Every alternate year, the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA) arranges the Best Young Sommelier of South Africa competition. This year the finals were held at Clara's Barn, Vergenoegd Löw Wine Estate near Stellenbosch on Wednesday, 11 September 2024. There were 3 finalists being put to the test: George Young, Gregory Lorimer, and Amos Sobashe. Jo Wessels, sommelier of note and who represented South Africa at the ASI Best Sommelier of the World in February 2023 and came 7th in the world, put together the finals program and it was tough! The idea was to replicate a real restaurant situation as much as possible and the audience (and finalists) were a little thrown by a delivery guy (aptly played by sommelier LeRoi vd Vyver) bringing in a case of wine for the finalist to sign for. The trick was that there was a warm rosé in the case, and George Young was the only one of the 3 finalists to take it and put it on ice immediately and this was exactly what was required as the guests arriving at the 'restaurant' asked for a glass of the rosé. A really hard blind tasting to recognise 4 drinks was one of the tasks and turned out to be 4 South African brandies (sponsored by the Brandy Foundation and with South African Brandies winning world titles every year it makes sense for brandy to be on the sommelier's radar more) The competition ended with the usual pouring of a bottle of champagne or cap classique into a set number of glasses filling them to the same level without going back to fill a previous glass. Again the judges foxed the participants, as the task was to fill 9 glasses, but they were each given 10 glasses. Another tricky one which none of the finalists picked up. It was a very close call for the judges, but in the end George just showed the edge and pipped the other 2 very able sommeliers at the post. Well done George! Winning on home turf as he now is the sommelier at Vergenoegd Löw.