The Lily Bollinger Award is named after the legendary champagne widow Lily Bollinger. She took over responsibility for the champagne house after her husband’s death and worked hard for almost thirty years to make the world’s best champagnes. The competition, which was established in 2002, is aimed at both professional sommelier and students in beverage education. Lily Bollinger Award 2021 – the finals.
The winner of the Lily Bollinger Award has been chosen – Sweden’s best female sommelier is Frida Winters
The exciting final of the Lily Bollinger Award 2021 has been decided and the winner of the prestigious competition was Frida Winters from Uppsala, who can now call herself Sweden’s best female sommelier and this year’s ‘Lily Bollinger’.
It was a very exciting and even final that took place today at At Six in Stockholm. The three finalists Anette Andersson from Umeå, Frida Winters from Uppsala and Cathrine Almqvist from Stockholm competed in various practical and theoretical parts to decide who would be Sweden’s best female sommelier in 2021. The final lasted for two days, 19-20 September.
‘I am so very proud of our finalists, just to show up in this competition shows courage and that you do not shy away from a challenge. For Frida, this is the beginning of a new journey where she is now really counted as a successful competition sommelier. An expert, a role model, a Lily.’
says Emma Ziemann, competition leader Lily Bollinger Award.
After the jury deliberated and compiled all the points, it was Frida Winters who took home the win and the glorious title as this year’s ‘Lily Bollinger’.
‘This means an incredible deal to me, all the hard work has paid off. This is the most fun I know and I hope it shines through. The Lily Bollinger Award has made it possible for female sommelier to compete, this is my first competition and I feel that this is the beginning of a very fun time in my life,’
says the winner Frida Winters.
The winner of the Lily Bollinger Award receives, in addition to the glorious title ‘Lily Bollinger of the Year’, a training trip to the historic champagne house Bollinger, and a Stålhästen-bike. The bicycle symbolizes Lily Bollinger who constantly guarded the vineyard from two wheels.
‘There are an incredible number of talented women in the restaurant industry who want to show off their professional skills by participating in the competition. A win has proven to give a real boost in his career and is a qualified national recognition’,
says Emma Ziemann, competition leader for the Lily Bollinger Award.
THE JURY
Beatrice Becher Went out as the winner of the Lily Bollinger Award 2011 and after her victory has built on the merit list, both nationally and internationally. Beatrice has also served as chairman of the Swedish Sommelier Association. Today, Beatrice is a restaurateur and sommelier and runs the wine bar Folii and the restaurant Voisine on Södermalm in Stockholm. Beatrice is also a lecturer at Vinkällan and runs the podcast Vinpratarna together with wine journalist Andreas Grube.
Erik Schneider has together with its co-founders for six years run the well-known wine bar L’Enoteca in Malmö, L’Enoteque in Helsingborg and Lenoteket in Lund. In 2017, Erik was named Sommelier of the Year and through his wine bars, Erik has also been awarded fine awards such as Wine Bar of the Year 2016 and 2019.
Amalia Gonzalez Stöckel is a sommelier and writer and who together with Carlos Norlén runs the drinks blog and podcast Dos Gardenias. Amalia has previously been a jury at Mundus Vini Nordic 1st Grand Wine Award for German Wines, 2019 and has held master classes in Chilean pisco at the Beer and Whiskey Fair 2017. Today Amalia works mainly as a freelancer for various magazines, organizes tastings and blogs and podcasts on the site Dos Gardenias.
Fredrik Hierner has worked in the restaurant industry since the age of 20 and in 2013 he was named Swedish champion in sommelier and took second place at the Nordic Championships the same year. Since 2014, Fredrik has taught at Vinkällan in Denmark and today he works as a consultant and sommelier for Laudrup wine. Fredrik has also sat on the jury for the Lily Bollinger Award on three previous occasions.
