Ms. Hawng Ji-mi of ‘the bistro,’ the Europoean restaurant at Novotel Ambassador Gangnam, was named the winner of ‘Concours national du meilleur sommelier en vins de France’ held on July 13 at Grand Intercontinental Hotel.

Celebrating its 9th anniversary, ‘Concours national du meilleur sommelier en vins de France’ is an annual
sommerlier competition event sponsored by MAAP and its subsidiary, SOPEXA. This year’s competition was
participated by over 200 sommerliers and Hwang took the best honor as the second female winner since 2004.

Officially certified as the best sommelier in Korea for 2010, Hwang passed the blind tasting of ‘Bourgogne Gevrey
Chambertin 2005’ with excellent description of its taste, flavor and features. Mr. Thierry Fritsch, Director of Overseas Marketing of CIVA and one of the judges at the competition, acknowledged competency as the best sommelier of
Korea. “A sommelier does not only require technical skills such as wide knowledge of wine and serving skills,
}but also need qualification to spread the culture of wine and Hwang combined the both requirements to become
a great missionary for French wine” said Mr. Fritsch.

Hwang also took the award of ‘Alsace Special Prize’ with the best recommendation of set menu for Alsace wine.

Fluent in French and well versed in French culture, the French major had studied in France to complete a
sommelier program at Cafa Formations in 2009. She currently holds a French national certificate of sommelier ,
MC (mention Complementaire de Sommelerie).

Hwang started her career at the bistro of Novotel Ambassador Gangnam in January 2010. “I loved wine and
decided to study further in France with all the passion I could take out. I am pretty glad that my passion on wine and knowledge gained in France were acknowledged at the competition. My study on wine will never come to an end.
Now I feel a great deal of responsibility as the best sommelier of Korea and I would like to start by providing the best
wine selection for the guests at my restaurant ‘the bistro’” said Hwang with aspiration.