Tales of the Table · Sommeliers · Lisbon
Oddný Ingólfsdóttir flies the flag at the world sommelier championship
Iceland's Sommelier of the Year took her place among 66 of the world's best wine professionals in Lisbon this month.
The ASI Best Sommelier of the World 2026 was held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 11 to 17 October, organised by the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale. Sixty-six competitors took part, each representing a different country, and Iceland's place went to Oddný Ingólfsdóttir.
Oddný earned her ticket the hard way. In June she won Vínþjónn ársins 2026 – the Icelandic sommelier championship at the Hilton in Reykjavík – where competitors faced a written exam, blind tastings, spirit identification, decanting, champagne service, food pairing and a wine-list correction, all of it in English.
The final was held on 16 October at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon. The title went to Nikolai Haram Svorte of Norway, ahead of Pascaline Lepeltier of France and Wataru Iwata of Japan – a fine result for the Nordic region in a year when Reykjavík also hosted the Best Sommelier of the Nordic Countries.
The Icelandic Sommelier Association has congratulated Oddný on representing the country on the sport's biggest stage. Next time you order a bottle in Reykjavík, remember that the person recommending it may have trained for years to get it just right.
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