Hugh Jones wins 2013 Young Wine Writer of the Year award

Hugh Jones has been named as winner of the 2013 Young Wine Writer of the Year award at a ceremony in London this week.

Photo: Jim Budd

Jones (pictured), who works for Majestic Wine and was a runner-up in 2011, was announced as the winner at a presentation at Australia House. He wins a trip to Australia, £1,000 and a year’s membership of the Circle of Wine Writers.

He beat off stiff competition this year. There was a record 49 entries, with nine candidates short-listed for the award. His winning entry was ‘Singing for Sori Tildin: a tale from underground’. It told the story of how he had busked on London Underground to raise enough money to buy a bottle of Angelo Gaja’s 1997 Sori Tildin – his dream wine.

The runners-up were Jennifer Ah-Kin, who told stories about enotecas in Tuscany, and Michael O’Connell on A Sardinian Legacy.

Previous winners have used the award as a springboard to a successful career in wine communication. Peter Richards MW, the first winner of the award in 2001, is now a regular presenter on the TV show Saturday Kitchen, and Rebecca Gibb, the winner in 2006, is the editor of the Wine-Searcher magazine.

The award is sponsored by Pavilion Books, Wine Australia and the Circle of Wine Writers.

Written by Jim Budd