Sitting in a Sommelier Competition, winning is not always what you think.

Showing up. Putting yourself under pressure, allowing others to judge and assess your skills and knowledge, isn't easy.

Then, live, you misunderstand one task. And your dreams will remain a dream.

Is that what we commonly call a failure?

No, this isn't. It is a true learning experience, building your expertise, your strength, and polishing your identity.

This is the real winning curve of competing.

World best sommelier competition Swiss Selection

In late June 2026, I finished second at the selection for Switzerland's candidate to the World's Best Sommelier championship.

The moment I realised I'd failed was worse than any score.

Everything went smoothly, walking out of the theoretical and tasting morning session mentally strong. Then, the live appears, and I missed an inch of concentration when listening to the first task brief. And I finished second.

The Break

Live. Public. Judges watching. My competitor & friend, Mikael, is standing next to me, executing the same brief.

I misread the question. Not catastrophically, but enough. I committed to half of what was asked. Then I watched him do it right, in real time, in front of me. I understood too late that I had gone sideways.

That second, watching someone else understand what I'd missed, something in me shattered. This is a mental breakdown at this level. It destroyed me.

Ten years of preparation, a Master Sommelier credential, the weight of representing my country, and I'd failed in the first visible moment.

I still had many more tasks to complete.

The Rebuild

Between tasks, I sat alone.

And then I did what ten years of experience have taught me to do:

I stopped. I meditated. Not for peace. For focus. I rebuilt the narrative.

"You know what you're doing. This one mistake doesn't define the next hours. You have strength left. You know where you're from, don't let it go..."

It took maybe ten minutes.

Then I walked back in and competed cleanly. The tasting section brought confident calls. Wine pairings felt pleasant. By the end, I was intact. Glad and pleased about my show.

Endless Preparations

People see Master Sommelier. Two national selections. Credentials.

They don't see: every single day. Morning flashcards. Evening tastings. Blind samples before service. Exhausting reading. Drawing an unbelievable number of maps. Failing small exams.

But climbing slowly. Pushing yourself to a point you thought was non possible.

The invisible work that shapes you into someone who can catch themselves mid-collapse and keep going. Some days, you feel like having a knee on the floor; there is no more energy left. But your motivation, your dreams, the excitement, get you back on the road.

That's the real competition. Not yesterday—the years that made yesterday possible.

It's Not About Them. It's About You.

Competition at any level isn't about proving you're better than the person next to you. It's about meeting the standard you've set for yourself as a professional.

The other candidates become your peers, your mentors, your community. You trained together before. You stay connected after. The scorecard tells you where you placed. Your own reflection tells you if you showed up as yourself.

Yesterday, despite that first task, I did.

What Perfection Actually Is

Here's what I've learned: even the world's best somms winners aren't perfect.

Stress changes everything. Under pressure, with judges watching, with your country on your shoulders, perfection becomes impossible. It's not failure. It's human.

So if you're waiting to feel ready enough, polished enough, perfect enough to enter a competition, that's not the right mindset.

When I first walked into a competition, as a 22-year-old sommelier, I had not even an idea how wild and big the world of wine was. My mentor left me no choice.

Then, it has shaped my entire life ever since.

And I am pleased about the entire journey so far. And this is not over yet. Many more projects on my side.

What you will find is yourself:

What you're made of.

Where you're strong.

Where you need to grow.

To the Next Generation

Along the way, I hear many people asking me the aim of competing, telling me I was strong already, and I did not need to show up anymore.

I did not listen. I sacrificed many sunny days at home, sleeping less, focusing on myself.

If you believe in something, go for it. You don't become an Olympic athlete by eating junk food daily.

And that is your choice, to enter, to be measured, to learn and try again. That changed everything.

So here's my invitation: don't wait for perfection. Enter the competition or exam. Sit in front of that paper. Feel the pressure. Fail if you're going to fail. Rebuild. Keep going.

Because here's the truth: the real victory isn't the medal. It's the person you become in the moment you choose to keep going after you break.

I finished second yesterday.

But I am feeling today to be the best expression of myself.

Tony Lécuroux MS

Partner & Certified wine educator at Wine Education Switzerland

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