A 'unique' sommelier school is being created in Bordeaux, designed to reinforce the city’s position at the centre of the wine world.

Launched during the biennial Vinexpo wine fair, the International Sommelier School is described as offering 'unique training of the highest level, offering a diploma of excellence'.

'The sommeliers of the world will have the possibility to come to Bordeaux to prepare for the national and international contests, or to perfect their knowledge of the wines of the world,' said the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce, which has created the school.

'The instruction to be offered by top experts from around the world will make this training unique.'

Some 30 candidates are expected for the first session, scheduled for September 2012, which offers seven weeks of on-site classes, as well as long-distance training.

Designed for experienced sommeliers, the course will cost more than €12,000 per year.

The initiative was launched at Vinexpo by Pierre Goguet, president of the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce, along with Christophe Palmowski, of the OIV (Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin) and Philippe Faure-Brac, Meilleur Sommelier du Monde in 1992.

News item from Imbibe.com, 26-07-2011