RANKING THE BRIGHTEST AND BEST SOMMELIERS OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND 2025

Top 100 Sommeliers New Zealand has released its first ranking of the country’s best sommeliers – the most comprehensive list ever of top wine professionals in hospitality. 

26th July 2025, Auckland – The Champagne Louis Roederer Top 100 Sommeliers has ranked the very best professionals on the restaurant scene in New Zealand for the first time. Never before has such a list been compiled; highlighting outstanding wine service and food pairing skills of the very best sommeliers and wine wait staff in the country.

Number one New Zealand sommelier in 2025 is Leah Kirkland, Group Beverage Director, Emett Group.

Commenting on the inaugural ranking, chair judge Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, said, “Leah is an outstanding wine and beverage professional, a Sommelier with mana, influence, authority and efficacy.”

Over 50% of the very best sommeliers in New Zealand are based outside of the Auckland region, 40% are women, making this the most democratic and inclusive listing of wine service professionals across Aotearoa. In fact, four of the Top 20 Sommeliers in 2025 are women. 

The Champagne Louis Roederer Top 100 Sommeliers is an annual ranking of the New Zealand top sommelier talent, celebrating the art and savoir faire of those professionals who epitomise service in wine and beverages.

We honour their status and achievement with a lapel pin and certificate.

The ranking invites nominations from sommeliers and their hospitality peers from across New Zealand making it possibly  the most democratic and accurate ranking of its kind. Based on the nominees’ experience, career and educational achievements, day-to-day responsibilities and performance in competitions, Top 100 Sommeliers uses an infallible, aggregated points system to assess and analyse each sommeliers’ professional successes.

2025 Top 100 Sommeliers

1. Leah Kirkland Group Beverage Director, Onslow/Gilt Brasseried/The Oyster Inn
2. Matthew Aitchison Restaurant Manger, The French Cafe
3. Tim Ogle Director – Owner/Operator, Cellar Door
4. Andrea Martinisi Beverage Director, Normanby – Mt Eden
5. Aleksandr Shchepetkin Director/Sommelier, Ground Wine Bar
6. Jessica Trautner Head Sommelier, Rimu Wine Bar
7. Ismo Koski Restaurant manager/owner, Apero food and wine
8. Camilo Deichler Restaurant Manager, San Ray
9. Suraj GC Head Sommelier, Park Hyatt Hotel, Auckland
10. Gary Pluck Senior Sommelier, 11 Woodward Street
11. Arthur Griffoul Owner/Operator, Soif
12. Joseph Costello Wine Director, The Wine Room
13. Davey McDonald Owner/ Operator, Ortega Fish Shack & Bar
14. Simon Benoit Restaurant Manager, Cazador
15. Ben Carmine Restaurant Manager / Beverage Director, Paris Butter
16. Victoria Birsen Wine Buyer/Curator, Cellar 495
17. Joe Wang Club Sommelier, The Northern Club
18. Larissa Gabriela Muller Restaurant Manager & Sommelier, Palate
19. Giulio Barducci Wine Director, Toast & Oak
20. Jenna Sisson Owner/Operator, The Hour Glass
21. Hiro Kawahara Sommelier, Kikizakeshi & Director Somm Cellars
22. Liz Buttimore Owner Operator, Arbour Restaurant
23. Tim Ippel Restaurant Manager, Rosella Winebar
24. Jeremy Olsen Sommelier, Botswana Butchery
25. Penny Lawrence General Manager, BambuchiSan
26. Hannah Wells Owner/Director, Puffin
27. Bruno Arias Sommelier, Jervois Steak House Auckland
28. Katie Woodhead Sommelier, Cellar 495
29. Craig Beattie Sommelier, Hello Beasty
30. Marek Przyborek Head Sommelier, Amisfield
31. Nicola Richards Manager, Monsoon Poon
32. Bailey Mullin Venue Manager, SOUL Bar and Bistro
33. Benji Smith Stakeholder/Sommelier, Arbour Restaurant
34. Michael Tully Restaurant Manager, The Gables
35. Samira Kakh Wine Shop & Sommelier, Normanby Fine Wines
36. Manjul Sharma Sommelier & Assistant Venue Manager, The Lodge Bar by Rodd & Gunn
37. Pierre Bernardeau Sommelier, Bistro Saine
38. Ashish Jha Assistant Restaurant Manager, Rosewood Kauri Cliffs
39. Jacqueline Jubel Restaurant Manager, No 7 Balmac
40. Drew Cohen Restaurant Manager, The Green A Chefs Table
41. Sophi Beaton Restaurant Manager, Onslow
42. Oliver Middleton Beverage Director, Rosella
43. Nora Blackburne Co owner, Embra Taupo
44. Lyndsay Adamson Maitre D’, No7 Balmac
45. Carolina Front Director of Mixology – Roki & Head Sommelier – Sherwood, Queenstown
46. Ryan Simonsen Director/General Manager, The Monday Room
47. Caterina Foscoli Venue Manager, Rodd & Gunn, The Lodge, Queenstown
48. Sienna Davidson Beverage manager, Pici/Tappo
49. Celia Bravo Ruis Restaurant Manager, Sidart
50. Elizabeth Adams Sommelier / Restaurant Manager, Cellar door

Top 51 to 100

in alphabetical order

• Claire Abbott Sommelier, Rata
• Francesco Accurso Wine Advisor, Kinross
• Hugo Adenot Apprenti Sommelier, Ground Wine Bar
• Matthias Beker Venue Manager, 11 Woodward St.
• Marcus Berndt Owner, Terra Restaurant
• Miguel Borges Food and Beverage Attendant, The Lodge Bar & Dining Room
• Niolas Bouchard Head Waiter, Twenty Seven Steps
• Marisol Caceres Urrutia Food & Beverage Manager, Clubhouse at The Hills
• Hera Choi Bar Manager, 269 Parnell
• Jean-Tristan Debourbet Wine sales, Maison Vauron
• Robbie Douglas Venue Manager/Head Sommelier, Gigi Ponsonby
• Yarben Eizenstein FOH /Sommelier, Urban Eatery Nelson
• María Belén Eyzaguirre López Cellar Door Manager, Palliser Estate
• Giacomo Fabozzi FOH /Sommelier, Kinloch Manor & Villas
• Benjamin Foerrant Owner, Highwater Eatery
• Harriet Gray Head Sommelier, Nest Kitchen & Bar
• Jonathan Gregory Manager and Wine buyer, Vesuvio CHCH
• Jemma Grobbelaar Pervan Sommelier, Freelance
• Victoria Haysom Wine & Guest Experience Lead, The Wine Room by David Nash
• Jiexue-Snow He Sommelier, The Northen Club
• Penelope Johnson Owner, People Like Us: La Rumbla/Slow Cuts
• Job Jovo Restaurant Manager, 50 Bistro Restaurant at The George Hotel
• Neil Kapadia Sommelier/Duty manager, Harvest Restaurant
• Marko Kucic FOH /Sommelier, Athens Yacht Club CHCH
• Anh Dieu Le Manager/Sommelier, Karahui Martinborough
• Damien Louis Assistant Restaurant & Bar Manager, Blanket Bay
• João Marreiros Sales Manager, Negociants
• Lea Melano Senior guest experience specialist, The Wine Room
• Emma Mettrick Co owner, Twenty Seven Steps
• Kiki O Rourke Wine Team Member, Normanby Fine Wines
• Melodee Pearce Floor Manager, Tempero
• Brad Percival Wine List Consultant / Sommelier, Government House Auckland & Wellington
• Stina Persen Ower/Sommelier, Graze Wine Bar
• Lindsay Phillips Owner/Sommelier, Coolsville & BambuchiSan
• Alcides Pont Neto Customer Experience Manager, Consultant
• Jack Rainey Restaurant Manager, Everybody Eats
• Hailie Robinson Resturant Supervisor, Supra
• David Rop Sommelier, Freelance
• Kit Sainsbury Canham Group Sommelier, Origine
• Paul Schrader Sommelier, Rita
• Alex Soriano Sommelier, Metita Sky City
• Jacob Stonehouse Owner, Saikou Timaru
• Roberto Suarez Assistant Restaurant Manager – Wine Program Lead, Trivet
• Lindsay Swannach FOH /Sommelier, Prego
• Anonymous The Lodge Bar & Dining Room
• Michael Theodoridis Restaurant Manger, Park Kitchen
• Jim Turner Bartender & Waiter, The Lodge (Rodd & Gunn)
• Caitlyn Waters Senior Sommelier, Amisfield
• Amy Zeilstra Front of House Manager, Jano Bistro
• Katharina Ziehe Assistant Sommelier, Onslow