THAILAND'S GRAPE HOPES

Tomorrow though, two award-winning local experts will take the country’s wine scene to new heights by representing Thailand at the Best Sommelier of Asia-Oceania, in Daejeon, South Korea. 

Peetiwat Manapim, wine guru at the Anantara Bophut Resort, and Krongtong Namtiwong, sommelier at the Anantara Lawana Resort on Koh Samui, have been honing their skills under the tutelage of Thailand’s leading oenophile Joe Sriwarin, editor of Wine Today magazine, which organises the annual Thailand Best Sommelier competition. It’s a testing ground for the bigger challenge in Daejon, under the eye of the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale.

“A sommelier has a duty to deliver the best wine service to the guest. He’s like an ambassador of wine,” says Joe.

To give a taste of the competition in Korea, Joe put the two Thai sommeliers through their paces in a mock test. First he showed them a selection of wine labels whose information had been subtly altered, and asked the two to point out the errors. 

Graham Beck Brut, for example, was described as coming from the US, which is wrong, as this is a South African winery. “It’s the wine with which Barack Obama chose to celebrate his election as president,” says Joe. 

A blind tasting then followed. Joe poured four different glasses of sparkling wine and asked each challenger to identify the bottle. 

After nosing and sipping from each glass, Krongtong mistook the prosecco for cava and the US sparkling wine for champagne. Meanwhile Peetiwat correctly identified the prosecco and the champagne.

“Peetiwat showed the right approach to tasting the bubbly by finishing every glass. That’s the correct way of tasting sparkling wine,” says Joe, adding: “You can tell a good sparkling wine by the clear fizzing sound of the bubbles in the glass. The longer the bubbles stay, the better. In a cheap bubbly, the bubbles disappear fast.”

Both sommeliers are members of the Anantara Group’s Wine Guru programme, which ensures all properties have at least one highly qualified in-house sommelier. 

Peetiwat won the title of Thailand Best Sommelier in 2009, with Krongtong runner-up. In 2007, Peetiwat scooped Siam Winery’s Wine Professional Challenge, winning a Bt1.3-million trip to visit prestigious wineries in France as well as the world famous London Wine Fair. 

“I got hooked while listening to a sommelier explain the characteristics of a wine,” says Peetiwat, who didn’t drink at the time. “He could tell a long story about that small amount of wine in a glass. I thought it would be cool to be a sommelier so I decided to try.” 

Krongtong was looking for a step up from her routine hotel job, and the profession of sommelier seemed steeped in knowledge and prestige. “You need to be knowledgeable to be in this career. It presents you with plenty of opportunities to taste wines from different countries, and you go places. The pay is good as well,” she adds.

When asked what was the best wine they had ever tasted, both give surprising answers.

“For me, the best wine doesn’t have to be expensive. It all depends on who you’re drinking with. I once shared a US$15 [Bt460] bottle of wine with Roger Federer in a blind tasting. That was the best wine moment for me,” says Peetiwat.

Krongtong agrees that your drinking companion plays an important part. 

Having trained them for several months, Joe believes the two sommeliers will learn new tricks during the competition in Korea. 

“The best way to learn is to go to the source [wine itself]. And that’s what I tell emerging sommeliers. It’s all about maintaining the desire to discover,” says Joe.