Sommelier Wins Big

Mortimer Bester, a 24-year-old sommelier at Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa on South Africa’s famed Garden Route, has won the Chaîne de Rôtisseurs’ Jeunes (Young) Regional Sommeliers competition and will represent South Africa at the finals in the United Kingdom this September. Born and raised in Knysna, Bester, what is most impressive about Bester is that he had never tasted wine when he joined Pezula as a waiter in 2005.

Werner Wentzel, Pezula’s F&B Manager and Wine Director, who has mentored Mortimer for the past four years, says that once he started attending Pezula’s in-house tasting sessions, his passion for and knowledge about wine began to grow so quickly that he was promoted to Sommelier in 2007.

Bester was the regional winner of the Chaîne de Rôtisseurs’ Jeunes Sommeliers competition last year. His high score on the final examination, which included blind tastings of wines from all over the world, secured his spot in the global finals.

The 2009 International Jeunes Sommeliers final takes place on September 25th in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and coincides with the 50th anniversary of the bailliage of Great Britain.

June 29th, 2009 by Beverage Blogger | Posted in News & Events | (0)