Hanoi wine waiter wins national contest

Tran Trong Hai Ha from Green Tangerine Restaurant in Hanoi – winner of The Best Vietnamese Sommelier Competition of French Wines 2010 – identifies different wines in the finals - Photo: Trung Chau

A wine waiter from the Green Tangerine Restaurant in Hanoi won the national French wine waiter championships at Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers on Friday.

The winner, Tran Trong Hai Ha from Hanoi, will join second place-getter, Mai Tran Hanh, from The Deck Restaurant in HCMC to represent Vietnam in the Southeast Asia sommelier competition for French wines in Thailand in November. Ha also won a trip to tour the vineyards of France.

The contest was organized by Sopexa, which is the French food and wines PR and communications agency, with Saigontourist Hospitality College and Saigon Bartender Sommelier Guild (SBSG).

Ha and Hanh beat five others in the national finals which had sections including - identifying names and characters of French wines; serving champagne and wines for a five-person table; and consulting suitable menus for diners. Some members of the judging board were from international bartender and sommelier clubs.

Vo Tan Si, chairman of SBSG, said the competition in its second year is organized annually for Vietnamese wine waiters to improve their skills and experience.

Si said the contest would also aid the development of Vietnam’s hospitality industry and food and beverages sector as more foreign players enter the industry

“In the near future when we have built on our experience, we will add some Vietnamese wines to the competition,” he said. “This is the best way to promote both our wines and sommeliers to the world.”

According to To Viet – a wine expert, the job as sommelier that is popular in Europe only recently developed in Vietnam when restaurants and hotels began to recognize the important role that wine waiters play. He added that it is necessary to have a long-term strategy to develop the job in Vietnam besides the competition.

The winners of the South East Asia finals in November will go through to the Asian contest in Japan.

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A wine to tempt Bacchus

Vietnamese, whether rich or poor, like to serve their meals with cups of glutinous-rice wine. It comes in various kinds, depending on location and people’s social status, often mixed with medicinal herbs, roots, or fruits.

But of all rice wines, those scented with flowers are the most treasured because they are the most difficult to make.

Reverently called “poet’s wine,” those scented with chrysanthemums gathered at the end of autumn or lotuses at summer’s end exude fragrances that are immortalized in proverbs and poetry.

Like Asians elsewhere, Vietnamese set great store by lotus flowers which blossom bright and clean in mud. The lotus’ scent, considered nature’s quintessence, is reserved for the most cherished teas and wines.

In Hanoi, residents of Thuy Chuong Ward in West Lake District have long been admired for their superbly fragrant lotus wine which they made to offer to kings, though this once-glorious profession seems to be dying out.

Only connoisseurs know what lotus rice wine really is. Many still mistake it for rice wine made from lotus seeds. Both kinds help prevent aging, tranquilize the mind, and boost memory and health but the latter is easier to make and much less fragrant.

Making West Lake lotus rice wine is a complicated process. The ingredients - glutinous rice and lotus flowers - must be first rate. The lotus flowers must be the large type with layers of big petals hugging hundreds of smaller ones.

But they are rare and can only be seen in West Lake now. Wine makers gather the flowers before dawn, remove the petals, and gently pluck off the white anthers at the top of the pistil. One hundred flowers normally yield just one tael (38 grams) of anthers.

The anthers are dried under the sun and soaked along with lotus seeds in white-rice wine. After three to four months, the scents of the wine and lotus intertwine to create an exquisite drink that Vietnamese only share with their closest friends.

Temptation of rice wine

After a few months of fermentation, the wine acquires the light yellow color of morning sunshine. The lotus anthers and seeds are at the bottom, leaving room for the wine that rises up clear and beautiful.

The fine, mild scent of lotus has blended with the strong odor of rice wine.

Served in tiny cups on a breezy moonlit night with intimate friends around, lotus rice wine is an unequalled treat.

Hanoians make many dishes from lotus flowers, like sweet porridge with green beans and lotus seeds and lotus-scented tea, but lotus rice wine remains their most treasured. Yet, few have the chance to taste it now.

If you desire a sip or two, your only chance is perhaps to drop by West Lake, buy some lotus flowers, and ask the sellers if they happen to make lotus wine and are willing to share it with you.

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