Bottle of this, glass of that: Join the China Wine List of the Year contest

We like lists because we don’t want to die. – Umberto Eco*

That’s a sombre thought. Now here’s a happier one…

The guys behind the Wine List of the Year program, established in 1994 in Australia, are teaming up with Tommy Lam, the guy behind the China National Sommelier Competition and the China Wine Revolution seminars, to do a local edition of the awards.

I recently met Lam in Beijing and he told me the best wine list competition for China will include seven regional winners, involve four levels of judging and “is not just out the blue, it comes from the wine list of year awards in Australia that have been running 18 years“.

First, a snippet from the website:

China’s Wine List of the Year Awards will allow the country’s professional sommeliers to be recognised and rewarded for the skill and care that has gone into the outstanding wine lists many are now producing across greater China, and will give consumers a ‘roadmap’ to the best lists –- large and small — in fine dining, international hotels, restaurants, brasseries, cafes, wine bars, pubs and clubs.

Lam noted that entry into the awards is free, that participants can join by sending a pdf of their wine and food lists to the panel by April 30 (see here for full details) and that, whether they win or not, they get a review from the panel. The best lists get ratings of “three glasses“, “two glasses” and “one glass” as well as a certificate and an online writeup.

Factors considered by the judges include whether the wine list is relevant to the food list, originality, pricing and more (get full details here). And Lam said the wine lists will go through up to four levels of judging, including by a panel in Australia, a panel of sommeliers in China (judging wine lists from outside the region where they work), by a group of trade people such as educators and journalists, and by an international panel with heavy hitters Andrew Caillard and Franck Moreau from Australia, Evan Goldstein from the United States, Brian Julyan from England, James Lawther from France and — the reigning world sommelier champion and recently named Decanter Man of the Year — Gerard Basset. The chairmen for the inaugural competition will be Peter Forrestal from Australia and Li Demei from China.

So, yes, based on all that, I think Lam is safe to say this is “not just out of the blue”. For more info, check the Wine List of the Year website or contact Tommy Lam at tommylam (at) awi-edu.com.

* I realize I referenced that same Umberto Eco quote in another post today. I’m keeping a list of them.

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