You see that guy in the picture there? His name is Jason Yamasaki, he's Chambar Restaurant's sommelier and he's just been named the Best Sommelier in BC. Let's all give him a round of applause.
On Monday (Nov. 3), 14 of the province’s top sommeliers gathered on Vancouver’s Granville Island for a competition organized by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) in partnership with Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI). After a morning of written theory and blind tasting exams, the group was narrowed down to Yamaski, Unsworth Vineyard’s Chris Turyk, and CinCin’s Shane Taylor. The competition then moved into a "tense" afternoon of testing that included sparkling and decantation service, food and wine pairing, wine list correction, and verbal blind tasting of five beverages. The judges tabulated the scores and so it was decreed that Yamasaki was the winner. Behold!
Now that he's the best in the province, Yamasaki will go to represent BC in the “Best Sommelier in Canada” competition in Ontario in the spring of 2015, and could potentially represent Canada at the world competition. Go BC!
