Also, for the first time, the Award will culminate in a gala dinner on 21 October at The St Regis, the official venue partner for WSAA. The Award is expected to receive strong support from international wineries and local wine importers.
The objective of WSAA is to offer to Asian consumers a range of award-winning wines that have been judged as the best in their categories by an expert panel.
Increasingly, consumers have come to regard a wine with an award from WSAA as a mark, not only of honour and distinction, but also quality. It gives consumers the added confidence in purchasing quality wines. Importers of WSAA award-winning wines enjoy robust sales.
Said Mr Leonardo Noto, chief executive of Magma Trade, WSAA 2008 Trophy winner for the Terrasse Riesling 2007: “I have been participating in the Wine Style Asia Award for the past three years. The stamp of approval from the Award has been a great boost for my wine sales. We have sold out the past award-winning wines.”
A panel of experienced international judges
The judges panel is headed by Mr John Chua, a veteran international wine judge who, in 1994, pioneered and trained Singapore Airlines cabin crew in sommelier-ship, one of the first airlines to have such a programme. He is also the holder of numerous international wine certificates and is presently a wine educator, service skills trainer, and an accredited lecturer for I’Ecole du Vin de Bordeaux (Bordeaux Wine School) for Southeast Asia.
‘Joining him will be eleven other panelists comprising established names in the wine community, such as Kym Milne MW, Lisa Perotti-Brown MW, Subhash Arora, President of Delhi Wine Club, Fumiko Arisaka from Japan, Tran Ngoc Chau from Vietnam and Suzie Wu, a veteran wine journalist from China, and chief sommeliers from The St Regis and Hilton Kuala Lumpur,’ says a communiqué.
“Each of these judges is extremely experienced and we are very pleased to have such a distinguished panel here as part of this year’s Wine Style Asia Award,” commented Mr Chua. “These judges have great experience in tasting and have discerning palates.”
Subhash Arora, one of the judges invited to join the panel from India has been a judge for several international competitions including Vinitaly, Mundus Vini, Concours de Mondial, Bruxelles, South African Airways, India Wine Challenge (London and Delhi) chaired by Robert Joseph and several smaller competitions held for Indian wines. He has also been invited to be a judge at the Wine, Heart and Health Convention being held in Walla Walla, Washington next month Besides being the founder President of Delhi Wine Club and Indian Wine Academy, he is also the editor of India’s first wine, food and Hospitality web magazine, www.delwine.com.
The panel of experts will judge the various wines in blind tastings over three days. The wines are grouped according to regions, styles, grape varietals, vintages and price points. Judging is based on quality and the extent to which the wine is representative of its category. The best wines in each category are awarded Trophy, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.
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