David Biraud wins the Peter Lehmann Shiraz European Sommelier Award
13 December 2010
Peter Lehmann Wines are proud to announce Mr David Biraud as the winner of the Peter Lehmann Wines Shiraz European Sommelier Award at the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) Contest for the Best Sommelier of Europe in Strasbourg, France. Mr Biraud is the Head-Sommelier of Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, France.
The ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier of Europe gathered 35 candidates from all around Europe, and each participant undertook a theoretical questionnaire about Shiraz, an essay and the blind tasting of a Shiraz, which was a 2006 vintage wine from Abadia Retuerta, Ribera del Duero, Spain.
Upon receiving his prize from Hans Astrom, President of Hess Family Estates in Europe, he said:
“I actually discovered the Shiraz wines from the New World, and specifically Australia, a few years ago when you organised the Peter Lehmann ‘25 Years of Barossa Shiraz Tasting’ in Paris. It did start there, and since then I have been dreaming of travelling to Australia.......I am so happy to have won this competition!”
Mr Biraud, being the winner of the Peter Lehmann Shiraz European Sommelier Award at the 12th ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier of Europe, where he was also the runner-up, received a double-magnum of PLW ‘The Futures’ Shiraz and an invitation to spend a week in the Barossa Valley as a guest of Peter Lehmann Wines to further study the grape variety, Shiraz. He will also be recognised as the ambassador for Peter Lehmann Wines in Europe for the next three years, until the next ASI European Contest in 2013.
Mr Hans Astrom, who presented Mr Biraud with his prize, commented:
“The wine, ‘Futures’ is a name that perfectly suits our policy of supporting young sommeliers, because they are our future….!”
Created in co-operation with the ASI, the Peter Lehmann Shiraz Award aims to further knowledge, awareness and appreciation of Shiraz as one of the world’s classic red wine varieties.
Mr Shinya Tasaki, Best Sommelier of the World in 1995 and newly elected President of ASI, commented:
“It is a wonderful idea from Peter Lehmann Wines to help sommeliers improve their knowledge and also a fantastic motivation for them. This is a partnership that really does fit perfectly in line with the philosophy of the Association de la SommelIerie Internationale.”
The overall winner of the ‘Best Sommelier in Europe 2010’ was Mr Paolo Basso from Switzerland, who previously had been placed 3rd in the ASI Contest of the Best Sommelier in the World 2010 in Santiago, Chile, in April.
