For the 25th time, the prestigious competition for the Best Sommelier of the Czech Republic BOHEMIA SEKT TROPHÉE was held. After the final competition in the representative rooms of the Estates Theatre, Martin Parýzek, a representative of Californian Wines, took the main prize.
Second place was taken by Pavol Velič from WORLDBRANDS and the imaginary bronze was taken by Tomáš Hanel from Vinograf Prague. In total, nineteen professionals took part in the competition, who took a knowledge quiz, blind tasting, sample identification and service of sparkling wine or sparkling wine, including recommendations of the dish. Moreover, there are questions in the knowledge test that not only concern wine, but also other alcoholic and soft drinks, coffee, tea, chocolate, cigars and cocoa.
The three contestants who made it to the evening’s grand final had to perform a wine presentation in front of the guests by communicating with the guest and offering to pair wines with dishes. The model couple served by the contestants during the finale in front of the audience were actors Petra Nesvačilová and Jakub Prachař.
“I rate the course of a very difficult competition as really successful and I was really pleased by the participation of almost half of the sommeliers who took important places and reached the semi-finals of the competition,” said Ivo Dvorak, president of the Association of Sommeliers of the Czech Republic.
The participants’ performances were judged by a nine-member jury, which included renowned experts including National Sommelier Clara Kollarova, President of the Association of Sommeliers of Slovakia Beata Vlnková, Vice President of the Association of Sommeliers of the Czech Republic František Koudela and six of the most successful participants from past years, which were Ivo Dvorak, Libor Nazarčuk, Tomáš Brůha, Jakub Přibyl, David Král and Kamil Prokeš.
“I would like to highlight the great progress in gastronomy and hospitality that has taken place since the competition began. The services of the sommelier have become the standard of good restaurants and I am very pleased that we have been able to contribute to this by our 25-year support of the competition and the field of sommelierry,” said Ondřej Beránek, director of BOHEMIA SEKT, the main partner of the competition.
The winner received a travelling cup from Moser Glassworks, a financial reward and donations from the competition’s partners.
The event has long been organized by the Association of Sommeliers of the Czech Republic with the main partner of BOHEMIA SEKT. Other partners are Pulltex, Makro ČR, Wines from Morava wines from Bohemia, Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic, National Theatre, Merlot d’Or and Advivum. The media partners are FTV Prima and Wine & Degustation. The event is being held with the support of the Wine Fund of the Czech Republic.

Article by Prague Forum