealand wine”, sharing personal wine discoveries and insights from their trips with restaurant guests and the wider sommelier community, he added.

The successful sommeliers are:

James Devereux – Manchester House, Manchester, UK

Andrea Martinisi – Hotel Terravina, Hampshire, UK

Glen Montgomery – Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh, UK

Jurica Gojevic – Adare Manor, Limerick, Ireland

Stefan Kobald – Social Company, London, UK

Fredrik Lindfors – Grand Hotel Stockholm, Sweden

Lendl Mijnhijmer – Hotel 27, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Marc Almert – Baur au Lac, Zurich, Switzerland

New Zealand wine exports reached a new record high of $1.66 billion, up 6%, in June year end 2017, according to NZW, with the wine now exported to more than 90 countries.

• wine
• sommelier
• New Zealand Wine