Amanda Yallop

Amanda Yallop, wine director at FINK, leads the first annual ranking of Top 100 Sommeliers in Australia as Country Ambassador. 12 March 2026, Sydney, Australia – The first Top 100 Sommeliers has been launched in Australia partnering with leading, Australian sommelier Amanda Yallop , FINK Wine Director and 2025 Australian Sommelier of the Year, and newly appointed Country Ambassador for Top 100 Sommeliers. This annual ranking recognises the very best, working sommeliers in Australia including emerging talent, top female and top young sommeliers. Top 100 Sommeliers was launched in the UK in May 2023 by Sommelier Edit – an online membership for beverage professionals. Following its success and popularity amongst wine service professionals then went on to be celebrated in Madrid, Spain and in Auckland, New Zealand in 2025. International Ambassadors Amanda joins a stellar line up of international sommeliers who lead the Top 100 Sommeliers annual ranking in their countries: @camdouglasms MS, well-known sommelier and wine critic in New Zealand, @agustin_trapero leading Spanish sommelier, and @stefanthesommelier_ms celebrated wine expert in the UK. >> Read more & Nominate a Somm 🔗 in bio #sommelier #sommlife #sommelieredit #top100sommeliers

I pinch myself that I have the honour of assembling and presenting the Prestige Champagne Masterclass for the Len Evans Tutorial! By popular opinion, today’s line up was both the finest we have ever presented and the masterclass of the week! All thanks to the houses and growers and your importing agents for your generous, ongoing support of this vital initiative to train the next generation of wine professionals! We are all immensely grateful and humbled! @champagnesalon_ @champagne_billecart_salmon @champagnetaittinger @krugchampagne @champagnegimonnet @ruinart @champagnedeutz @charlesheidsieckchampagne @rarechampagne_official @louisroederer_ @pol_roger @veuveclicquot @eglyouriet @champagne_philipponnat @domperignonofficial

April 8th 3rd stop of the day. The Glue Pot, excellent wine, women and vibes. Ça suffit 😊

Sunday lunch with Super Squad, pics by @annettarhunter

A fast and furious overnight in Melbourne celebrating a true woman of substance, the ebullient @trishyrogers After 8 years of love and laughter with this absolute Queen, it’s the incidental moments I’ll miss the most. My love 💞is strong and it’ll last a lifetime. We were lucky enough to catch @ashlyn.kimberly for some afternoon crisps and champagne, followed by a rockstar dinner with the evergreen charm of @brichmond9 Blurry photos are the cost of doing business 😘🍾💃🏼

What a fab Sunday. Was feeling sorry for myself last night due to a long day of tasting, eating and drinking pencilled in on my usually subdued Sunday. Ended up with a rockstar day, sharing a dozen bottles of Champagne into the afternoon with 11 amazing ladies followed by Mum’s Xmas in July with great food, brilliant company and plenty of magnums #dontcryformeargentina

Moody Winter weather, excellent company and plenty of Chardy. I 🧡 Sundays.

Monday night at Mum’s. Roast and Rioja makes my 🧡 beat faster. Twinning with @annette.lacey is a welcome accident

Tuesday night at Mum’s, her lasagna, good company, plenty of laughs and plenty of wine. La Luna looking bright, youthful, and evergreen. Notes of sappy red fruits, Italian bitters, crunchy acidity and fine-grained tannin. Moreish…

I had the pleasure of visiting KRUG a short while ago with my Aussie cohorts. Almost 3kms of cellars, we had a leisurely tour followed by a thrilling preview of the 2008s, followed by a line up from 2006. Listening to KRUG Echoes, original music scores written purposefully for the hero varietals of Champagne with a surprise appearance of the ever charming Olivier Krug. After many years of visiting Australia, Olivier is a familiar and welcome face at home, easy company, pithy, with a hearty laugh and decades of rich stories to share. Grand Cuvée 170eme (current release) Grand Cuvée 164eme Edition (base, 2008) 2008 Vintage 2008 Clos du Mesnil (1.84ha, purchased in 1971) Grand Cuvée 167eme Edition (base, 2011) 2006 Vintage Grand Cuvée 162eme Edition (base, 2006) Rosé 21eme Edition (base, 2008) Rosé 26eme Edition (base, 2014) Each vintage has a nickname, 2008 is ‘Classic Beauty’, 2006 is ‘Capricious Indulgence’. The wines were provocative, stirring, singular and transcendent. All Grand Cuvees rest for a minimum of one year post disgorgement. KRUG control 250 plots, picked and vinified individually. The 2022 harvest has a similar story whomever you talk to, healthy grapes and a good yield, producers are wary of acid levels. The drought conditions have caused the grass to die, removing some competition, in previous years without drought the grass is healthy and generally competes with the roots of the vines. Yesterday I was fortunate to revisit the 2008s, an immersive experience, KRUG X Ryuichi Sakamoto Echoes. A composition written especially for this stable of wine. Wine, music, food and books are emotive, enjoyed in a silo or massed together. In a time where people are aggressively eating and drinking, as well as on the hunt for their next rush, KRUG is running its own race, way ahead of the pack.

I love Reims, it’s a wonderful city to spend serious time in. I visited Maison Louis Roederer for the first time (thanks Sara). It did not disappoint. An unusually high number of their own vineyards, >200ha. Jean Baptiste has been at the helm of viti and vini since 1999. He stopped 🛑 all herbicides in 2002. Putting their money where their mouth is, with serious investment and experimentation per organics, biodynamics and sustainability practices over the last 2 decades. Aida gave us a grand tour, going through the family history, the house was established in 1776, still family owned, 7th generation now running the show. They have their own nursery, one of the largest in France 🇫🇷 They’ve spent serious coin on a 3D video of the region per their sites. The nerd in me was on high alert, visually stunning and incredibly informative. 6 kms underground galleries, 12 m deep. I loved Aida’s nugget when talking of France, ‘never = always exceptions made’. She also noted that chalky parcels are generally easier to convert to sustainable practices and that JB commonly prefers organic sites in cooler years and BD sites in warm years. The grand tour finished with a seductive tasting. Collection 243 Vintage 2014 2014 Blanc de blancs 2008 Cristal Each wine showing distinct personality, the real pleasure was the brightness found in each glass.

Sophie Larmandier is a delight. Always charming company, well informed, scrupulous, and her glass is usually half full. A harvest walk through her family’s vineyards, ripe with vegetation after a dry growing season speak to the health of the biota above and below ground. 30 years of cover crops, a little too much competition with this year’s vintage condition. Fruit quality is excellent, yield could’ve been higher. Picking began on Saturday, September 3rd, 20 ha, 60 plots. Terre du Vertus had been harvested before our visit on September 8th. It’s always one of the first sites to pick. Larmandier-Bernier have had the same family of pickers work for them since 2001. The next Larmandier generation were hard at it, we spoke with Sophie and Pierre’s son Arthur, he was hands on in the vineyard with the pickers, his brother Georges was running around the winery. Jobs they swap every couple of days. The Champagne region has set rather ambitious targets per sustainability across all areas. Sustainability, Biodynamics, caring for the soil and its surrounds is not hyperbole here, it’s the only way. The line up of young and mature wines showed depth and dimension. Pierre generously disgorged a 97 Terre du Vertus on the back lawn (sorry, I didn’t video it, I was enjoying the moment). Towards the end of our visit, there was a surge of celebration, a chorus of car horns blaring and people hollering with delight. A joyous sound and as Pierre explained, a telltale sign that a Champagne house within earshot had finished picking for the season.