Air New Zealand Wine Awards

Steve Smith MW

Steve Smith is a founding shareholder and Director of CRAGGY RANGE. He has had a distinguished academic, research and commercial career in the wine business since 1980. As a specialist viticulturist, his research career was spent with Dr Richard Smart, pioneering the new viticultural techniques now used in many regions of the world. He published numerous academic and popular papers during this time and was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Scholarship in 1985 to study grapevine virus diseases in California. In 1996 he became a Master of Wine, the only specialist viticulturist in the world to have this distinction, now regarded as the pinnacle of academic achievement in the industry. During this time we worked for Villa Maria Estate as Group Viticulturist, playing a significant role in the company's high quality reputation.

In 1996 Steve was described by Decanter Magazine as one of the 50 most influential people in the world of wine going into the next millennium, alongside Chateau Margaux's Paul Pontallier, Pierre Henry Gagey of Louis Jadot, Moet and Chandon's Richard Geoffroy and Jancis Robinson MW. At that time he also consulted internationally for a number of clients including Rustenberg Estate and Hamilton Russell Vineyards of South Africa. Other personal accolades include a further ranking in the Top 50, this time by the USA's influential Wine and Spirit Magazine in 2005. For both of these accolades he was the only New Zealander included.

As Director of Wine at Craggy Range, Steve focuses specifically on anything to do with 'making and marketing', continually pursuing his love of viticulture and the Bordeaux red varieties. He is also responsible for the wines of the Wild Rock Wine Company and Capricorn Wine Estates. He is founding Chairman of the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association and has served on several industry bodies which includes now being a board member of New Zealand Winegrowers and Chairman of the Board of Pinot Noir 2007 Ltd. In 2007 Steve was appointed Chairman of Judges for New Zealand's premier wine competition, the Air New Zealand Wine Awards. Craggy Range has received numerous accolades while Steve has been at the helm, and is regarded by many critics as the countries best producer. In 2008 Craggy Range was awarded the largest collection of above 90 point scores for a New Zealand winery by Neal Martin in Robert Parkers The Wine Advocate, the worlds most influential wine publication; Craggy Range is the only New Zealand winery selected by the UK wine press as being in the Top 5 producers of both red and white wines; and again by Wines and Spirits as being one of the worlds Top 100 Wineries in 2005 and again in 2008, with 2005 being the first time a New Zealand winery has been on this prestigious list.

Steve lives with his wife Laura and daughters Georgia and Emma surrounded by their Giants Vineyard in Hawke's Bay.

Stephen Brook

Stephen became a freelance writer in 1982, specialising in travel and wine, after many years as publisher's editor in both the US and Britain. His Liquid Gold: Dessert Wines of the World won the Andre Simon Award in 1987 and Sauternes and the Other Sweet Wines of Bordeaux (Faber 1995) became the standard work on the subject. His other wine books include Pauillac, The Wines of California, Wine People, Bordeaux: People, Power and Politics, and The Wines of Germany. In 2007 his monumental work The Complete Bordeaux was published. He has just completed, for the second time, a comprehensive revision and updating of the wine encyclopaedia, the Hugh Johnson Wine Companion.

He has won numerous awards, including the Wines of France award in 1995, the Bunch Award for wine writer of the year in 1996, the Glenfiddich, Lanson, and Veuve Clicquot awards for his book on The Wines of California (1999), and the Andre Simon Award in 2007. He is also in demand as a wine judge in North America and Australia, and is chairman of the North American section of the Decanter World Wine Awards. Stephen has also written many travel books and has contributed travel articles to many newspapers and magazines. Stephen writes regularly on wine for Decanter, of which he is a Contributing Editor, Fine Wine Magazine, and Falstaff (Austria). He has regular columns in Livets Goda (Sweden) and Winies (Korea). He has also written about food and restaurants for Food & Travel, The Cigar Aficionado, The Financial Times, and other publications.

In what spare time is left he enjoys travel, opera and theatre going, and looking at buildings, ancient and modern.

Eric Arnold

Eric is the Author of First Big Crush, which chronicles the year he spent working at Allan Scott Wines in Marlborough (Scribner, 2007); the film option has been purchased by a NZ production company.

Eric spent three years as an editor and writer at Wine Spectator, and two years as a Lifestyle editor at Forbes. While at Forbes, Eric launched Forbes' Booze Blog.

Eric is currently Editorial Director for Bottlenotes.com and its e-newsletter The Daily Sip.

Philip Rich

From 1994-1996 Philip Rich was the first imported wine manager for Philip Murphy Wine and Spirits before going to the Stokehouse and Prince of Wales where for over ten years Philip was responsible for all the wine buying for the group, sommelier training and wine lists including The Stokehouse and Circa's multi award winning list. Philip Rich is the founder and a partner in Prince Wine Store, South Melbourne which is one of the largest independent fine wine stores in Australia. Philip has been writing a monthly wine column for the Australian Financial Review Magazine since 1999, is a Len Evans Tutorial graduate and has judged at numerous wine shows in Australia and New Zealand including the Royal Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide Wine Shows, Victorian Wine Show, Yarra Valley Wine Show, Hawkes Bay Wine Show and Margaret River Wine Show. This is Philip's second time judging at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Marina and sons, Spencer and Felix.

Ben Edwards

President of Sommeliers Australia and Director of The Wine Guide (a global sommelier consultancy), Ben learnt his craft in some of Australia's finest restaurants and is now one of the country's leading wine consultants and commentators. A former dux of the Len Evans tutorial, a highly respected show judge and now right hand man to the doyen of Australian wine, James Halliday, Ben is an authority not only of Australian wine but the best from Europe and the rest of the world.

Jeff Clarke

Jeff Clarke is one of the more experienced Australasian winemakers and wine judges, starting his career in wine in 1976. He is currently working as a wine consultant offering advice to customers on all aspects of the winemaking business, from grape growing and winery operations to wine marketing both domestically and internationally.
After completing his Bachelor of Oenology and Viticulture at Roseworthy Agriculture College in South Australia, he commenced his winemaking career at Penfolds' Barossa winery, home of the great family of red wines, including Grange. Jeff's experience also included time at Tisdall/Mount Helen Wines in Victoria, where he worked with some of the pioneering cooler climate Australian plantings of Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Chardonnay.
For the next seventeen years Jeff worked as the leader of the winemaking team at Montana/ Allied Domecq/ Pernod Ricard. The position as Chief Winemaker, gave him access to some of the best vineyard resources across most of the major winegrowing regions of New Zealand – Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Martinborough, Nelson, Waipara, Central Otago and of course Marlborough where he now resides. During this time, with the assistance of the production teams, the company also developed a number of world class winemaking facilities. The combination of these vineyards and wineries, and a great winemaking team, has delivered a multitude of trophies and gold medals for many of the company's wines in both international and domestic competitions.
Since joining Montana Jeff has been honoured to receive a number of personal awards, such as" White Winemaker of the Year" at the "International Wine Challenge" competitions in London in 1999 and again in Japan in 2003. Noted UK wine journalist Tim Atkin recently placed Jeff in a list of his top six winemakers of the world.
.Jeff has also travelled to, and worked with, key wineries and noted industry personalities in all parts of the wine world including; France, United States of America, Spain, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Germany and Italy.
.Jeff has been judging in New Zealand and Australian wine shows and magazine tastings since 1979. He is currently a senior member of the judging teams at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, Liquorland Wine Show, New World Wine Awards, and for the Cuisine Magazine.

Sarah-Kate Dineen

Cameron Douglas MS

Cameron Douglas is New Zealand's first and only Master Sommelier with the International Court of Master Sommeliers worldwide. He is, in fact, the only MS in the Australasia area, giving him a unique position within the profession 'down-under', and a significant ability to present the wines of these regions to the world.

He is an experienced writer, commentator, judge, and reviewer on all things beverage – is the resident wine writer for Hospitality Magazine; writes independently for national and international publications, and is in demand as a Speaker on many wine, beverage and hospitality related issues – in addition to his roles as a senior wine judge for internationally renowned and award winning Cuisine Magazine, and senior judge for various Wine Award Shows. He is a regular guest lecturer at the Professional Culinary Institute in California, and consults to the famous French Laundry restaurant on their New Zealand wine selection.

Cameron spends much of his time involved in education – academically in his position as Senior Lecturer above the Bar in charge of the Wine and Beverage Programme at AUT University, and 'out in the field' through his consultancy to the Hospitality Industry and interested public. His extensive study of wine and early experiences on the floors and in the kitchens of famous restaurants adds weight to his impressive credentials.

He has made wine at a prominent winery in Burgundy, and spent two seasons as Consultant Sommelier at the famous Yellowstone Club in Montana.

He is the South Pacific Director for the Global Guild of Sommeliers and Convenor for the New Zealand Sommelier of the Year. He was part of the introduction of the Court of Master Sommeliers' programme to New Zealand in 2005 and Australia in 2008, and continues to instruct and examine with this worldwide organisation.

Cameron still calls Auckland home, though he spends time overseas regularly, with much of his 'study time' in the USA, in the San Francisco area.

Rod Easthope

Rod Easthope is Hawke's Bay bred and spent many school holidays working in family vineyards. Inevitable contact with wine and winemakers sparked a lifelong interest and prompted the undertaking and completion of a Wine Science degree from Roseworthy College in South Australia graduating in 1993.
Winemaking tenures were gained in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France and most notably South Africa where Rod was Chief Winemaker for Rustenberg Estate in Stellenbosch. Since 2005 Rod has been a Senior Winemaker for Craggy Range with ultimate responsibility for Chardonnay, Syrah and Bordeaux red winemaking.
Frequent wine judging responsibilities for national shows, panels and industry magazines have been a feature of Rod's career.

Anna Flowerday

Anna Flowerday is the Winemaker/Owner of Te Whare Ra Wines in Marlborough with her husband Jason and is mother to two sets of twins girls.

She grew up in the wine region of McLaren Vale in South Australia and is the fifth generation of her family to be involved in the industry. She studied Oenology at the University of Adelaide and then worked as a winemaker for Hardy's for seven years at their Tintara and Leasingham wineries, and has also worked in Oregon.
Anna was a national finalist in the Young Australian Winemaker of the Year in 2002 and an associate judge in the Australian wine show system before moving to Marlborough in 2003, when she and her winemaker husband bought Te Whare Ra. Since that time she has been an Associate Judge at Royal Easter Wine Show and Air New Zealand Wine Awards, a senior judge at Liquorland Top 100, International Aromatic Competition and on the Cuisine tasting panel and is on the board of Marlborough Winegrowers.

Warren Gibson

Warren Gibson began his career in the wine industry in 1987, and then travelled the world with winemaking positions in Australia, Italy, France, Hungary, California and New Zealand. Educated at Massey University and Roseworthy Agricultural College, South Australia, Warren has been at Trinity Hill Winery in Hawke's Bay since 1997. His current role is as Executive Winemaker along with direction of the viticultural team. In this time he has developed his own wine brand, Bilancia Ltd with partner Lorraine Leheny This includes establishing their own Hillside Syrah and Viognier vineyard, "la collina".
Warren has been judging wine since 1998 and has participated in all of New Zealand's major wine shows, including being a Cuisine magazine panelist. In 2005 he was voted "New Zealand Winemaker of the Year" by Australia's Winestate magazine and the following year "Winemaker of the Year" at the Mercedes Benz Hawkes Bay Wine Show. In 2010 he is a judge at the National Wine Show of Australia (Canberra).

Ben Glover

Marlborough born and bred, Ben Glover is the Chief Winemaker at Wither Hills Vineyards where he has applied his passion for making elegant innovative wines with purity for over ten years.
His particular love is Pinot Noir, and the international accolades earned for the Wither Hills Pinot Noir are a reflection of Ben's devotion to his craft.
His selection as the New Zealand representative scholar for the inaugural Len Evans tutorial in 2001 and his ten years of experience as a national and international Wine Judge are testaments to his dedication to quality wine – both as a winemaker and as an appreciative wine drinker.

Jim Harré

After working for over thirty years for Air New Zealand as a Flight Attendant, Inflight Service Director and Wine Consultant, Jim and his wife now own and operate The Gates Country Lodge; a boutique luxury lodge situated in New Zealand's South Island. As part of Jim's passion for wine he was involved in the creation of the Air New Zealand Wine Club and was responsible for the development and structure of the Flight Attendant Wine Education Programme.
After studying winemaking and viticulture at the Eastern Institute of Technology in New Zealand's Hawkes Bay, Jim has worked vintages in France, Australia, New Zealand and as well spent time working in Christies Fine Wine Department in London.
During the past ten years Jim has been part of the judging teams at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, Liquorland Top 100 Wine Show, the Liquorland Royal Easter Show Wine Competition, The Japan International Wine Challenge, The San Franscico Wine Competition and the Canterbury International Aromatic Wine Competition. Jim currently holds the position of Chairman of Judges for the New World Wine Competition, Senior Judge at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards and is a Wine Consultant for Air New Zealand

Larry McKenna

Larry was raised in Adelaide South Australia, graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1976 and has three decades of wine making experience under his belt. After travelling for a stint through Europe sampling the wine culture, he 'cut his teeth' at Delegat's Wine Estate in Auckland, New Zealand.

In 1986 Larry took up the position of CEO/Winemaker at Martinborough Vineyard. From 1986 to 1999 he grew this company from 20 to 160 tonnes and firmly put Martinborough Vineyard and himself on the map as one of the pre-eminent New World Pinot Noir winegrowers.

Since 1999 Larry has been Director and Winemaker for Escarpment Vineyard. Established by Larry and his wife Sue together with Robert and Mem Kirby with a simple aim: to continually produce the very best of tomorrow's definitive New World wines. The Escarpment wines aim to reward wine lovers with progressive and suggestive wines that encourage them to "venture to the edge" of wine appreciation.

Larry has judged in NZ and Australia for over 25 years including chairing The International Chardonnay Challenge, the NZ International Wine Show and the Bragato Wine Awards.

Oliver Masters

Olly is winemaker for Misha's Vineyard in Central Otago and has his own winery/vineyard consulting business, Tripwire Wine Consulting.

Whilst still having an ongoing consulting role with Ata Rangi Vineyard, where he was previously winemaker. He also consults in New Zealand's other Pinot Noir stronghold, Marlborough, working with Seresin Estate.

Olly graduated with an honours degree in Biotech (Massey, 1989) and a post-graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology (Lincoln University, 1990). He is a senior wine judge, and panel leader, at many of our national wine competitions. He is also a member of the New Zealand Winegrowers Research Committee.

Simon Nunns

Simon Nunns has been winemaker at Coopers Creek Vineyard Ltd since 1998. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University and has worked harvests in Oregon, Bordeaux and Burgundy. Simon judges in a number of wine competitions both in New Zealand and Australia. Apart from wine, his interests include food, art, architecture, history, music and most especially, road cycling.

Sarah Burton

Combining a passion for both travel and new experiences Sarah participated in international vintages in Oregon, Bordeaux, Hunter Valley, Duoro valley, Tuscany and Hawkes Bay before becoming based in Marlborough, New Zealand.
She has been working as a Winemaker in Marlborough for the last 8 years and is currently a member of the winemaking team at Cloudy Bay. During this time she has become actively involved in the NZ wine judging circuit.

Jack Glover

With an aim of working in every area of the wine business from the vineyard to restaurants or the retail floor, Jack's experiences of all facets of the liquor industry have provided him with a holistic understanding of the growing, making, selling, buying, and of course enjoyment of wine.

Born in Marlborough and educated in Christchurch, Jack then travelled to South Australia in 2001 to complete a Bachelor of Wine Marketing at the University of Adelaide.

On completion of his studies he began his career at St Hallett in the Barossa and Tatachilla in McLaren Vale. In addition to his studies Jack has worked vintages in Marlborough and the Napa Valley, also completing levels of the Court of Master Sommelier examinations.

Jack joined Pernod Ricard New Zealand in 2006 as Wine Specialist based in Wellington. He moved to Auckland in 2008 and is currently the National Trading Manager – On Premise. This allows him to work directly with New Zealand's amazing hospitality personalities, outlets and venues and his responsibilities are far-reaching.

Jack has recently judged at the Royal Easter Show, International Wine Show, International Chardonnay Challenge and Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

Alan McCorkindale

Alan was born and raised in Hawke's Bay, and began his wine industry career as a cellar rat with McWilliams Wines. After graduating from Victoria University and Roseworthy Agricultural College, Alan worked his way up to assistant winemaker in Hawke's Bay, then to winemaker in Marlborough for Corbans Wines.
Alan has winemaking experience in Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace, the Rheingau, the Hunter Valley and Tasmania, and is now head honcho and basket press operator of a small, family owned wine company with a close planted vineyard on the limestone soils of the Waipara Valley, specialising in aromatics and methode traditionnelle.
Alan is also actively involved in his consultancy business offering mentoring, wine production and wine marketing advice to New Zealand and international producers. Alan has a long list of trophy successes in the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, and is really pleased to be able to give something back as a judge at this prestigious annual event.

David McKee

Dave McKee has worked in Hawke's Bay since 1991. First as Oenologist at Montana's flagship winery Church Road prior to taking up the position of winemaker/viticulturist at Black Barn Vineyards in 2002. Black Barn wines have received numerous accolades and medal awards since Dave's appointment.
Dave has judged at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, International Chardonnay Challenge, Bragato, Liquorland Top 100, The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards, New Zealand International Wine Show and the Hawke's Bay A&P Wine Show and completed the advanced sensory course at AWRI.
His focus is to produce wines with a sense of place and an affinity to food.

Adam Wadewitz

Adam Wadewitz was born in South Australia's McLaren Vale wine region. Immediately after leaving school, he started a casual job at Geoff Merrill Wines, which piqued his interest in winemaking. After vintages in California and France, Adam returned to the Hunter Valley then in 2002 undertook a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Oenology) degree at the University of Adelaide. In 2005, Adam joined Best's Wines as winemaker.

Adam has been awarded numerous accolades and won many medals for the wine he has made. He is a wine judge at the National Wine Show in Canberra and the Sydney Royal Wine Show. In 2009, he was Dux of the 2009 Len Evans Tutorial and was named one of The 50 Hottest Stars of the Year by the prestigious trade publication, Wine Business Monthly. Adam has also been jointly nominated as Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine – 2010 Winemaker of the year.

Shona White

Shona was raised in Mosgiel, Otago and spent fourteen years in hospitality education as a Senior lecturer at Auckland University of Technology. The past eight years has put this into practice with running her own Motel with her husband in Taupo. Shona has been involved in the back area of wine shows since the late 1980s as a steward, assistant chief steward and chief steward of many of New Zealand's largest wine shows including the Air New Zealand Wine Awards (15 years), Royal Easter Show Wine Awards (18 years), Liquorland Wine Awards (7 years) and New World Wine Awards (5 years). She has been the Competition Co-ordinator for the Air New Zealand Wine Awards for four years. Shona has a Diploma in Wine Marketing from Adelaide University as well as a Graduate Diploma in Business (Human Resources) from Auckland University.

The Stewards work behind the scenes to pour the wine flights and then deliver the glasses of wine to the judges.

The Stewards for the 2010 Air New Zealand Wine Awards include Mark Compton as Chief Steward and Michelle Little as Assistant Chief Steward.

John Avery MW

John Avery is the fourth generation in his family wine business in Bristol. He passed the Master of Wine Exam in 1975, which is considered to be the pinnacle of academic achievement in the wine industry. He was Chairman of The Institute of Masters of Wine from 2000 to 2001.

John has made a considerable reputation for himself as a pioneer in the discovery and importation of non-European wines (he coined the term New World Wines) into the United Kingdom. This started with quality table wines from California in 1965 followed by unfortified wines from Australia in the early 1970s when he also imported a couple of New Zealand wines. In 1979 he expanded this to include a selection of the best New Zealand wines from 7 leading producers. He was, in short, the first person to import New Zealand wines into Europe!

In 1978 he was invited to be the first European to be the Chief Judge at the Air New Zealand / Tourist Hotel Corporation wine competition in New Zealand and was invited back as Chief Judge in 1981.Since then he has been an International Wine Judge at wine competitions all over the world particularly Australia and the Far East and has judged at more overseas shows than any other European.

In 1982 with Terry Dunleavy and Don Walker (then Minister for Trade in London) he helped to organise and select the wines for the first of the now annual wine tastings of New Zealand wines in London.
He has been in the U.K. wine trade for over 40 years and is still Chairman of the company formerly owned by his family He still travels to France and the rest of the world to select the wines his company sells and is also still much involved with selling them to his customers. One of principal responsibilities is the tasting and selection of 'En Primeur' wines (i.e. very young wines 6 to 12 months old) which is very important considering that many of the wines in the competition are very young. He travels throughout the U.K. and elsewhere giving tastings and talking about the wines being shown. He writes considerably about wine mostly in his company's literature.

John was Master of his own Livery Company – The Vintners for twelve months 2004/05 and during his year of office took the Court of The Company to the vineyards of New Zealand.

CH'NG Poh Tiong

CH'NG Poh Tiong is a lawyer by training.

He is publisher of The Wine Review, the oldest and most established wine publication in South-East Asia, Hong Kong and China. Ch'ng also publishes, since 2000, the world's first "Guide to Bordeaux in Chinese" and the annual "Asian Sommelier Guide". His articles have also appeared in other magazines, including l'Amateur de Bordeaux of France, United Kingdom's Harper's, World of Fine World, and Decanter, for which he also writes a column. Ch'ng is also the wine columnist of Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore's largest-circulation Chinese daily. His articles have also appeared in China's Food & Wine and in Wine in China magazines. And in Sommelier India magazine.

Ch'ng Poh Tiong is the Regional Chairman: Middle East, Far East & Asia, for Decanter magazine's World Wine Awards. Founder of Sommelier Seminars and Sommeliers of Asia, he also organized the first-ever sommelier seminar in China in 2004.

In 2002, Ch'ng was a key-note speaker at the Master of Wine Symposium in Vienna. He was also a speaker at the Twelfth Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference 2004 and has also addressed Wine Australia and the World Inflight Food Service Association's Congress in Osaka. In 2005, he spoke at, and chaired the Forum on Asia in Wine Evolution in Paris.

Ch'ng was a keynote speaker at the Cool Climate Symposium 2006, Christchurch, New Zealand, and at the inaugural China International Wine Summit and China International Wine Technology, Trade & Investment Annual Conference 2006 in Beijing. In 2007, he spoke at the Pinot Noir Conference in Wellington, New Zealand, and at the Enoforum Congress in Piacenza, Italy. More recently, in January 2008, he spoke at the Pinot Noir Celebrations, Otago, New Zealand, and in June 2008 at the Frankland Estate International Riesling Conference.

Ch'ng Poh Tiong also works as a consultant. His clients include FairPrice & Liberty Supermarkets and Conrad Centennial Singapore. He is also founder of the Lianhe Zaobao Wine Review Annual Wine Challenge, Singapore's first, independent wine competition (since 1999). Ch'ng is also consultant to The American Express Tower Club Wine Awards of Singapore. He lectures extensively on wine including in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore. Ch'ng also speaks on the subject to private clients, including international law firms and multi-national banks.

Ch'ng Poh Tiong also founded ICCCW and held the first International Congress of Chinese Cuisine & Wine, 23 to 25 May 2008, in Beijing, The next ICCCW will be held in Singapore in October 2009. China. He is fluent in English, Chinese, Cantonese and Fukienese.

Huon Hooke

Huon Hooke is a leading independent wine writer, based in Sydney, who makes his living entirely out of writing, judging and educating about wine. A journalist first and wine professional second, he has tertiary qualifications in both fields and has been writing on wine for 26 years. He pens a weekly column for both the Sydney Morning Herald 'Good Living' section and Good Weekend magazine, as well as contributing to Gourmet Traveller Wine, The World of Fine Wine, Decanter, Tom Stevenson's annual Wine Report and other publications on an occasional basis. He has published 17 books on wine including the biography of Penfolds Grange creator Max Schubert. He co-authored the annual Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide for 14 years until retiring from it in 2007. In 2008 he was named Australia's Wine Communicator of the Year. He's been a show judge for 22 years and judges about ten competitions a year in Australia and overseas.

Geoff Merrill

Geoff Merrill was born in 1953 and was raised on a sheep station in the far north of South Australia until he was 11 years old. The Merrill family then moved to the Barossa Valley where Geoff's first links with the wine industry were formed.

His formal education was gained at local Barossa Valley Schools and the Institute of Technology in Adelaide.

From 1970 to 1973 Geoff undertook a winemaking traineeship at B Seppelt & Son. A position as Experimental Winemaker with Stellenbosch Farmers Winery lured him to South Africa for a year in 1974, after which he travelled through Europe.

By the end of 1975 Geoff was back in Australia and had joined Chateau Reynella as Assistant Winemaker. In 1977 he was promoted to Senior Winemaker, a position he held until 1985. Whilst working a Chateau Reynella Geoff also managed to find the time to make wines under his own "Geoff Merrill" label. These wines were first released in 1983 with the 1980 Cabernet and 1981 Semillon.

When Thomas Hardy & Sons purchased Chateau Reynella in 1982 Geoff stayed on, continuing to make the Chateau Reynella wines. By 1985 he had become a Consultant Winemaker for Hardy and Chateau Reynella's red wines. At the same time he was on the lookout for a winery where he could base his own operations. He found the beautiful, but run-down, Mount Hurtle Winery in 1985, which he restored and by 1988 Geoff had left Hardy's to run his own operation.

Since 1988 Geoff has concentrated on the winery and his wines. He has continued to gain
national and international recognition for his distinctive style of winemaking and his zest for life.

September 1993 marked a new stage in Geoff's winemaking career as he took up a position as a Consultant Winemaker in Italy to UK supermarket Sainsbury and Gruppo Italiano Vini in Italy.

James Lawther MW

James Lawther MW is an independent wine writer based in Bordeaux. During his 25 years experience in the wine industry, he has retailed wine in Paris (Steven Spurrier's Caves de la Madeleine), had hands on winemaking experience in Bordeaux, the Languedoc and Western Australia (Cape Mentelle) and lectured on food and wine. He passed the Master of Wine examination in 1993. He is a contributing editor to Decanter Magazine and writes for other international publications (The World of Fine Wine, Wine Business International, Bordeaux Aujourd'hui). He has contributed to a number of wine books including Dorling Kindersley's Wines of the World, The Global Encyclopedia of Wine, Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book and Oz Clarke's Bordeaux.

Joshua Greene

Editor and Publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine since 1986. After graduating from Princeton University in 1981, Mr. Greene pursued a career in magazines, starting in management of special interest publications. His involvement with Wine & Spirits began on a consulting basis, and eventually led to his purchase of the magazine in 1989.
Mr. Greene has travelled extensively through the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Australia and Chile, as well as all the major regions of the United States. In addition to his duties as editor and publisher, Mr. Greene serves as the critic for California, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Northern Italy, Portugal, Australia and South Africa, and contributes feature stories and commentary in each issue of the magazine.

Kym Milne MW

Kym has worked in the wine industry for over 30 years and has extensive international wine show judging experience. A winemaking graduate of Roseworthy College in Australia, he worked initially as a winemaker in Australia, before moving to New Zealand for a nine year stint as Chief Winemaker for Villa Maria winery from 1983 to 1992.
In 1991 he qualified as a Master of Wine (MW), becoming only the second Australian to pass the exam, before moving to Europe, and then to the UK where he became Director of Winemaking Operations for UK importer International Wine Services, and for the next ten years ran winemaking projects throughout Europe, South Africa and South America producing wine for the UK market.
In 2003 he moved back to Australia, and now has his own consultancy company Global Wine Solutions, working with wineries in Australia and around the world. He is currently Chairman of Judges at the Sydney International Wine Competition and resides in the Adelaide Hills.

Nick Stock

Nick Stock is one of Australia's most respected and prolific wine critics. Having twice been awarded Australian Sommelier of the Year, his deep involvement in wine stretches well beyond wine writing to show judging, educating, broadcasting and winemaking. His wealth of knowledge extends to all corners of the wine world and this, combined with his frank and fearless style, has made him one of the most popular and widely read Australian wine writers.

Nick was awarded Best Drinks Journalist at the 2007 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards and is the author of the Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide.

Peter McCombie MW

Peter McCombie is a New Zealand-born, English resident Master of Wine.

The roster of clients for his restaurant wine consultancy has ranged from Jamie Oliver's Fifteen to the Cinnamon Club, from the funky boutique Zetter to the five star Dorchester Hotel. He currently chooses wine for Moro, Zetter, Bar Shu, Canteen and the Cliff (Barbados).

James Rodewald

James Rodewald is the editor of Gourmet 's "Drinks" section. He also follows fisheries and other environmental issues for the magazine.

Showing just how random a career path can be, James has a Masters degree from the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona.

Prior to his first journalism job, James worked behind the bar at various restaurants in Santa Fe, New Mexico, New York's Hudson Valley and New York City.

After ten years as a reporter at Sports Illustrated and two years as the online editor at Outside magazine, he was lucky enough to jump to Gourmet, where he has been for the past nine years.

James has served as a judge at the Hawke's Bay Wine Awards, the National Wine Show of Australia and several shows in the U.S.

Tom Carson

Tom Carson has been the chief winemaker at Yering Station since 1996.

During this time Yering Station has received international critical acclaim for its wines, culminating in being awarded International Winemaker of the Year at the 2004 IWSC in London.

Tom judges at many of the Australian capital wine shows, including Panel Chair at Sydney and the National Wine Show.

He has worked in Burgundy and Champagne many times. In 2002 he was awarded Dux at the Len Evans tutorial.

During his spare time he looks after his own close planted vineyard!

Mike de Garis

Mike graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1980. He has had extensive winemaking and management experience in most regions of Australia and New Zealand.

His term in New Zealand (a two-year contract which lasted for nearly eight years) has almost made him part Kiwi!

He left New Zealand in early 2005 to go back to the Hunter Valley to resurrect The Rothbury Estate, which was subsequently sold by the Foster's Group. He now runs his own wine consultancy.

Mike has previously been a Panel Leader at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards from 2000 to 2004. He has been Chairman of Judges at the 2007 Liquorland Top 100 Wine Show and judged at the 2007 International Chardonnay Challenge, as well as being a Panel Leader at the 2007 Easter Show Wine Awards.

Sam Harrop MW

Sam is a New Zealander with extensive winemaking and marketing experience. He has held winemaking positions in New Zealand, Australia, California and Oregon and also worked for Marks and Spencer for seven years as a wine buyer.

Sam left Marks and Spencer in 2004 to start his own consulting company. He now works with wineries in Portugal, the Loire Valley, Southern France and Brazil to improve wine quality destined for the export market. He also advises a number of wineries and distributors on developing and marketing brands for the export market. He is a partner in a small biodynamic winery in the Roussillon – Domaine Matassa.

Sam passed the tasting and theory sections of the Master of Wines examination at first attempt in June 2002. In passing he also received a distinction for his dissertation. He was also awarded the Tim Derouet award for outstanding performance. This award was established in 1976 and since this time only 22 students have been awarded this honour.

In 2006 Sam is one of only four co-chairman at the International Wine Challenge (the largest wine competition in the world with over 9,000 wines to be appraised). His role is to manage a large group of judges, while assessing their scoring to ensure that there is the necessary consistency and controls in the judging process.

Grant Ramage

Grant Ramage is the National Business Manager of Wine for the Coles Myer Liquor Group in Australia.

Grant is responsible for managing the buying team for stores such as Vintage Cellars, 1st Choice and Liquorland.

Grant has 13 years experience in the wine industry, working for 10 years at Oddbins (United Kingdom) as a senior buyer for wine markets in Australia,
New Zealand, Spain, France and Greece.