Decanter has organised a Masterclass in Beijing to showcase five Decanter Asia Wine Awards 2016 Gold Medal winners at this year’s TopWine China wine fair.
Over 100 Chinese wine professionals attended the masterclass, hosted by Denis Lin, a wine and food journalist and Decanter Asia Wine Awards (DAWA) judge.
Wines tasted in the session included one Australian sparkling, three red wines from New Zealand, Spain and the USA, and one ice wine from China.
‘I was very happy and honoured to host this masterclass of DAWA Gold winners,’ Denis Lin told DecanterChina.com.
‘The audience were eager to learn more wine knowledge, and they were curious about the judging of the Decanter Gold winners.
‘The wines we introduced consisted of different types, countries and grape varieties, which gave the audience a good understanding of the judging criteria and standard of the Decanter Awards. This helped people to be more confident of the strictness, fairness and professionalism of the competition.’
Decanter Asia Wine Awards was launched six years ago with the sole purpose of bringing the world’s finest wines to the attention of Asia’s rapidly growing number of wine lovers.
Wines entering the competition are rigorously blind tasted by more than 40 of Asia’s most influential and expert wine palates. The judging panel is led by DAWA chair Steven Spurrier, and vice-chairs Ch’ng Poh Tiong, Gerard Basset MS MW OBE, Andrew Jefford, Shinya Tasaki, Michael Hill-Smith and Li Demei.
The Chinese Gold winner, Heilongjiang Luyuan Winery’s Château Fenhe Ice Wine 2014 vintage attracted much attention and received praise from the audience.
Wen Hui, the winery’s spokesperson, said, ‘We were grateful to have this opportunity to showcase our ice wine. Winning a Gold Medal in a world-class wine competition shows the recognition of Chinese ice wine. We hope to gain more development opportunities through these kind of events.’
Decanter also offered tastings of these award-winning wines at its stand to all attendees at TopWine China 2017.
‘I was glad to visit the Decanter stand at TopWine China and taste the well-selected high quality wines.’ LI Xinbang, technical director of EuroCellar (Beijing) Wine Technology Co. Ltd said.
‘The Arras sparkling from Australia, the Cabernet Sauvignon of Cakebread Cellars from Napa Valley and the Château Fenhe Ice Wine were very impressive.’
See the list of wines available in TopWine China here.
Decanter Asia Wine Awards 2017 is now open for entries. The judging week will take place in Hong Kong in early September. For more information, please visit the Decanter Asia Wine Awards homepage www.decanter.com/decanter-awards/decanter-asia-wine-awards/.
