OUR MISSION To promote professional wine service standards, outline paths for further wine education and certification, and raise public awareness with respect to the professional standards and certifications for sommeliers.
ABOUT US TEXSOM Conference and the Texas' Best Sommelier Competition were founded by James Tidwell MS, CWE, Beverage Manager at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in La Colinas; Drew Hendricks MS, CWE, Director of Beverage Education for Pappas Restaurants in Houston; and Guy Stout MS, CWE, with Glazer's Distributors.
Since its inception in 2005, the conference has attracted more than 2,200 wine professionals from across the United States, and more than 160 Texas Sommeliers have competed for the coveted title, Texas' Best Sommelier. The speakers and judges constitute a "who's who" list of the nation's top wine professionals: Master Sommeliers (MS), Certified Wine Educators (CWE), Masters of Wine (MW) and other highly respected wine educators. In addition, the conference has grown immensely since 2005; a few statistics are listed below:
The 2011 conference featured the largest contingent of Master Sommeliers at a public event worldwide (more than 25). Four Master Sommeliers attended the first TEXSOM in 2005.
The 2011 conference seminars and Grand Tasting consumer event were sold out with more than 400 attendees. Approximately 100 people attended in 2005.
In the first year there was one Master Sommelier in Texas, and now there are seven: Guy Stout, Barbara Werley, Drew Hendricks, James Tidwell, Devon Broglie, Craig Collins and Melissa Monosoff.
