Lotte Department Store's Han Hee-su Wins 'Asia Sommelier Competition'... "Becomes First Female Champion"

This Year, Three Sommeliers Recruited... Strengthening Wine Curation

Sommelier Han Hee-su is conducting the finals of the 8th Asia Sommelier Competition. (Photo by Lotte Department Store)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] Lotte Department Store announced on the 22nd that sommelier Han Heesu won first place at the '8th Asia Sommelier' competition held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The Asia Sommelier competition is organized by the French government brand 'Taste France,' created to promote the excellence of French agricultural products and wines. Following the preliminaries on the 14th and the finals on the 15th, 14 sommeliers from 8 countries including Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Vietnam competed fiercely.

Sommelier Han Heesu won this competition, becoming the first female champion. She earned the right to participate by placing second in a domestic sommelier competition last September and represented the country after three months of intensive preparation.

Lotte Department Store plans to showcase an overwhelming level of wine curation based on highly professional sommeliers. This year alone, Lotte Department Store has recruited three sommeliers, including Han Heesu, the winner of this competition, Choi Junseon, the winner of the 6th competition, and Kyung Minseok, the first sommelier in the distribution industry.

Kim Seungyoung, head of the Wine & Liquor team, said, "The victory in this competition is not only an individual achievement of the sommelier but also a great opportunity to widely promote Lotte Department Store's wine expertise to customers," adding, "We will continue to present various wine contents that can lead customers' premium lifestyles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.