Member Article

The Raby Hunt's sommelier wins prestigious travel scholarship...

STAFF, rather than diners, will be raising a glass at the North East’s top restaurant, after its head sommelier won a prestigious travel scholarship.

Austrian-born Daniel Stojcic joined the two Michelin star, The Raby Hunt, earlier this year after a career that has seen him dedicated to building his wine knowledge and passion.

And now that passion has been rewarded, with the news that Daniel has been awarded the Gerard Basset Travel Scholarship, giving him a £5000 bursary to travel to a part of the world where he can expand his wine knowledge.

The scholarship was set up in 2019 in honour of the widely respected late Gerard Basset, who was regarded as one of the world’s top sommeliers and restaurateurs.

Daniel’s entry, which was an essay on the reason why he’d like to visit the wineries in Languedoc and Roussillon in South East France, won him first prize and he is now hoping to make the trip next year.

But that’s not the only exciting piece of news for the highly ambitious young sommelier.

Prior to joining The Raby Hunt, Daniel worked at the acclaimed, Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant, NOBLE. Holywood, just outside of Belfast where he took the title of Ireland’s Sommelier of the Year.

And that means that he will also now be travelling to Cyprus next month, to compete for the ASI Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa 2021.

“It has been a very exciting year and I am delighted to have won this scholarship,” said Daniel.

“In terms of other people, I was quite late in starting to train as a sommelier but that has made me even more hungry for it and more determined to grow my knowledge at every opportunity.”

Daniel originally worked in tech but gave it up because he wanted a job which gave him the opportunity to improve his English and to mix with people.

He came to Belfast and got a job in a restaurant and then discovered a passion for wine, learning everything he could before embarking on specialist training courses.

It was that passion that was recognised by James Close, chef patron of The Raby Hunt, who offered Daniel a job within a few days of them first making contact.

“Daniel’s knowledge is amazing and he has such a thirst to learn more and to succeed,” said James.

“The fact that he’s won the Gerard Basset scholarship highlights that and we are all very proud of him as well as the fact that he is going to be competing for the Best Sommelier of Europe and Africa in Cyprus.

“He is a massive asset to our team and we are delighted he’s joined us.”

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