(April 28th, 2016) The final contest of “best Sommelier in Italy” will be held this year in Prague, possibly in autumn. The event will be hosted by the Italian Cultural Instittute in its historic site located in the Mala Strana disctrict. President of ASPI (Italian Association of Professional Sommeliers), Giuseppe Vaccarini is the one who communicated this event. He recently arrived in the Czech capitl to present his plans to various institutions and to the press. The event was organised by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute, attended by Italian Ambassador to the Czech Republi, Aldo Amati and the President of the Czech Sommelier Association, Ivo Dvorak; Secretary General of the Italian-Czech Chamber of Commerce, Matteo Mariani and several industry specialists and practitioners, and will also include the announcement of the opening of a Czech branch in ASPI and the presentation of the sommelier. The press conference was held in one of the liberty-style salons of the Vystaviste Holesovice as part of the “GastroFair Wine & Delikatesy” an international event that usually brings businesses together from the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland). It is now opening its doors to other countries. “The aim of our presence in this beautiful city will be to disseminate and promote the culture of wine in the Czech Republic, primarily through the organisation of courses directed to training professional sommeliers as well as the lover of good quality wine. Vaccarini, who in 1978 won the competition for “World’s Best Commelier Asi” in Estoril, Portugal pointed out that “in this moment in time, the demand for sommeliers was much greater than supply, which is greating majour repercussions on the job market”. According to official data, sommeliers who have been credited with international awards are only fifteen, representing sixty different countries.
