Pouring her path: Lesley Liu, winner of Asia’s Best Sommelier Award 2026 by 50 Best, traces her wine journey

Odette’s head sommelier, Lesley Liu, experienced many firsts in a series of surprising turns this year. In January, she was invited to the World’s Best Sommeliers’ Selection (WBSS) in London, as the only representative from Singapore.

By March, she was tasked to join chef-owner Julien Royer to finesse the pairings for a six-hands collaborative dinner in Hong Kong, as part of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Signature Sessions. That was followed by an invitation to give a presentation on her wine journey at 50 Best Talks, where she spoke to the biggest audience of her life. 

These events culminated in her being recognised with the Asia’s Best Sommelier Award 2026 by 50 Best this year. “It felt unbelievable in that moment, I had to pinch myself,” Liu recalls of her momentous win.

Still savouring the moment, she booked herself a solo celebratory lunch the next day at the three-Michelin-starred 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo - Bombana — a well-deserved coda before returning to her fast-paced life in Singapore and newly minted global recognition.

From spreadsheets to starched sheets

Liu hails from Taichung, a landlocked city in Taiwan’s mountainous heart. As a feisty middle child, she was prone to rebellion, which led her to switch to hospitality after five years of studying international trade, majoring in accounting. “I couldn’t take any more P&L statements and Excel sheets, I had to make a shift,” the 34-year-old laughs. 

With a bold personality suited to meeting and talking to people, she was accepted at the renowned Le Moût in Taichung in 2015, despite her lack of hospitality experience. It was here that she met her first mentor, chef-founder Lanshu Chen, a pioneering French-trained fine-dining chef who encouraged Liu to pursue her interest in wine. 

“It was a bottle of Domaine Prieuré Roch — possibly a Clos de Bèze grand cru — that made me want to become a sommelier,” Liu shares. While Le Moût had a luminous wine list, not many guests at that time were well-versed enough to explore much of it. One day, a generous patron intentionally brought a bottle of Prieuré Roch to share with the service team, enjoying just one glass for himself and insisting that the team drink the rest.

“I had never tasted Pinot Noir like this — so elegant with a high acid profile. It was only later, when I read more about its natural winemaking style and cult status, that it intrigued me further about wines. I felt so curious, alive and wanting to study more,” she declares. 

Shanghai beckoned in 2018, with an opening team position of sommelier at Maison Lameloise, an outpost of the famed three-star Michelin restaurant from Burgundy. True to her mischievous form, Liu only informed her parents of her impending move the day before her flight. 

The Singapore segue

Meeting Yannick Champ, co-director of Domaine Prieuré Roch, in Shanghai, further sealed her belief that her sommelier journey was shaping up as she had planned. There was one unexpected hiccup, however — Maison Lameloise is a true Burgundian institution, and that meant its legendary wine list, too, was almost entirely Burgundian. 

Despite the charms of the many Pinots and Chardonnays, Liu was eager to explore the wider wine world, not just one region, and she began a search for a new job, preferably in an English-speaking city like Singapore or Sydney. Her resume landed fortuitously at Odette, and the then 27-year-old followed soon after in 2019. (This time, she gave her parents a week’s notice of her new international move.) 

“I really enjoy Chardonnay, as its characteristics are like mine. Put us in different situations, and we will adapt accordingly,” Liu muses on her career moves. But in Singapore, she’s found an ideal environment to stay and thrive for the past seven years, in the dynamic, ambitious arena of a three-starred restaurant under her second mentor, Royer, who gives her “full freedom” to pursue wines she sees fit.

As head sommelier, Liu works closely with the whole team, including Vincent Tan, Odette’s wine director, to align some 1,000 labels and non-alcoholic alternatives with Odette’s passion for terroir, product and craft. This has resulted in a wine list unconstrained by price, region, label, or tried-and-tested tropes.  

Liu gives the example of one of chef Royer’s signature dishes: langoustine ravioli with a leek fondue, butter, and vin jaune sauce. Finding similarities in the dish with a Shaoxing drunken chicken from Taiwan, she pairs it with a dry Pedro Ximenez wine that is not fortified but has a similar oxidative quality.

“Although vin jaune is from Jura, I would not choose a Jura wine with this dish, as it’s a bit expected and dare I say, a lazy pairing. Of course, as the saying goes, what grows together, goes together, but at Odette, we wish to give you a deeper sense of discovery,” she explains. That would explain the Discovery pairing option, where guests will not find any varietal repetition, and can expect to be whisked from dry Tokay to a Californian Viognier.      

“When we plan the pairings, we ask ourselves if one plus one equals or exceeds two as the answer,” Liu divulges further.

“I also try to cater and link flavours that would resonate with the guest. If I have a Taiwanese guest, I would describe the guava notes in a Sauvignon Blanc, as guava is a common local fruit. On the flipside, I would mention passionfruit or underripe pineapple for European guests for the same wine. For some of my Singapore guests, I have pointed out the familiar durian aromatics from certain wines, and they agreed!”

Intuition in a glass

“I didn’t intend to be famous,” protests Liu, on her new accolade. All she’s ever wanted to do is express herself authentically and be great at her job. An early riser, she dedicates an hour of her free time daily to her studies of wine, whether refreshing her knowledge of particular regions or reading up on new developments.

With steely resolve and impeccable service standards, she has won Sopexa’s Singapore’s Best Sommelier in French Wines twice, in 2021 and 2023, and also obtained her Advanced Sommelier Certificate from the Court of Master Sommeliers as well as the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale certificate. 

While many of her industry peers are late-night owls who head out for supper, she prefers meetings over breakfast or fitting in a quick exercise session.

To her surprise, when she attended the WBSS’ three-day gathering in London, where 29 sommeliers and wine directors represented venues in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, including Gaggan, Plénitude, and Ikoyi, she arrived at the hotel gym late — at 6am. “Every machine was being used by another sommelier. I found my people,” she quips. 

A measure of her thoughtfulness, she brought along a Japanese wine to share, which many of the sommeliers had not tasted before. In turn, she participated in valuable panel discussions on broader trends shaping the industry, coming back with more perspective than she had before.

To conclude, she shares, with her characteristic wit and brevity, “In the long term, I can see myself managing a project of my own someday, perhaps a tea house or wine bistro on a smaller scale. A recent visit to Mora in Hong Kong gave me even more inspiration for what it could look like. But closer at hand, I find myself suited to the day-to-day service at Odette. I see people, some on their first and only visit, coming to enjoy all the details of fine-dining. It gives our job meaning to be a part of this special occasion and to give them the best possible experience.

“(Me) Winning an award doesn’t mean your wine will taste better if you didn’t like it before! At the end of the day, I’m here to guide you to a wine that you will hopefully love, and that gives me the best satisfaction of all.”