Aug 22: Tenth edition of Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Competition (#hkiwsc) started at Hotel Icon under Hong Kong Poly U, School of Hotel &Tourism Management, with a record number of over 2,000 entries from over 33 producing countries, representing around 500 Appellations and with over 40 wine judges from Asian countries, a majority being from Hong Kong, writes Subhash Arora who is participating for the 9th time and represents India once again
The Competition run in partnership with London-based IWSC and managed by HKIWSC staff, has seen several changes this year including the total management being handled by the local staff, quite efficiently. Number of judges has been increased heavily with more of younger judges from Hong Kong carrying the Cross; visibly over half of them are locals, this resulting in less number of out-of-town wine judges required and has reduced the costs and time of the wine tasting from 4-days to 3.
The number of dishes for the food and wine pairing has also been increased to 8- including 4 Chinese dishes-Steamed Garoupa, Braised Pork Belly, Kung Pao Chicken and Peking Duck. Vietnamese Shaking Beef and White Sashimi represent Vietnamese and Japanese dishes. Macanese African Chicken and Korean Grilled Beef from Macau and Korea make an entry. The globally popular Indian dishes have been scrapped after several years of showing off at the Competition. When asked, Debra Meiburg, Chairperson (Judging Chair) said the main reason was that her team assigned the task of selecting the dishes had perhaps decided to remove them from the list for practical constraints.
There has been a quantum jump of 58% French wines and 49% of South African wines over the last year. Slovakia has debuted this year. When it first started in 2009, HKIWSC used to be held just before the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair in November. This did not give much time between results and the Fair so the Competition at HK Convention and Exhibition Center was pre-poned by a month. Due to a few disadvantages, October was still not a satisfactory month and this year it has been moved 2 months earlier to help publicise the wines and get them all to be showcased in the Fair.
As always, KPMG is analysing each result before they are announced, thus maintaining the integrity of the results. Besides various trophies, Gold (90+), Silver (80+) and Bronze medals (75+) are awarded after blind tasting. Tasting style is completely New World (read Australia). If you see white coated people herded in a room sipping wines from around 20-25 glasses quietly, making notes, they are the competition judges, divided into 9 panels of 4 each (as compared to 5 in the previous years). Naturally, wines are pre-poured in the glasses making it a double blind tasting.
After the panel has finished tasting, judges congregate at panel tables in another room where they can discuss the scores and support their likes and dislikes. Once there is agreement in the scores, they are entered in the computer. Panel President works with different judges every day- thus one can work with 9 different people during the course of 3 days. Keeping up the tradition of last several years,
Subhash Arora has been again made the Panel President this year.
HKIWSC was the first structured wine award in Hong Kong
and is still respected a lot by professionals and trade alike. Every judge
must be from Asia or a permanent residence. Only one VIP
wine judge is invited to give a professional winemaker perspective and
over the years brilliant wine makers have made their presence felt. This
year Daniel Pi, Chief Winemaker of Trapiche,
Argentine has been invited and was seen chatting with different judges
at the venue as well as the traditional event Test Your Palate.
Test Your Palate has become an annual feature at HKIWSC. For 2 days this year, locals have been invited to the Royal Garden Hotel on payment of a nominal fee-each getting a free Lucaris glass to taste and take it home. Several of the wines tasted during the day are brought here and one can taste hundreds of wines along with 4 snacks that come with the package. A great way of tasting and learning about wine at one spot!
Wine competitions like HKIWSC have a huge impact in Australia and New Zealand to a lesser extent in the US. India has been increasingly sending the entries but apparently, this year has cut down slightly in the food and wine pairing due to lack of Indian dishes, according to a couple of Indian producers. One hopes good sense prevails on them and they will send more samples for evaluation by the neutral judges with Asian palates. This will enable them to improve quality which is as important as perception of the consumers.
Green Award
Independent decision making from their partners- IWSC has enabled HKIWSC to institute a ‘Green Wine Award’. Any winery registered by some international body for organic farming, biodynamical process or any sustainability model can register as such and if they win a Gold medal, they are eligible to be considered for the Green Award, which, like other trophies, is awarded by the panel presidents based on consensus.
In addition, HKIWSC had a Spirits Competition at the same venue on 20 August and from all reports, it was a very successful event.
For a few of the other Articles, please visit:
Cathay Pacific HKIWSC Gains Further Strength
HKIWSC 2016: Grover Zampa Tops again but KRSMA steals Show
HKIWSC: Matching Wine with Food for Gold
Testing Your Palate with Judges at the HKIWSC
Cathay Pacific HKIWSC 2015 Unqualified Success
Subhash Arora
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