UPDATE – 2021 New Zealand Wine Sommelier Scholarship

16 April – UPDATE

Due to the global impact of COVID-19 and the implications for the international on-premise community, the New Zealand Wine Sommelier Scholarship has been postponed this year.

This is very much a postponement, not a cancellation, and we look forward to welcoming the next cohort of international “Sommiteers” to New Zealand as soon as it is possible from a global travel perspective, and of course as soon as the on-premise community has recovered from the effects of COVID-19.

At this stage, we intend to open applications in early to mid 2021, for a Sommit™ experience in 2022.

Thank you to those sommeliers who have already applied for this year’s programme. Applications received thus far will be considered for the 2021 intake, and sommeliers will be contacted to resubmit their applications.

 

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The New Zealand Wine Sommelier Scholarship

The New Zealand Wine Sommelier Scholarship provides engaged wine professionals from all over the world with the opportunity to take part in an unforgettable wine experience, discovering the regions, varieties, landscapes and personalities that make New Zealand wine so distinctly New Zealand.

Limited to just 20 sommelier attendees, the 2021 Sommit™ will be held in February 2021, in Gisborne, the first wine region in the world to wake up to each new day.

Shepherded by New Zealand sommeliers, Cameron Douglas MS and Stephen Wong MW, attended exclusively by sommeliers and targeted exclusively to their interests, the Sommit™ is an all-encompassing celebration of the lesser known aspects of New Zealand wine, with particular emphasis on the facets that resonate with the sommelier community.

It’s also crazy fun.

 

The scholarship includes:

• Attendance at the Sommit™ in New Zealand (2022 dates to be confirmed)
• Attendance at the Aromatics Symposium or the Classic Reds Symposium
• Attendance at Pinot Noir New Zealand
• Wine experiences and tastings in regions across New Zealand, providing winemaker interaction and invaluable discussion and debate opportunities with international peers
• International and domestic flights, accommodation, meals, transfers, event registrations and all event inclusions

 

Applicants must be:

• A working sommelier
• Able to travel to New Zealand during designated dates in 2022 (to be confirmed)
• A member of Sommeliers Australia at time of scholarship acceptance. Non-members are welcome apply, and if successful must become a member to accept the scholarship.

 

For any queries with regard to the scholarships available from Australia, please contact Felicity Turner – New Zealand Winegrowers Market Implementation & Education Manager: [email protected]

 

 

Photo: Touch down in Northland. Two of Australia’s 2019 Sommiteers, Bhatia Dheeraj and Ashlyn Foster, with international scholars.
Image with thanks to NZ Wine.