Young Wine Writers Award winner chosen for essay on Indian wine

The award was presented to O’Connor last night by Decanter consultant editor Steven Spurrier, who said he’d ‘learnt a thing or two from the winning essay’, which describes India as a vibrant wine-producing country with a great deal of potential.

‘Wine professionals should be aware there’s a lot going on in the wine world beyond the winemaking countries that first come to mind,’ said O’Connor, who works as a sales manager for the International Wine Challenge. He was previously Head Sommelier at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant in London.

‘More and more winemakers from the US, France and Australia are going to places like China and Israel as well as India,’ said O’Connor.

‘The amount of money, effort and technical know-how going into making quality wine is significant. These are countries to be reckoned with.’

Among the crowd present at the reception at Kettner’s Restaurant in Soho were Oz Clarke, Robin Wood, chief executive of Anova Books – owner of Pavilion – and Melissa Worthington of Wine Australia, which contributed part of the Award.

The Award comprises a cheque for £1000 and a two-week wine exploring trip to Australia, courtesy of Wine Australia and Qantas.

Anova acquired the wine list of Websters International, which published its wine books in the UK in conjunction with Time Warner.