Ben Hasko was announced as one of five new MWs in August, having qualified as Master Sommelier in 2016. Amy Wislocki caught up with him while in Singapore for the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in October.
‘I found out about passing the MW in between services at work. We opened a good bottle of Champagne there and then to celebrate.
‘I started buying cases of cheap wine while studying civil engineering, but then a family friend and significant collector advised me that it’s better to buy one great bottle than a dozen cheap bottles. I started spending a disproportionate amount of my student income on wine, and reading up on the subject.
‘By the late 2000s, I was living in Sydney, and studying for my Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma, while still training to be an engineer. I realised how widely sommeliers get to taste, and managed to get a job working in the wine team at [the city’s famous] Rockpool restaurant. I then put my engineering studies on hold to work as a somm in Melbourne, and passed the first two [Introductory and Certified] levels of the Court of Master Sommeliers exams while I was there.
‘I moved back to Sydney, went back to Rockpool and finished my Diploma. I’d always intended to do the MW, seeing it as the pinnacle of wine education. I applied for the MW programme in 2015, and signed up for the CMS Advanced level qualifications too. It felt natural to me that
