One Of The Best New Sommeliers In The Nation Is In Chicago

By John Lenart in Food on Sep 16, 2015 9:38PM

Sepia Sommelier Arthur Hon. Photo Credit David Turner

Sepia Sommelier Arthur Hon, has been named one of Wine & Spirits Magazine's Best New Sommeliers of 2015.

After five years as Sepia's sommelier, Hon is certainly no newbie, but the list recognizes sommeliers with five years or less experience. According to their website,"We asked thousands of sommeliers across the country to take a break from their multitasking and consider the best new talent in their field. Five sommeliers—all with fewer than four years at the helm of a restaurant list—garnered the most votes in our poll."

Hon started at Sepia in 2007 as a server and took over as somm when Scott Tyree departed in 2010. Since then Hon has been noted as the sommeliers' sommelier, curating a list of high quality, lesser known wines from emerging winemakers and regions. In January of this year, he was awarded the Jean Banchet Best Sommelier Award.

We spoke with Hon about the honor.

"I am very honored to have been chosen as one of the Best New Sommeliers this year featured by Wine & Spirits Magazine. As this award is voted by my peers from around the country, it is indeed a tremendous validation, not only personally, but an important recognition of Chicago's wine scene. The sommelier community currently in Chicago is the most active that I've ever seen, and it continues to grow alongside the already very exciting food scene. I certainly hope we will see more local sommeliers being selected for this award in the years to come. After all, there are plenty of exciting talents in the city, and I am very proud to have them as my colleagues and friends."