GB’s Piotr Pietras of Launceston Place took to the world stage as he was crowned the Chaine des Rotisseur’ International Young Sommelier of the Year following two days of intensive competition in Budapest on September 29/30 2017.

In the 11th year of the contest, Pietras successfully fought off stiff competition from 15 other countries. He was placed ahead of Australia’s Mikael Grou of Sails Restaurant in Queensland in second place and Vincent Morrow of Petaluma in California.

The contest was designed to test competitors’ skills to the full:

Day One included a written paper, decanting wines, champagne pouring, blind wine tasting to define the top three.

Day Two was performed in public and included food and wine pairing, decanting, list correction, quick fire Q & A’s spirits tasting, blind wine tasting – finally serving a magnum into 16 glasses with only one top up allowed.

The panel of international and well-respected judges was headed by Bryan Julyan MS who is CEO of the Court of Master Sommeliers and included Ronan Sayburn MS, Brian Dawes MS and Ron Wiegand MS, MW.

Julyan said:

“This was battle to the finish! And, it was well won. Piotr gave an incredible performance and we salute him. The standard of this year’s contest was unequivocally the highest yet in the contest’s 11-year history, and the two days was immensely exciting”.

Speaking of the competition, Pietras said:

“To win this competitive International Final with the top three performing in public against the clock was an incredible experience – I am humbled and very proud”.