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 Asia’s Choice, Asia’s Voice- is the catchy slogan and the HKIWSC organisers strictly follow it with wines from all over the world but judges from Asia only, but with one exception-every edition sees a special guest with a celebrity status from outside Asia.
Established in 2008, HKIWSC was created specifically for the Asian markets. The judges are also chosen from Asian countries including India, representing a cumulative Asian palate which is considered to be different from the western palate, according to the Director of the Competition, Debra Meiburg MW, an American settled in Hong Kong for over 25 years and who has developed an Asian palate for wine and food. She, along with Simon Tam, an award winning consultant who is also working with Christie’s for the Chinese market, runs it in partnership with the London-based International Wine & Spirit Competition, which has been running such competitions in England and overseas for over 40 years.
The VIP judge is a celebrity invited from outside the region. Tony Jordan from Australia (2009) was followed by Tim Atkin MW from London (2010) and Alberto Antonini from Tuscany (2011), Karen McNeil, food and wine writer and educator in the USA (2012), Vanya Cullen of Australia (2013) and Susana Balbo, owner of Argentine winery Dominio del Plata (2014).
Test Your Palate with Judges
The organisers will also celebrate the 5th edition of “Test Your Palate” wine tasting event for the first 3 days, on October 5-7 when the enthusiasts can taste over 300 wines daily at the Chancellor Room of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) at HK$250 (3-day pass costs HK$700) that includes a complimentary Lucaris crystal wine glass (worth HK$110).
 The participants may be wine novices, passionate enthusiasts or wine professionals –they get to taste the wines judged during the day. Judges are also present at the event giving the visitors a unique opportunity to taste with them. People can taste and compare wines and varieties entered in the competition, choosing randomly to suit their interest or even tasting an entire flight, like New World Sauvignon Blancs, Cabernet Sauvignons from around the world or Champagne.
It is an opportunity to seriously enrich attendees’ tasting experience and ability to judge wine as the professionals do, as well as taste new, yet-to-be-released wines destined for the Asian market, making it an exclusive “preview” of what’s about to come.
Debra Meiburg MW, Director of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong IWSC says, “Having been a wine judge for many years now, my experience is that so many people are simply fascinated by wine judging and wine competitions, with many wine lovers pegging it as the dream job!”
“Test Your Palate is, in essence, a virtual wine judging event open to all wine enthusiasts. We’re offering all the competition wines tasted that day to attendees, all set up in flights exactly as they are for the judges’ blind tasting. It’s your chance to pit your tasting skills against the best judges in Asia, identify your favourite wines and then see if your palate is at par with the seasoned professionals when the competition results are released in November. And for those still learning about how to judge a wine’s quality, the judges are on-hand to give tips, offer advice, discuss their favourites and more. It’s a truly unique event for Hong Kong residents.”
Simon Tam, the Competition’s co-Director, said, “Test Your Palate enables Hong Kong’s increasingly adventurous wine lovers to really broaden their palates and experience first-hand the breadth and depth of what’s on offer in Asia. As well as well-loved classics like Bordeaux, Barolo and Barossa, one can explore less common varieties like Zinfandel, and even alternate wine countries and regions like Georgia, Greece and beyond. This also includes tasting the best wine produced in Asian countries – a category which has markedly grown in quality over the last decade.”
Food and Wine Pairing
 Another interesting and fairly unique part of the competition is the matching of food and wine on the last day when wines are tasted blind with morsels of the dishes prepared at the venue. Samples of wines are lined up in glasses-blind as usual, alongside a dish assigned at a time to a panel. The judges are asked to feel the taste on the palate of both the food and wine from each blind sample and rate the wine for a possible Gold, Silver or Bronze. Here, quality of wine is not as important as the flavour of food with all its elements, combined with wine.
The IWSC Group is the world leader in organising wine and spirit competitions around the globe. Along with the International Wine and Spirit Competition, which is considered to be the world’s premier competition of its kind, the IWSC Group launched the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition in 2008 in collaboration with Debra Meiburg and Simon Tam and supported by HKTDC that organises the annual wine show in the exhibition center every November. It was created specifically for the Asian market ensuring winning products cater for Asian taste preferences. Allen Gibbons is the Group Chief Executive of the IWSC Group.
If you want to participate in the competition and send samples, you can still courier the samples by the month-end. Indian mutton tikka is a newly introduced category and Indian wine producers ought to participate in this competition to see how well their wines match the food.
More information on the Competition is available at www.hkiwsc.com. For ‘Test Your Palate’ click http://hkiwsc.com/testyourpalate.
Subhash Arora |