Elizio Masson heads to Best Sommelier of the World in Lisbon
The head sommelier of Hof van Cleve won the Belgian title in Brussels in October 2025. The world contest opens on 11 October, with the final five days later at the Coliseu dos Recreios.
Elizio Masson, head sommelier at Hof van Cleve in Kruisem, is due to represent Belgium at the ASI Best Sommelier of the World contest, which runs in Lisbon from 11 to 17 October 2026. He earned the place by winning the Belgian title a year ago, aged 21.
The route to Lisbon was set on 5 October 2025 in Brussels, where the Belgian Sommeliers Guild held its national competition. Sixteen sommeliers started, according to regional broadcaster AVS, and three reached the final. Masson finished ahead of Vincent Pharazijn of De Jonkman in Bruges and Femke Colenbie of Le Julien in Aalter.
Candidates were tested on wine recognition, food pairing, service and communication, AVS reported. Public broadcaster VRT described written and practical rounds, including a blind tasting, before the top three met in the final. “This is wonderful recognition, a dream come true,” Masson told VRT, adding that the national win was “a good preparation” for the world championship.
A national title buys a year of preparation; in Lisbon only the quarter-finals decide who goes on.
From Poperinge to the Hof van Cleve cellar
Masson comes from Poperinge in West Flanders and trained at the Ter Duinen hotel school in Koksijde, according to VRT. Trade site winetasting.be reported that he was 19 when he took the sommelier post in what it called the new Hof van Cleve. P-magazine, in an article dated 24 February 2026, gives his title as head sommelier and says his attention is on the world championship.
The restaurant itself changed chefs in that period. Peter Goossens passed the kitchen to Floris Van Der Veken at the start of 2024, and the house, which held three Michelin stars under Goossens, now has two, VRT notes. Its address, per the restaurant’s website, is Riemegemstraat 1 in Kruisem, East Flanders.
How Best Sommelier of the World is decided
ASI’s published schedule places the contest at the Sheraton Lisboa. Quarter-finals fill 12 and 13 October. Semi-finalists are named at a dinner in Oeiras on 14 October and compete the following day. The final is set for 16 October from 14:30 at the Coliseu dos Recreios, with the result due at 18:00.
The host is the Associação dos Escanções de Portugal, the Portuguese sommelier association founded in 1979. The Best Sommelier of the World title is currently held by Raimonds Tomsons of Latvia, who won in Paris in 2023, according to ASI. The host city’s tables are covered in AMUSE’s list of the best restaurants in Lisbon.
The Belgian title bought Masson a year of preparation, not a seat in the semi-final. At Best Sommelier of the World, that depends on two days of quarter-finals starting on 12 October, and the list of those who go through is read out over dinner.
