Discerning palate: Kenya outperforms UK at international wine tasters contest

In a remarkable feat, Kenyan wine tasters have outperformed traditional wine powerhouses like England at the prestigious World Tasting Championship, often dubbed the “Wine Olympics.”

The event, held in France, sees competitors blind-taste a diverse array of unlabelled wines, guessing their region, vintage, and grape variety.

Representing Kenya this year was an all-female team: Janet Kangethe, Soraya Ladak, Kenyalyn Oddenyo, Joy Adero, and Victoria Mulu-Munywoki.

This marked Kenya’s third appearance in the competition, and the team had been diligently preparing through rigorous training sessions at The Wine Shop in Nairobi.

During these sessions, the team honed their skills by sampling tens of wines from different regions.

In one of the sessions attended by Lifestyle, Joy described the wine: “I’m tasting high acidity, minerality, and a hint of barnyard—not the red wine kind, though.” Meanwhile, Soraya pinpointed notes of asparagus and unripe passion fruit, guessing a Bordeaux blend from 2022.

Such expertise helped Team Kenya finish, just two spots behind France, showcasing their talent on the global stage.

Speaking to Lifestyle from France, the team could not hide their excitement over the ability to compete against established wine countries. Kenya was position 30 out of the 40 countries, most of which are wine-growing while South Africa, the other African representative in the competition, ranked 26th.

The team shared their journey on how their camaraderie blossomed through their shared passion for wine.

Janet fell in love with wine in 2014.

“Working in hospitality, you must go through wine training, and I enjoyed learning about wine,” she said.

During the Covid pandemic, Janet deepened her knowledge by reading about wine, leading her to South Africa’s vineyards to learn about winemaking.”When I came back, I did my first wine qualification, my WSET Level 2.”

She joined Team Wine Kenya this year but had been attending training sessions since 2022. “My relationship with wine is like a beautiful love affair. It has elevated my career. I started as a restaurant hostess, and I’m now an award-winning restaurant manager,” Janet, a beverage manager at The Social House, said.

Training sessions were intense and demanding. “We’d taste six to seven wines a day, using all our senses to decipher each one’s origin, grape, and vintage. Our wine-tasting training started at 10am. Our coach, Victoria Munywoki, always reminded us to read about wine,” Janet said.

They meticulously documented their tastings in notebooks, ensuring they remembered the nuances of each wine.

“I’d walk around with three different types of books; one to help me with my sensory notes to learn how to tell the wines through the senses. The other book helped me to distinguish the different types of grapes and learn how to differentiate wine grapes from the other kinds of grapes. I also have my WSET Level 3 book which helped me to identify the different regions where the wine is coming from.”

Maintaining a sensitive palate was crucial. Janet explained, “I avoid food or drinks before practice, even steering clear of perfume, as it can distort our sense of smell,” the 32-year-old said.

Soraiya is a returning competitor, having joined the original team in 2022.

“I missed last year’s competition due to my pregnancy. The competition is challenging for me, but I like it because it helps me improve my wine-tasting skills. Even as a sommelier, every day I learn more about wine,” said the WSET Level 3 sommelier.

Her relationship with wine began after her first pregnancy. “Pregnancy heightened my senses. I would throw up and always feel nauseated, and that didn’t go away even after I gave birth. So, when my baby got older and I took wine, everything was fine,” the mother of three said.

For Soraya, training for the competition was not just about tasting wine; it required discipline and sacrifice, balancing family and career commitments.

“People assume we’re just drinking alcohol, but this is a craft. It’s not all fun. You don’t want to drink wine after these training sessions; you crave tea or coffee. There is also palate fatigue. We tasted over 200 different types of wines. You also have to maintain discipline, balancing this passion with family and career, but we believe in ourselves and want to put Kenya on the wine map.”

As one of the directors of The Wine Shop, Soraiya says that part of their role was to provide training wines for the competitors and a place to practice.

“We hosted the team, provided wine…This year we were fortunate to have Barton and Guestier provide us with the wines used for practice,” she said.

For those looking to make wine a career, Soraya says, “You have to remember at the end of the day, this is alcohol. It is a slippery slope, and I have seen many people fall victim to alcoholism. If it is your career, you need to respect the trade and do everything in moderation.”

To maintain her palate, Soraya avoids chilli. “Also, giving my palate a break is always very helpful. I give myself a break and only enjoy my wine during the weekend,” the 42-year-old said.

Kenyalyn, who is joining Team Wine Kenya for the first time this year, has grown up surrounded by wine.

“My parents would host guests a lot when I was growing up. All the meals were accompanied by wine. Then I went to a culinary school in South Africa, where wine is a huge part of their culture. This is where I got to better understand wine,” the 28-year-old said.

Now, she is the group sommelier and retail manager at Wine Box in Nairobi.

“For me, wine means family, happiness, and love. It is a long-term investment,” she said.

Joy got into wine simply because of curiosity.

“I identify as a wine enthusiast. It all started in 2012 when I would receive bottles of wine as gifts from friends, which sparked my curiosity. I began self-teaching, going on the internet and reading wine enthusiast and wine spectator magazines.

It was a hobby until 2019 when I decided to take it up as a career. I undertook my WSET classes and topped my Level 1 and 2 classes. I saw this as a sign that I can take it up professionally.” Now, Joy is a wine writer and a sommelier.

Victoria Mulu-Munywoki wears many hats for Team Wine Kenya as a coach, captain, and mentor of Team Wine Kenya. The biggest drive for her was to provide mentorship and ensure that this hobby goes beyond a few sommeliers.

“I wanted for us to have a pipeline of expertise that lasted beyond me hence the difference in age in the competitors. We are trying to make this a generation thing. Every year, we try to have some new people joining the team,” the 47-year-old said.

Victoria said the most important qualification to be a competitor was a person’s attitude. “While the person needed to be at a certain level with their knowledge of wine, what mattered more was the ability to work well with a team. Everything we do is teamwork. Finally, I looked for a person who is willing to mentor others so that we can ensure that there is always Team Wine Kenya,” she says.

Last year, Team Wine Kenya was position 26, beating wine-rich countries such as Italy, Scotland, and Sweden, and Victoria was part of the team.

Only women have been competing in the wine competitions, are there plans to include men next year?

“There are plans to have men join us. Every year, we call out to men to join, but sometimes it is the ladies who are committed to getting through the training. Though this will be streamlined with the formation of the Sommelier Association of Kenya, for now, as an all-girls team, we have been working well, but we are open to having more men join us,” Victoria said.