Welcome of the new sustaining member from Lithuania

/in

We are pleased to welcome UNIQA, a mineral water from the south of Lithuania, as a new sustaining member of the Water Sommelier Union! The name “UNIQA” is composed of “unique” and “aqua”. The special feature of this natural mineral water is its exceptionally high iodide content of 0.82 mg/l. UNIQA is thus the most iodine-containing mineral water in Lithuania, and therefore the only one that may be called a natural source of iodine.

UNIQA has been on the market since 2019 and belongs to the well-known Lithuanian brewery VOLFAS ENGELMAN.

AGM + Mineral Water Celebration Day 2023 in Vienna

/in

The 2nd day of the annual meeting of the Wassersommelier Union e.V. is obligatorily characterized by the ordinary general meeting and the mineral water celebration day.

Ordinary General Meeting

The essential point of the ordinary general meeting 2023 was the accountability report of the board of directors for the period from October 2022 to October 2023. The response of our members and supporting members is steadily increasing! This year we had the pleasure to welcome members from 16 different countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Latvia, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, USA) in Vienna! This is really great!

Mineral Water Celebration Day – Quellenland Österreich

Fresh, pure water! A wealth in which the Alpine Republic of Austria has been swimming since time immemorial. That is why the Alps are also called the water castle of Europe. According to experts, Austria could supply over 400 million people with drinking water. This year’s Mineral Water Celebration Day will highlight the history of Austria’s spring landscape, the history of Austria’s spa culture and the special features surrounding mineral and medicinal water legislation in Austria. There are 40 springs recognized as natural mineral water and 118 recognized medicinal springs in Austria, with Vöslauer being the number 1 on the mineral water market in Austria. With today’s day, the participants could not only refresh their cross-national knowledge, but also prove their sensory skills from some selected Austrian mineral and medicinal waters.

Many thanks at this point especially to Gerlinde and Peter for the extremely interesting contribution.

General Meeting 2022 of the Wassersommelier Union e.V.

/in

The 11th Annual Meeting of the Wassersommelier Union with the Ordinary General Meeting and the Mineral Water Celebration Day took place from October 7th – 9th in Munich-Graefelfing.


A major highlight for all participants was certainly the new Doemens Academy facility, which was officially inaugurated in September 2022. Most of our sommeliers had completed their training as water sommeliers in the former training rooms of the Doemens Academy.


Jens Bunzel (above right) is the Senior Manager for Product and Marketing at Bad Brambacher Mineralquellen and was elected as first chair for another 4 years. Marion Schropp was again voted in as 2nd chair. Dr. Peter Schropp (above left) is responsible for the management of the Doemens Academy GmbH seminars and will continue to manage the professional association as its Managing Director. Gerlinde Mock and Joachim Kuppert (neither is pictured) complete the Board as Assessors.

According to the statutes, the Executive Board is elected for a period of four years. During the election, the 42 members present voted unanimously for the newly elected board.

Thank you very much for the trust you have placed in us!!!

Continuation of WSU-Certifications

/in

We are particularly pleased that OSUISSE STILL has received the WSU-Certificate of the successful sensory approval and may now bear the WSU-“seal”.

With OSUISSE, a Swiss spring water in a class of its own was recently launched on the market. Bottled in Valais in specially developed glass bottles. OSUISSE brings “Savoir Vivre” with a touch of glamour to the water glasses of high-end gastronomy. Two videos were produced to bring the water and the brand world to life. 

Photo: Osuisse AG

Annual General Meeting 2021 in Dinkelsbühl

/in

„Germany’s most beautiful olde town“ (FOCUS). Indeed. Towers and gates, winding alleys, quiet corners, romantic squares, a walled-in olde town, moats and ponds form an ensemble ranked among the most beautiful on the Continent! The attractive, medieval olde town – with its modern hotels, numerous restaurants and cafés as well as a variety of different shops and sights – was the ideal place to hold our Annual General Meeting!

The meeting was held under strict Covid mandate and, after the official welcome and determination of proper convening and quorum, Marion and Peter Schropp guided participants through the agenda. In the afternoon, all Annual Meeting participants took a guided tour of the town on the topic of “Dinkelsbühl and its water – past and present”. The weather was glorious! Finally, the group spent the remainder of the day at the Weibsbräu in Dinkelsbühl and listened intently to stories told by the local brewmaster over dinner.

The Association’s Board sincerely hopes that the travel situation will improve significantly next year and that many WSU members from near and far will be able to attend the 2022 Annual Meeting!

Photos: Wassersommelier Union e.V.

WSU certifies further mineral water brands

/in

We are pleased to report that, after a lengthy dry spell, WSU’s Sensory Assessment Working Group has been commissioned to produce further expert reports! Our thanks go to RheinfelsQuellen H. Hövelmann GmbH & Co. KG, Duisburg, Germany and Plose Quelle AG, Bressanone, Italy.

WSU says thank you very much for the trust and support! “Also, we are pleased that we were now able to award certification “WATER SOMMELIER UNION – CERTIFIED AND APPROVED” for products from two more mineral springs who are also WSU sustaining members,” says Peter Schropp. “At the time of tasting, we were very enthusiastic to discover that these mineral waters could demonstrate such outstanding sensorial qualities. Pairing recommendations for coffee, tea, wine and various dishes were worked out specifically for each mineral water being assessed,” said the members of the working group.

We are pleased to hereby expand our Association website with further mineral water brand recommendations.

EFBW becomes Natural Mineral Waters Europe

/in

EFBW was founded in 2003 as the European Federation of Bottled Waters in Brussels, focussed of networking all of the individual European associations for natural mineral and spring waters.

Starting in early 2021, the organization is now branded as Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE) to better reflect the increased work on the environment and the pristine qualities of the mineral water product.

In this context, their homepage was also revamped: https://naturalmineralwaterseurope.org/