The 2011 Competition is judged in October 2010.  This is to allow for the rewrite of the Competition’s website, revealing and applauding all the 2011 Trophy and Award winners early in the New Year.

THE 2011 COMPETITION’S JUDGES’ FAREWELL DINNER

Date: Friday, 22 October 2010. 7.30 pm
Venue: Ballroom, Mercure Sydney Airport Hotel, 20 Levey St, Wolli Creek, NSW 2205
Dress: Gentlemen - Lounge Suit
Tickets: AUD $185 per person. Table of 8 - 10 people: AUD $175 per person.

Open: Open to all winelovers.  Maximum Attendance: 40 diners.

A trio of high quality wines of similar style, mainly chosen from the Competition’s library of current and previous Trophy and Award winners, will be offered alongside each of the five Dégustation food courses.  During the Dégustation, the thirteen Australian and International Judges comment on one of the trio of wines presented, offering their observations and personal preferences in relationship to those wines’ complementary role to the dish in question.  Highly entertaining!  Judges will be seated amongst diners at all dining tables.  Diners will also be offered the opportunity to comment and/or question.  Your dining companions will include all or most of the following

Chief Judge (Australia)
Kym Milne Master of Wine SA

Judges (Alpha Order)
Adrian Atkinson (UK), Ken Dobler (NSW); Steve Flamsteed (VIC); Rob Geddes Master of Wine (NSW); Warren Gibson (NZ); Neil Hadley Master of Wine (NSW); Xenia Irwin Master of Wine (UK); Brent Marris (NZ); Oliver Masters (NZ); Lisa Perrotti-Jones Master of Wine (SG); Mark Robertson (SA); Simon Tam (HK)

Reserve Judge
Martin Williams Master of Wine (VIC)

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2011 AWARDS & TROPHIES PRESENTATION BANQUET

Date: Saturday, 26 February 2011. 12 noon*
Venue: Grand Ballroom, Shangri-La Sydney Hotel; 176 Cumberland Street, Sydney CBD
Dress: Black Tie or Dark Lounge Suit.
Early Bird Tickets: AUD $210 per person. Table of 8 - 10 people: AUD $200 per person.

Early Bird Tickets – For Bookings Confirmed Before 30 November 2010.

*Optional Starting Time: The Banquet is preceded from 10.00am by the Premier Exhibition of the TOP 1OO and Blue-Gold 2011 Award Winning Wines. (Open to Banquet Guests only.) The wines are presented in individual Style Categories. A Tasting Note Pad with the names of the wines listed in the same order as they appear on the Tasting Tables is offered on arrival for you to keep your notes and rating for each wine. The Judges’ comments on the Award winners will be uploaded onto the Competition’s website at the conclusion of the Banquet. They will also be listed in the same order as the wines were presented on the Tasting Tables, making it easy for you to compare your notes with theirs.

The Banquet Itself Will Be A Demonstration of the pleasurable and symbiotic relationship between wines and food.  Each year, this event is the Competition’s Premier Showcase, where seven considered and rehearsed dégustation food courses are chosen to accompany the three highest pointed wines from seven of the Competition’s thirteen Style Categories.
For each dégustation course, one of the three wines, presented blind, will be the Trophy winner for that Style Category. Play a little “pick the winner” game with yourself and your table companions. Watch the nervous expectations of the potential Trophy winning winemakers who will be seated among you.  Experience the excitement when the Trophies are announced. Trophies are presented progressively throughout the Banquet after each wine/food course. The Shangri-La Sydney Kitchen Brigade and their Service Team have met our high expectations for the last seven years. You have every reason to expect these skilled professionals will do it again. 

James Halliday AM, respected wine communicator (and our inaugural Chairman of Judges), will be our Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker. Plus, for the February 2009 Banquet we introduced character actor and singer Rob Thomas singing his way through the Master of Ceremonies rôle.  Rob will be there again to entertain you.

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PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS - SIWC AWARD WINNING WINES 2011 - Both Sessions

Date: Saturday, 9 April 2011.
Venue: Melbourne Room, Australia Ballroom, The Menzies Hotel, 14 Carrington Street, Sydney
Dress: Smart Casual

Times: Session 1: 10.00am to 12 noon.  Session 2: 2.00pm to 5.00pm.

Maximum Attendance: 120 winelovers per Session. 

PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS - SIWC AWARD WINNING WINES 2011

Tickets: 
Session 1 AU$33.00 Buy Event Tickets Online
Session 2 AU$44.00 Buy Event Tickets Online
Both Sessions AU$66.00 Buy Event Tickets Online

A Superior Wine Tasting Experience
After forty years of observing the evolution, benefits and downsides of Public Wine Tastings, here is what SIWC offers: an opportunity to experience the best public wine tasting you are likely to have attended – that’s unless you are a regular attendee at the SIWC Blue-Gold Award Winning Wines’ Public Exhibitions!

We offer for tasting, for your personal evaluation:

• the 200 top pointed wines from the 2,000 wines entered into the 2011 Sydney International Wine Competition;
• as objectively judged by a seriously qualified judging panel;
• in 13 comparable Style Categories, on separate tasting tables, encouraging your comparative assessments of like by like Award winners;
• plus, included in the ticket price, a tasting notes pad with the names of the Award winning wines, in the same order as they are presented on the tasting tables, for you to record your personal notes and preferences;
• and presented in the same order as the judges’ offer their independent descriptions of the Award winners on the Competition’s www.top100wines.com website, for your subsequent comparisons and illumination.
  
  
  
• No scrimmages; each Session is limited to 120 tasters.
• Taste, assess, spit, take notes. Many strategically placed spittoons to help you avoid desensitisation from ingestion.
• Two Exhibitions: Award winners divided into two Sessions to help you avoid palate fatigue.
• Session 1, Whites, in the morning. Session 2, Reds, in the afternoon, with a two hour break in between for you to eat, relax and refresh.
• The two Sessions are available collectively or separately.

Are you interested in adding to your knowledge and enjoyment of wines as an essential part of the dining experience? These Exhibitions offer you a structured, professional, comparative tasting experience.

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