The international sommelier competition on French wines was organised back in the 1980s by Sopexa and the French Ministry of Agriculture. The last 20 years saw a tremendous increase in the number and level of sommeliers in the Asian region, and a rising demand for knowledge and for acknowledgement. For all these reasons, it was decided to relaunch this competition in 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This international competition gathered candidates from 8 Asian countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Macao, South Korea and China. The two best sommeliers of each country were selected and invited to participate.