2025 Canadian National Young Sommeliers Competition
Llyn L Strelau
Vice-Echanson
Bailliage de l’Alberta à Calgary
Association Mondiale de la Gastronomie
2025 is the second year that the Calgary Baillage has held Canada’s National Young Sommelier Competition.
The candidates for the competition must be between 21 and 28 years of age to participate. We were very pleased to have four young people enthusiastically (and bravely) come forward to participate!
- Gabriella Desbiens-Richard (Montreal)
- Grant Bronconnier (Kelowna)
- Junxing (James) Li (Toronto)
- Paige Jasper (Winnipeg)
The first stage was a written exam held on February 22, monitored by proctors in their home cities. The test is extremely difficult and requires a large breadth of wine, viticulture, and spirits knowledge.
Their exams were scored, and we invited our top competitors to begin preparations for the Service & Blind Tasting portions of the competition held on April 26 at the Ranchmen’s Club in Calgary.
The candidates were given 15 minutes to complete each of the four practical components of the competition: decanting mature red wine, Champagne service, menu pairing, and a blind tasting. The venue was set up with three guest tables simulating a realistic dining room situation and the judges provided dining scenarios to provide further interest and challenge. Blind tasting was held in a separate room.
Red wine service and decanting is performed in the traditional table-side protocol using a wine cradle, gueridon, and candle. Again, they are subjected to multiple questions about the wine from the table guests, making this one of the more challenging parts of the competition.
The Champagne service test is meant to allow each competitor to display professional sparkling wine service including presentation, proper opening, and service of Champagne to restaurant guests. Competitors were also queried on details relating to Champagne during their sessions.
The menu pairing allows the competitors to exhibit their wine knowledge and its relationship to food. In the dining room setting they were tasked to suggest specific wine pairings to suit the guest’s chosen menu. In this segment we see the competitors’ ability to understand client’s needs. Being a sommelier is not just about wine expertise it is also about the business of customer service and sales. Our three judges engaged the candidates in discussion about their suggestions to offer further challenges.
The final component of the practical exam was a blind tasting of four wines (two red, one white, and one fortified). Each competitor was given 15 minutes to blind taste the wines using the Court of Master Sommeliers deductive tasting method. They must offer their opinions of the nose, palate, and ultimately the identity of the wines.
The performances of the four young candidates this year was extraordinary. They all showed a strong grasp of wine knowledge, professional service, and a genuine enthusiasm for their craft. Their interaction with their ‘client’ judges was admirable exhibiting the warm interaction expected of a fine sommelier. The judges were extremely impressed, and the final scores reflected the level of skill exhibited. We offer our congratulations to all four competitors for their hard work and dedication.
Runner up: Paige Jasper
Third Place and $350.00 prize: Gabriella Desbiens-Richard
Second Place and $500.00 prize: Junxing (James) Li
First Place and $1,000.00 prize: Grant Bronconnier
Grant will now represent Canada in the International Jeunes Sommeliers Competition in Geneva Switzerland, September 10-14, 2025. We are confident Grant will be a strong contender on the international stage!
Organizing this competition would not have been possible without the participation of many people and institutions.
We are immensely grateful to the following – we could not have done this without your time and generous support:
Bailli Délégué, Tony Catanese and the Canadian National Bailliage for providing financial support.
Linda Robinson, Canadian Echanson and Llyn Strelau, Calgary’s Vice-Echanson.
Proctors, Louise Dabisza (Kelowna), Michael Grimes (Winnipeg), Kumar Ramjoo (Toronto) and Michel Busch (Montreal) for their generosity of time.
The Calgary Ranchmen’s Club, General Manager Will Trow, Dana and the Club team for providing the venue and setup for the practical sessions plus a Club tour and the venue for a Saturday evening dinner for the candidates.
Cam Pinkney and the Carriage House Inn for providing accommodation for the out-of-town competitors and judge.
Chef Graham Smith of the Malcolm Hotel in Canmore for preparing the menu for the pairing exercise.
This year’s Champagne service segment was once more sponsored by the house of Taittinger Champagne and Pacific Wine and Spirits much to the delight of the judges!
Robert Kulhawy for red wine for the decanting segment.
Linda Robinson, Peter Smolarz, and Llyn Strelau for donating the wines for blind tasting.
Canvas Tabletop, and equipment for wine glasses for the competitors.
Mark Wilson and Hotel Arts for the Friday evening welcome reception.
Llyn Strelau, and Rodney Shaver for hosting a reception on Saturday.
Toni-Marie Ion-Brown and the Calgary Petroleum Club for hosting our candidates for wine and cheese and a tour of the Club on Sunday.
The International Committee is planning the dates for the next Young Sommeliers. With the success of our National event this year we anticipate having more young candidates from across Canada.
We are sending Grant Bronconnier off to Geneva with great enthusiasm for his success there.
