Sommelier, wine consultant and Chinese wine advocate Li Meiyu decants the ascent of Chinese wines, the challenges that come with it and the ones to watch
For most wine enthusiasts, Burgundy is a bucket list destination for tasting some of the world’s best wines. But for Li Meiyu, it is a special place that ignited her passion for wine, leading her on a path to being the first China’s first female advanced sommelier. While studying the French language at La Sorbonne University in Paris in 2008, she embarked on a trip to Burgundy after finding herself curious about the diversity of French culture—a big part of it being its wines and their provenance.
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That very weekend, Li found herself in the legendary Château de Meursault, tasting over 20 wines, from chardonnay to pinot noir, where she was particularly intrigued by the complexities of varying grape varietals and the distinct terroir of the vineyards. Since returning to Paris, her appetite for wine grew and simply tasting more wines wasn’t going to cut it. In 2010, she made the move to Bordeaux to formally pursue her wine education at the Cafa Sommelier Wine School and obtained the “La Mention Complémentaire en Sommellerie”—one that is equivalent to a diploma in oenology.
However, being a professional wine sommelier wasn’t exactly the dream. At least not until her internship stint at the Bistrot du Sommelier, a well-regarded Parisian wine restaurant by M. Philippe Faure-Brac who earned the World's Best Sommelier title in 1992. From opening the bar at nine in the morning to studying the rotating wine lists for each evening, Li worked tirelessly to satiate her thirst for wine knowledge. In that very year, she competed and won competitions such as the Best Sommelier of French Wines in China as well as China’s Best Sommelier Competition in the following year of 2011.
At that time, Mainland China had less than five sommeliers in practice, hence Li decided to return to China and join Park Hyatt Beijing as a hotel sommelier for the next three years. Her quest to better herself once again saw her uprooting and moving to London where she passed the Court of Master Sommelier exam in 2014. This solidified her status as the first female sommelier in Mainland China to attain such an accreditation, and brought her one step closer to the lionised title of Master Sommelier.