Asia Wine Trophy, Asian wine market

With the increasing wine consumption in Asia, there are more wine competitions being held in this part of the world with the aim to help consumers choose wine. The biggest such competition is Asia Wine Trophy, organised by Deutsche Wein Marketing (DWM) and with International Organisation for Vine and Wine (OIV) as patronage. Its third running in 2015 attracted over 3,600 entries from 29 countries, assessed by some 110 judges from all over the world. Its host city is Daejeon in the centre of South Korea, the third biggest city in Korea and where the first Korean wine was made in 1968. The Daejeon city government, keen to promote its wine-based tourism, lends its full support to this competition.

According to Peter Scheib, a steering committee member, DWM is the biggest organiser of wine competitions in the world. Its four Trophies, the biannual Berlin Wine Trophy, the annual Portugal Wine Trophy and the annual Asia Wine Trophy, have a combined 15,000 wine submissions. Judges, who come from different countries, have diversified background from wine producers and importers to educators and journalists, to ensure an unbiased evaluation. All wines are judged according to the OIV international wine competitions’ guidelines on four criteria: appearance, bouquet, taste, and overall harmony. An OIV observer is on site to document and evaluate the tasting process, who may suspend the tasting if the standards are violated. More importantly, judges’ performances are also reviewed at the end of each competition. Only those who pass the review will be invited to judge at subsequent Trophies. Peter also emphasised that only a maximum 30% of wines would be awarded medals, including Grand Gold, Gold and Silver, to maintain the Trophies’ standards and to deliver a pleasant experience to consumers who purchase the winning wines.

Judges appreciate the competition as well. Peter Angele, one of the judges and a sommelier from Germany, was delighted to learn about the preferences of his Asian counterparts, while at the same time, happy to share his knowledge and enthusiasm of Silvaner, a German variety seldom seen in Asia, with them. Lee Jung-Hoon, sommelier in Seoul, was quick to point out that Silvaner would be a good match with medium palate-weight Korean dishes. In fact, the Nordheimer Vegelein Silvaner Spätlese Feinherb 2014 with only 8.3 g/l residual sugar, courtesy from Peter, won a thumbs-up from a group of Hong Kong and China judges who paired it with fresh lobsters and crabs.

In addition to the judging that lasted for four days, there were also seminars during the period with technical presentations on topics like viticulture and climate change, tasting sessions of less common wine such as those from China and Moldavia, as well as discussion on Asian markets trends and challenges. Jurors treasure these continue learning opportunities where they can share their insights with colleagues.

As one of the judges, one thing I learned is the commonalities and differences of various Asian wine markets. French wine may be the number one player in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, its leading position is being threatened in Japan and Korea, and certainly not the case in Singapore and Malaysia. However, all countries show that Chilean wine is the rising star because of its quality/price ratio and it privilege of Free Trade Agreement with some countries. Although red wine still dominates in all markets, the consumption of white and sparkling are increasing with sparkling wine particularly popular in Japan and Korea. All agreed that the young generation and female consumers are the driving forces of Asian wine markets. However, the markets are still skewed to the premium end where buyers drink wine for the status and for gifting; and the lower end where wine is consumed as an alternative alcoholic beverage to beer.

The majority of judges share the view that local food and wine pairing to introduce wine as part of lifestyle to Asian consumers is essential to develop the mid-market wine segment and to expand the consumer base. Stephen Hall, a New Zealand wine writer based in Malaysia, is an advocate and has been promoting  Malaysian/Singaporean food and wine pairing for over 20 years. Flavour Colours, a Chinese food and wine pairing i-Phone/i-Pad app based on flavour intensity, developed in Hong Kong, is another fine example of promoting wine culture in Greater China.

Judges also agree on the importance of social media platform, led by Facebook, to engage with the young consumers. Internet sales of wine, however, is allowed in some Asian markets such as Taiwan and Korea but  nevertheless, it is an important communicate channel. For example in Korea, online reservation of wine for pay later at a pick up store is a clever way to circumstance the ban.

Asia Wine Trophy and its parallel seminars demonstrated that although the Asian wine consumption is just at its beginning level (consumption per capita ranges from around 1.3  litre in China to 5 litres in Singapore), it is a long but exciting road for producers. Fellow wine judges, who are also wine ambassadors in their respective markets, should focus on how to sparkle the young consumers’ interests in wine by preaching the enjoyment of wine with local food.

Mami Whelehan, a wine and food columnist with 23 years experience in wine distribution in Japan and a panel chair in Asia Wine Trophy, concluded that medals are important in the Japan market as they serve as trustworthy guidelines
for average consumer. Park Chan-Jun, organiser of Asia Wine Trophy and a wine writer, echoed the view, and so did John Hung, Joe Sriwarin, TC Liong and Nelson Chow, presidents of Sommelier Association of Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong respectively.

Next time you see an Asia Wine Trophy medal award wine, try it and see if you agree with the judges.

The fifth year of CX HKIWSC

Lunch on day four - after finished judging food/wine pairing

My October started with a judging at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition (CX HKIWSC). This is the fifth year of the competition and my fourth as a judge. I ran the back room logistics in the first year during my holiday in Hong Kong and afterwards Simon Tam offered me a job at Independent Wine Centre, which ended my years of wandering around the world and brought me back to Hong Kong. Because of this, the competition will always be something special to me.

More importantly, it is the community spirit that I treasure. Even though we may be tasting some interesting and good wines, we still need support, jokes and laughter to get through over 400 wines in four days! I have had some experience (nowhere near as much as some other judges though) in other international competitions, but the CX HKIWSC certainly has the best vibe.

There are many different formats of judging. In some, the panel of judges sits together around a table, waiting for each other to finish a small flight, then briefly discusses it. This can put pressure on some judges who are slower. In others, judges score individually and there are no discussions in the panels so there may be errors where judges misread a wine. It also doesn’t allow the less experienced judges to learn from others.

What I like about the CX HKIWSC is that each judge scores a flight of about 30-50 wines at his own pace, then the panel gathers to discuss those that have a wide range of scores. Judges debate and re-taste those wines until a consensus is reached. Moreover, judges are rotated everyday for a better learning experience. This method does not have the shortfalls of the others and also fosters a team spirit among the judges.

The most interesting part of this competition is the food/wine pairing judging. It started off with only four Chinese dishes (braised abalone, Peking duck, dim sum and kung pao chicken) and has now extended to cover 10 dishes from four countries (the new dishes are sashimi, shrimp tempura, beef teppanyaki, yakitori grilled chicken, pad Thai and chicken tikka). I think this sends a very important message to consumers that wine can indeed go with Asian food—not only delicacies like abalone and sashimi but also everyday food like dim sum and pad Thai. We Asians don’t drink a lot of wine because we do not yet have the culture and we tend to think that wine only goes with western cuisines or expensive banquets. Pairing wine and everyday food will help us develop our own wine culture and eventually expand the market. Unfortunately, however, this potentially powerful message has yet to be communicated effectively to consumers. I really wish that both the organisers (sorry Debra) and the winners could do more to spread the word.

The most educational part of the competition is 'Test Your Palate'. CX HKISWC is the first competition to open its doors to the public at the end of judging each day so people can taste the diverse styles of wine of various grape varieties from different countries. And what’s more, they can ask judges face-to-face anything they want to know about wine. This is a great learning experience and a wonderful opportunity for wine lovers to compare and contrast — you have to admit that no one in their right mind would open 10 different bottles of wine in one go just to try. At Test Your Palate, there are over 400 wines available every evening! What is even better is that there is a ‘fault’ table carrying wines rejected by judges during that day. Consumers can taste what is really meant by 'reduced', 'oxidised' and 'corked'. Test Your Palate has been running for three years now. In the first two years guests were mostly wine students, but this year it was pleasing to see a more general  range of consumers, showing that the event is becoming better known. I even saw some of my secondary school friends, a few of whom I hadn’t seen since graduation!

But the best of the best has to be the dinners. Sarah, one of the panel chairs, always spoils us with her wines—not the most expensive ones but lesser-known and truly interesting. Of course, there are always a few bottles that our judges bring from their home countries. This year, Chinese wines were a constant fixture on table, thanks to Christian!

Wine competitions are about rating wine for average consumers and giving them guidance in this complex world of wine. CX HKIWSC is doing a good job for the Hong Kong consumer. Next time, pick a bottle of wine with a CX HKIWSC medal, and especially try the food/wine pairing winning wines. Check out the 2013 competition results here.

Test your palate, Trust your palate

The Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition, the biggest in Asia, ran for three days in October. One novelty was that each evening, after the official judges had finished their work for the day, the venue opened its doors to wine lovers from the general public. Over the three evenings participants had the chance to taste over 1,600 wines, from the most major to the most obscure grape varieties, and from the most popular to the least known regions. This new event, called 'Test your Palate', was the first of its kind in Asia. The idea was to give the public a chance to try their hand as wine judges, tasting exactly as real judges do in the same setting and giving an opportunity not normally available to the average wine drinker to do in-depth side-by-side comparisons of many many wines for a very reasonable entry fee. Apart from being great fun, there was also the educational side: the official judges were present and participants were free to ask them any questions they had, from viticulture to wine quality.

Being one of the organisers of the event, and one of the judges of the Competition, I stayed for all three evenings and found it enjoyable talking to participants, most of whom were wine students or serious wine lovers. We discussed everything in the wine world from indigenous grapes in Georgia to Australian wine marketing strategies. However, the most common topic was tasting: how can one identify the different aromas; how to detect this and that; how can one smell more things…?

I think people make it too hard, focusing on trying to taste what the 'expert' tastes rather than on what they themselves taste. Some wine experts like to flood their tasting notes with all kinds of descriptors (blackberry, blueberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, black plum), while some may dismiss a non-faulty wine purely on its smell ("too tannic"). But what I tried to explain to participants was that different people (not only experts) have different vocabularies based on their own experience. While one might name 20 different aromas just by sniffing, they can probably all be grouped into seven categories: fruity (from green apple to black fruit), floral, herbaceous/vegetative, spicy, caramelised, smoky and microbial). Tannins, acidity and sugar can only be tasted (not smelled) and they are essential for wine ageing. So don’t be intimidated by all the flowery tasting notes. Develop your own vocabulary and association of aromas. Once you've built confidence in using your own system you'll enjoy your tasting so much more. Don’t let other people dictate what you should drink or like. It is your palate, trust it.

Click here for a few tasting tips.