Water Sommelier Union Taiwan Group held a Year End Banquet at W Hotel Taipei on Nov 27th, 2021. Twenty water sommeliers from Cohort 1 to Cohort 3 of the Kai Ping & Doemens Water Sommelier Program participated the event.
Photo: WSU Taiwan Group
At the invitation of Tetra Pak GmbH & Co KG, mineral water experts met in Hochheim (Main) on October 25th and 26th, 2019 for their annual general meeting. The fact that our participants hail from a total of 12 different nations demonstrates the international makeup of the Association. Tetra Pak, founded in 1951, is the global leader in food processing and packaging solutions. With more than 24,000 employees worldwide, the company assumes a leadership role for industrial responsibility via their successful, sustainable business model. The motto “PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD™” underscores their vision to provide safe food everywhere.
Tetra Pak, a valued Water Sommelier Union sustaining member for the past 2 years, showed off their filling technology for carton packaging at its training center in Hochheim (Main). In addition, members visited the production plant in Limburg. Since 1969, high-quality cardboard packaging material for liquid foods – about 5 billion packages per year – has been produced here.
A rare natural phenomenon revealed itself to our participants after a bus ride to Andernach (Rhine). The exhibition at the Geyser Centre led to the cold water geyser and some background information about volcanism in the Eifel. After navigating the Rhine to the nature reserve on the Peninsula Namedyer Werth, the visitors were finally able to see the phenomenon: the world’s largest cold water geyser shoots out every 2 hours with a fountain about 50 to 60 meters due to the high CO2 pressure. A most impressive nature spectacle! The water sommeliers, of course, immediately noticed the slightly salty content of the geyser water.
We would like to thank Tetra Pak for logistical assistance and for their generous financial contribution to our 2019 Annual Meeting! Special thanks are due to Managing Director Stefan Karl for hosting this event in Hochheim, to our water sommelier Timo Bausch for preparing the varied program and Mrs. Cornelia Mann for organising the popular side events!
In the run-up to our Annual General Meeting, the 4th Mineral Water Celebration Day took place in Hochheim (Germany) on October 24th and 25th 2019 under the direction of Peter Schropp, with support of Marion Schropp. After the Managing Director of Tetra Pak, Mr. Stefan Karl, opened the meeting, we engaged in extensive sensory assessment tests to discover taste and mouth feel for various minerals. The presentation of new sustaining members and natural springs companies, who commissioned sensory assessment reports from the WSU, began with a tasting of the corresponding mineral waters. After all, the topic was “Flavor or Off-Flavor”, in which numerous natural mineral waters and some added off-flavors were taste-tested. The second day of the workshop focused mainly on the topic of “food pairing”. In accordance with theoretical principles, different waters were combined with different food ingredients.
From September 21st to 22nd, 2018, the 8th Annual General Meeting of the Water Sommelier Union took place in Bressanone (South Tyrol). The kick-off event was Mineral Water Celebration Day on Friday, during which 47 participants gained valuable insights with a guided tour of the Brenner thermal springs “San Zaccaria”. Afterwards, under the guidance of Dr. Peter Schropp (Doemens Academy), their sensory assessment skills were trained and tested with mineral waters that were pumped from underground springs in the Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, Switzerland and of course from South Tyrol. In a blind tasting, each batch had to be assigned to its corresponding mineralization. An overview of the rich history of South Tyrolean mineral waters and so-called “Bauernbadln”, presented by Dr. med. Astrid Sapelza, topped off a very informative day.
It is worth noting that not only sommeliers from Germany took part in the annual meeting: International water sommeliers from the USA, Italy, France, Latvia, Russia, Switzerland and Singapore were also in attendance. The increasing international impact of the Association shows that water sommeliers are valued outside Germany as competent ambassadors for the promotion of the cultural drink mineral water. The annual meeting provides ideal professional development opportunities for those interested in celebrating mineral waters even as they refresh and deepen their knowledge and sensory assessment skills. In addition, these regular meetings provide focus and stimulate the exchange of ideas and experiences.
There are currently 153 association members, including 15 active sponsors who have shown their deep committment to the philosophy of the Water Sommelier Union.
For the third time, the annual Mineral Water Celebration Day of the Wassersommelier Union was held. The event is an ideal professional development opportunity for those who are interested in mineral water, especially for all water sommeliers/sommelières, who want to refresh and deepen their knowledge. Various mineral water themes were addressed at Mineralbrunnen Teinach GmbH, prepared and organized by the two heads of the water sommelier training at Doemens, Nicola Buchner and Dr. Peter Schropp. Professional mineral water analysis, the influence of water on the sensory analysis of whiskey, tips from the wine industry for the marketing of mineral waters and optimal food pairing of cheese and mineral water were among the presentation topics. With a total of 40 participants, almost half of all certified water sommeliers were on site, enabling the participants to expand their knowledge and skills.
The annual general meeting took place on the second day of the event, serving as a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences with other members. The AGM is an integral part of life in the WSU association. In addition to a summary of last year’s activities, the focus was on future business.
This year, the increasingly international importance of the Water Sommelier Union became clear to those present, as the English-language courses offered by Doemens Academy have meanwhile attracted members from Spain, Poland, the USA and Romania. Thus, for the first time, a section of the program this year was presented in English. In the coming years, German as well as English language presentations will become the standard at our annual meetings.
A big thank you to Irina Zimmermann from Teinacher Springs for this year’s organization. The next annual meeting will take place from the 21st to the 23rd of September, 2018 in Bressanone.
The „Global Bottled Water Award 2017“ will be presented in 12 different categories (covering innovation, taste, marketing, packaging and sustainability across all sectors of the packaged water industry) at the Global Bottled Water Congress in Barcelona. Peter Schropp (CEO of the Water Sommelier Union) will be one of five jurors responsible for evaluating the entries and selecting the winners. Details here: https://www.zenithglobal.com/events/222/Global%20Bottled%20Water%20Awards%202017
This event, organised annually by Zenith Global, will take place October 23rd-25th, 2017 in Barcelona. The Congress will cover a range of key themes for the global bottled water industry and provide excellent networking opportunities for industry leaders, suppliers, customers and analysts to gain strategic insight for essential business planning.
Details here: https://www.zenithglobal.com/events/217/14th%20Global%20Bottled%20Water%20Congress
The annual Mineral Water Celebration Day will take place again this year as the run-up to our annual meeting in Bad Teinach. The event will take place on Friday, September 29th.