Uncorking their passion

"Winning the competition was our goal, but we enjoyed the preparation process very much," Jin says. "It's a good memory for us, and for our four years of college study. We also forged a friendship during the competition."

The National Young Sommelier Service Skills Competition opened registration at the end of last year, and it soon garnered significant attention from major universities throughout the country, despite being the inaugural event.

A total of 83 universities and 161 teams, comprising 487 competitors, participated in the preliminary stage. Following two rounds of intense competition, the top 10 teams were chosen to progress to the semifinals, and only three teams made it to the final round.

Both the semifinals and final were held at Beijing Hospitality Institute at the end of March. The final competition consisted of six sections, including wine service, sales techniques, wine tasting and analysis, and blind tasting. The wine service section needed to be done in English, which also included serving baijiu (white liquor) and huangjiu (yellow rice wine).

The team of three excelled in each section and impressed the judges with their knowledge of wine, service experience and their fluent English, and won the championship as a result.

One of the judges, Dong Zhenxiang, the founder of the Peking roast duck restaurant chain Da Dong, praised the competition for its role in promoting the importance of sommeliers in the service industry.

He noted that, in the past, people tended to focus only on the taste of the wine, but in recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on refined dining and beverage service.

"This competition has played a significant role in demonstrating the importance of sommeliers, which can draw more attention from various sectors of the industry toward young sommeliers and encourage more professionals to fill the talent gap in this industry," Dong says.

Li says the competition helped her to discover her future direction during her senior year, a time when she felt most confused about her future career options.

"As a sommelier, when you recommend a wine to pair with a dish the guests have ordered and, after tasting the wine, they feel it's a good match, you can tell the happiness and satisfaction from their language and gestures, which is quite straightforward, and brings me a sense of accomplishment," she says.

The 22-year-old recalls that, during high school, she had the chance to spend the weekends in the library with scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as she used to dream of being a scientist herself.

The experience made her realize that her real interest is communicating with people, not lab tools, so she chose to study marketing in college.

The stage is another of her interests. Alongside dancing performances, she enjoys taking part in competitions. The wine service competition has opened her eyes, helping her realize that there are more certificates to gain and various competitions to take part in.

"The result is not the most important thing, what I cherish is the immersive experience of the competition," she says.

She believes that even failure can bring about valuable learning experiences and, after each competition, she takes time to review her performance and identify areas for improvement.