Toast of the town

Grab a glass and tip a tipple for William Predhomme, Ontario’s best sommelier, according to a recent competition.

Predhomme, senior sommelier at Canoe and Jump, scored top honours after having the tannin squeezed out of him by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, whose Ontario chapter oversaw the competition this summer.

The preliminary round featured almost two dozen sommeliers from across the province writing an hour-long theory exam, participating in a blind testing of six different beverages, and reeling off the appellations, varietals, regions and vintages of each.

From there, the four still standing were sent up to George Restaurant where, on June 28, they were put through the press once more. There was another written exam, another blind testing and, this time, a menu—and five minutes to consider appropriate wine pairings for the dishes thereon.

“It was all timed,” says Predhomme, who soundly corked his competition, “and it was brutal.”

But the best sommelier, he believes, is the guy who’s achieved a balance. “Having the wine knowledge is one thing, but being able to balance the books, to manage effectively, to listen to your guests—that’s something else.

You can know everything about wine,” says Predhomme, who will have the opportunity to defend his title nationally a year-and-a-half from now, “but if you don’t know what your guests are looking for and can’t provide a level of service and experience, then you’re just a know-it-all.”