Joining NANRO Next as a mentor, sommelier Kim Min-Sung has been with Mingles — the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Korea — since it opened in 2014, standing alongside owner chef Kang Min-Goo for more than eleven years as its service director and sommelier. At Mingles, he was the first in Korean fine dining to bring traditional Korean liquor pairing into the mainstream, widening what a tasting menu could be, and in 2018 he founded the wine importer Vinbro, broadening his reach from natural wines to fine wines.
He has long held that a sommelier or maître d' should never take the spotlight — service, in his view, should quietly hold the room so the guest can give the food their full attention. He has also long committed himself to opening the door for younger service professionals and sommeliers, giving them a career they can stay in for the long run — and it is in no small part thanks to him that NANRO Next has, for the first time, selected a fellow from the sommelier side. He joins NANRO Next as a mentor with more still to give in the years ahead.
