The World's Best Sommelier Competition has been in existence since 1969. The competition facilitates exchanges between many restaurant and hostelry professionals, encourages healthy competition between entrants, and motivates them to perfect their skills and allow the sommelier profession to become better known by the public at large. The competition takes place every three years in one of the ASI member countries that has been authorized by the A.S.I .to host the event.
Each delegation participating in the competition represents either an A.S.I. member country or an observer country. An official delegation consists of a candidate, a journalist and the president of the National Associations. More than 1000 entrants have taken part in the latest events. To enter the competition, candidates must work in restaurants, wine-bars, oenothèques or the oenogastronomy business.
Winners of the A.S.I. contest of the Best Sommelier of the World
1969 - Armand Melkonian (F)
1971 - Piero Sattanino (IT)
1978 - Giuseppe Vaccarini (IT)
1983 - Jean-Luc Pouteau (F)
1986 - Jean-Claude Jambon (F)
1989 - Serge Dubs (F)
1992 - Philippe Faure-Brac (F)
1995 - Shinya Tasaki (JP)
1998 - Markus del Monego (DE)
2000 - Olivier Poussier (F)
2004 - Enrico Bernardo (I)
2007 - Andreas Larsson (SE)
2010 - Gérard Basset (F)
2013 - Paolo Basso (CH)
2016 - Jon Arvid Rosengren (SE)
