The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition (HKIWSC) was officially held at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre from October 12th-15th. This year, over 1,700 wines from different countries entered the competition to compete for Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. We attended the competition for a special report. 20 wine judges, consisting of sommeliers, trade professionals, and wine writers from Asian regions such as Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and others represented Asian palates to evaluate these wines.
Judges were divided into groups to assess these wines through a rigorous standardized system. If the required minimum score is reached, then gold, silver, and bronze awards were given in each tasting category or flight. Wines with the highest mark in their respective categories were re-tasted for national and international trophies. “This year, not only a large number of wines entered the competition, but many wineries also presented their top wines. You can easily find wine that’s worth from hundreds to thousands of dollars. But because we are blindtasting these wines, it won’t necessarily be the most expensive wine that wins,” explains co-organizer Debra Meiberg MW.
Another interesting part of the competition is food and wine judging, joined by various well-known chefs. There are five categories: Peking Duck, Cantonese Dim Sum, Kung Pao Chicken, Braised Abalone, and Sashimi. Five groups of judges will be assigned to each of these five categories to find the best wine-pairing. During the judging, one of the judges Tersina Shieh commented,“I am responsible for judging the best wine with sashimi. The quality of Sauvignon Blanc is high but it doesn’t match with sashimi. The New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is too pungent for it - it brings out the fishiness of raw fish.” All competition results will be announced at the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair between November 3rd to 5th.
This year, HKIWSC also organized three days of public events called “Test Your Palate,” allowing public members to taste all the wines presented in the competition for the first time and compare whether their tasting skills are the same as those of the expert panels. “Test Your Palate” drew crowds of wine lovers over the three days. We hope that it will be held every year at HWIWSC so that everybody will have the opportunity to try wines that are not yet sold in Hong Kong.
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