Young sommeliers as ambassadors of Serbian grape varieties
The competition of young sommeliers - Meet Serbian grape varieties, was held for the first time, on November 11, 2021, organized by the Association of Sommeliers of Serbia - SERSA. In the final open to the public, the victory in the first competition was taken by the twenty-five-year-old Belgrade sommelier Marko Krstić. Marko has been perfecting his sommelier skills for the last 4 years.
On that day, at the Hyatt Regency Belgrade, about thirty young people between the ages of 18 and 29, from different parts of Serbia, showed their knowledge of Serbian wine regions, autochthonous grape varieties, as well as their skills in wine service. Some of them are still students of the High Tourism School in Belgrade, while others already work as caterers in some of the famous Serbian restaurants. They have a common desire to be top professionals and to help promote domestic wines and strengthen the Serbian wine identity.
Ever since the introduction of the event and preparation for the competition, the candidates have shown great interest in learning about Serbian wine varieties, such as Prokupac, Kadarka, black and white incense, Smederevka, Morava, as well as those less represented in our vineyards, such as Probus, Bagrina. , petre, župljanke and others.
In the classes, the candidates had the opportunity to learn something more about the organoleptic properties of these varieties, and also to improve their skills of decanting and opening sparkling wines. As gastronomy is an indispensable part of the sommelier profession, these boys and girls showed an enviable knowledge of traditional dishes of our cuisine and pairing with Serbian wines.
They were faced with a great challenge because they had to pass the qualifications first and reach the most important part of the competition through the semifinals, in which only 3 candidates competed, among which there could be only one winner, and this time it was Marko Krstić.
The organization of the Young Sommelier Competition - Meet Serbian Grape Varieties is realized with the support of the USAID Competitive Economy Project. The competition is also supported by the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunications, within the competition for the award of grants intended for tourism development projects in 2021.
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