Gearoid Devaney takes UK's top sommelier trophy

Gearoid Devaney from Tom Aikens’ Michelin-starred restaurant in London has won UK Sommelier of the Year 2008.

Gearoid beat other finalists Isa Bal from Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Bray and Cyril Thevenet of the Hotel du Vin group after competing against them in front of a live audience. For the top sommelier title, the finalists had to do a blind tasting, wine and food recommendations, correct errors on a wine list and pour a magnum of Champagne into 16 glasses, ensuring that each glass was equal, no glass was filled twice, nothing was spilt and the bottle ended up empty.

Gearoid Devaney has been the chief sommelier at Tom Aikens’ restaurant since it opened in 2003, where he has created a wine list of around 500 bins. Most recently, he set up an all-English wine list at Tom’s new fish and chip restaurant in Chelsea, Tom’s Place, which has the aim of being as environmentally friendly as possible,

The sommelier competition, which attracted 100 entrants this year, is run by the Academy of Food & Wine.