UK Ruinart Sommelier Challenge 2026 winner revealed
The head of wine at Estelle Manor in Witney, Oxfordshire has been named winner of the UK Ruinart Sommelier Challenge 2026.
Zareh Mesrobyan, head of wine at Estelle Manor – a luxury hotel and country club with four restaurants, a bar, and a cafe – saw off competition from 28 other sommeliers to claim the coveted title.
This year’s competition was the first UK event hosted by Ruinart’s new cellar master Caroline Fiot, who took over following the untimely passing of her predecessor, Frédéric Panaïotis, last year. The jury was completed by Emma Denney, director of wine at Claridge’s and 2024 challenge winner, and myself, Natalie Earl, representing Decanter.
Second prize was awarded to Joanna Nerantzi, head sommelier at Raffles London at the OWO, while Grace Shih, head of wine at Restaurant St Barts, took third place.
The challenge centres on a blind tasting of four wines, in which participants must assess technical details – intensity, acidity, body, tannin, alcohol, flavour – to make an informed case for a wine’s potential origins, climate, grape variety and winemaking technique.
Correctly identifying the exact wines is a bonus, but not necessarily the goal; what the jury is looking for is the ability to reason precisely, and communicate why their assessment has led them to a particular conclusion.
At a time when answers are available at the touch of a button, the value of that expertise, and of the human connection it enables between sommelier and guest, has never felt more important.
This year’s theme was rosé, with the blind tasting spanning both still and sparkling examples. It served as a reminder that rosé is a category worth taking seriously, pushing participants to think creatively about food matching and the different scenarios in which these styles can be enjoyed at their best.
The wines in the blind tasted were revealed as:
- Nyetimber, Sparkling Rosé, England NV
- Eric Rodez, Rosé Macération Edition 37, Champagne NV
- Gusbourne, Still Rosé, England 2025
- Domaine Tempier, Rosé, Bandol 2025
The competition runs across nine countries around the world, with each national winner earning a four-day educational trip to Champagne, which includes tastings, vineyard visits and masterclasses.
The Ruinart Sommelier Challenge was created in 2010 by Panaïotis alongside the Ruinart winemaking team, with the ambition of building an international training and mentoring programme committed to supporting sommelier wine education.
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