A tale of Self-improvement
Text by Jorge Irribarren
When Joseph Ruiz Acosta was studying
Hotel Management a little bit than ten years ago, he never imagined of being a
Sommelier and in no way of representing Peru as the official candidate for the
world contest “ASI-Best Sommelier of the world 2019” (from the 10th
to the 15th of March 2019 in Antwerp, Belgium). Much more, he will
also celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the ASI-world contest in the
same country who held the first one in 1969 although in the city of Brussels.
In fact, he was thinking about
being the manager of a Resort chain, thus following his wish he decided to
learn about “haute cuisine” and consistently, didn’t hesitate to work as a
waiter for the Central restaurant in Lima.
In a short time Joseph was unexpectedly
involved with the wine service discovering his real calling and holding the
idea of being a sommelier in order to improve his performance. As always, the
destiny hold different passages as the one we plan, but if we persist in our
dreams they will certainly come true at least in another way.
Joseph got the Sommelier Diploma
on the IDVIP (Wine and Pisco Institute-Lima 2012), however, accepting that
graduation as the beginning of a long way of training, therefore he got the 2nd
Level of the Court of Masters Sommeliers in New York, attended seminars and
events in Germany, Austria and Argentina, as well as competing in national and
international contests. He has won the Best Peruvian Sommerlier award in 2015
and 2018 just as the position number 7 on the Pan-American contest in 2018.
With the hole team of the Central
restaurant, where he has finally got the position of “Chief Sommelier”, he has received
awards like “4th Best Restaurant of the World” and “Best Latin
American restaurant” by “The 50’S Best restaurants of the world” or “Best
restaurant of Peru” and “Best Sommelier of Peru” by Summum.
Now it seems like Joseph has
forgotten the early times when he grew up between the district of San Martin de
Porres in Lima-Peru and Long Island in New York-USA, but exactly this
combination is easily recognizable in his open-minded and multicultural personality
which help him in his daily work and make him willing to travel and discover
new cultures.
Joseph is self-taught, entrepreneur
and have a clear mind with identified targets. He enjoy very complex pairings with food but prefer the plain
ones, like Oysters with Champagne or Causa de langostinos (Causa with shrimps-typical
Peruvian dish) with Chardonnay. This will be his first time in Belgium and his
second world contest. To be in France is still a dream for him, but somehow he
knows that his fortune will bring him there on the correct time.
Even though representing his
lovely Peru in the world contest makes him feel sometimes nervous, he trains
himself for the event everyday with persistence and have the conviction of doing
a great performance.
The well known Peruvian Pisco Specialist, Ms. Lucero Villagarcía, went to Cancun to talk about Pisco during the month of August, while the alcoholic beberage specialist & cigar connoisseur Mr. Jorge Irribarren went there in September to teach about Rum, Sommellerie & Cigars.
Both courses took place in the La Amada Hotel Cancun with the support of the Syrah Sommeliers Association.
During the course, the participants could experiment the matches of habanos with coffe, whiskies, rums, cachaza and chocolates.
Some of the best red wines in the top line of Chile, like Altazor by Undurraga Cabernet Sauvignon 2005; Lota by Cousiño Macul Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot 2005; Chateau Los Boldos Gran Crue Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot 2005; Inédito Limited Edition by Calyptra 2003; and the exceptional La Cumbre by Errázuris Shyraz 2003.
Them, the journalist Mariana Martinez join the tasting, which ended with a wonderful lunch.
