Simon Tam was born in Hong Kong and raised in Australia. Proud of his East-West heritage, he is a passionate advocate in the judicious marriage of Asian food with wine. With a career spanning more than 18 years in the Greater China wine industry, he is widely considered Greater China’s industry expert. Simon is a columnist and contributing editors to 23 publications and websites. In 2007 Simon was voted “The Best Wine Consultant in Hong Kong” by 500 members of the wine trade. He has been educating the Asian wine and hospitality industry for a decade and a half. Simon is the founding director of Independent Wine Centre in HK, Shanghai and Macao.
Judging of the food and wine pairing categories will be led by Simon, who says, “The wine industry is flourishing in Asia and, with wine lovers becoming more savvy and the Asian palate attuned to different flavours than those in the West, demand for better information about Asian food and wine pairing is at an all-time high. This category is bound to receive widespread attention from international wine producers, as well as meet consumer demand for intelligent dining information.”
|
Debra Meiburg, a long-time resident of Hong Kong, has worked harvest in Chile, pruned vines in Bordeaux and was a cellar-hand in New York. She is a Qualified Wine Judge and Qualified Wine Educator and has judged wine shows on four continents. More importantly, Debra was recently awarded the Master of Wine title, which is the highest accolade in the wine profession. There are only 270 Masters of Wine worldwide and until 2008 no one in Asia.
Originally from Sonoma County, Debra was formerly a wine professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. She writes a popular weekly wine column in the South China Morning Post and is a contributing editor to the Asian Tatler Magazines. In 2007 she was voted “Most Influential Wine Journalist in Hong Kong” by 500 members of the wine trade. Debra presents regularly throughout Asia and her students have included Asia’s finance ministers, cabinet members and key business and political figures. She has travelled in more than 60 countries, visiting wineries in all the key wine districts of Europe, as well as the New World regions, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Chile.
|
 Allen Gibbons is the Executive Director of the International Wine and Spirit Competition, the UK’s oldest and most prestigious wine and spirit competition. He has over 20 years experience in sales and marketing roles across the fmcg sector including over 10 in the drinks industry where he worked across Europe, Africa, the US and the Pacific.
Prior to joining the IWSC Allen worked at Diageo for 8 years where he held a number of senior innovation and marketing roles and where he was responsible for some of the most high profile product launches of recent years as well as being deeply involved in people development. |
|
|
|
