Claire Thevenot from the Hotel du Vin, Winchester, has been named Champagne Ruinart Sommelier of the Year 2006.
Thevenot competed against other finalists Nicolas Clerc from the Milestone hotel, London, and Jean-François Lemoins from Le Gavroche in front of a live audience on 12 April.
Tasks included blind tasting, wine and cigar recommendations, correcting errors on a wine list and pouring a magnum of Champagne into 16 glasses ensuring that each glass was equal, no glass was revisited, nothing was spilt and the bottle ended up empty.
Judges included Jeremy Rata, chairman of the Academy of
Food & Wine Service; Ronan Sayburn, executive head sommelier with the Gordon Ramsay group; and chief judge David Molyneux-Berry MW.
Thevenot's prize was a three-day visit to Champagne to watch the European final of the Trophée Ruinart 2006, a crystal trophy and a selection of Ruinart Champagne.