Swordfish with cucumber, pioppino, broad beans and misoglace with u.yoshidagura sake from the Tedorigawa brewery. With this sake pairing and the detailed explanation of the combination, Maximilian Steiner (Steiner Hotelbetriebe) from Obergurgl in Austria convinced the jurors and won the first sake pairing contest in Europe with a tight result ahead of the second-placed Marie-Helen Krebs (Schloss Elmau) from Krün in Germany.
Many great sommeliers and restaurateurs accepted the invitation to the contest and submitted over 120 wonderful pairings for the preliminary round.
The final of the contest took place on March 8th, 2021 after the 5 finalists out of 64 participants had prevailed. For the final they created a new sake pairing and had to convince the jury of their combination in a 7-minute presentation. In the end, the result was very close.
Sake has increasingly established itself as a food companion in Europe in recent years; not only to traditional Japanese cuisine, but also to western cuisine style. However, recommending the right sake for the right food is an art.
They impressively demonstrated that the finalists have mastered this art, and did not make it easy for the top-class jury to determine the winner.
“That was a big challenge. We saw so many creative dishes and great symbioses between food and sake. The enthusiasm of the participants for sake pairings and at the contest was impressive, ”says the chairman of the jury and sake samurai, Alexander Koblinger MS, who offers his guests daily sake in the Döllerer gourmet restaurant in Austria with fine Alpine cuisine. Of course, he and his jury colleagues would have loved to taste the dishes live.
In addition to Maximilian Steiner and Marie-Helen Krebs, Paul-Valentin Fröhling, Restaurant Pauly Saal, Berlin, Kevin Wüthrich, Restaurant Dampfschiff, Thun in Switzerland and Benjamin Zimmerling, Family Resort & Hotel Dachsteinkönig, Gosau in Austria made it into the final.
Maximilian Steiner is named “Master of Sake Pairing 2021” and is given a trip to Japan (worth € 2,000). Marie-Helen Krebs wins the J.S.A. Sake Diploma (worth 970 €). All finalists receive a brewery trophy with 12 bottles of sake each.