SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION
Australia's International Wine Show. Founded 1982. European Union Accredited.
Only Major International Wine Show to Judge Finalists Alongside Appropriate Food.
P O Box 210, Wentworth Falls, NSW 2782, Australia
info@top100wines.com tel +62 (0)2 4757 4400
e-NEWSLETTER
30th April, 2011
Dear Friends - in Wine and Food
Further to our Newsletter of this time last month (see below), today, here is a short update on happenings.
MY CELLAR DOOR feature is up and running on www.top100wines.com. The first two entries can already be viewed. Just click on the "My Cellar Door" link on the Site Navigation Menu. "A picture is worth a thousand words" has never been truer. This feature will bring you right to the Cellar Door's threshold, have you mouthing your introduction: "Hello. You must be (Joy - in the case of Bowen Estate) or (Flip, in the case of Reilly's Wines). My name is Xxxxx. We have met via the Sydney International Wine Competition's website!" By then, you will be salivating. But you will have to actually go inside for Joy or Flip to conduct the tasting! The My Cellar Door photography will also appear randomly, along with the "Beautiful Vineyards" feature, at the foot of the Homepage. To see the diversity, click REFRESH to change the Home Page's photography. As with the "Beautiful Vineyards" feature, "My Cellar Door" is a free service. We invite you to submit your "My Cellar Door" photography.
JUDGES' PHOTOGRAPHY
The Judges' comments on the Award winning wines is at the very core of the educational services we offer the industry and the consumer. Portrait photography of the 2011 Competition's Judges now appears randomly, along with the 2011 Competition's Trophy recipients, in the centre of the Home Page. Importantly, each of the Judges' portraits carries a link to their Résumé and, in the case of the newcomers to our Panels, a link to their Reflections on the "judging wine alongside appropriate food dishes" format.
ANNOUNCING THE 2012 COMPETITION'S PANEL
Only three new faces for next October's Panel. Tokyo resident, Ned Goodwin MW, "Japan's First Master of Wine" replaces Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (Singapore), Navneet Singh, International Winemaking Consultant and "leading in the race to become the first Indian Master of Wine" replaces Adrian Atkinson (UK), (both Lisa and Adrian have previous commitments that clash with out judging timetable) and Sharon Wild, Wine Consultant, Len Evans Tutorial participant 2006, will be our "Reserve Judge in Residence". The main body of the Panel are returning Judges - their Résumé already appear on the Competition's website.
Chairman of Judges: Kym Milne MW.
Panellists - Australia: Ken Dobler (NSW), Steve Flamsteed (Vic), Rob Geddes MW (NSW), Warren Gibson (NZ), Neil Hadley MW (NSW), Oliver Masters (NZ), Brent Marris (NZ), Xenia Irwin MW (UK), Mark Robertson (SA), Martin Williams MW (Vic).
JUDGES' FAREWELL DINNER
The Judges' Farewell Dinner follows the final day of Judging, 21 October 2011, the last event before their departure back to their own businesses and wineries. Attendance is open to winelovers but because of the very special wine list, attendance is limited to forty diners. Details are now posted on the website. Click SIWC Events on the Site Navigation Menu.
CELEBRITY CHEF
The Competition is in robust good health, at the peak of its recognition for its services to consumers and the industry but, after our thirty years of stewardship, it's time for a "new blood" transfusion, a timely application of "Spring fertilisers". The Competition is for sale and Expressions of Interest are invited. As a major first step towards making the Competition less dependent of current incumbents, it is pleasing to announce Michael Manners, one of the most agreeable of Australia's legendary contemporary iconic chefs, will be our inaugural Celebrity Chef, creating the dishes that will complement the finalists in the Finals Judging of the thirteen Wine Style Categories at next October's Judging. His recipes and photography of each of the dishes will duly appear in the current "Food for Wine Pairings" link on the Competition's Site Navigation Menu. Just Google "Michael Manners Chef" for an endless list of Michael's accolades.
2012 COMPETITION ENTRY FORM
And for all our eager enquirers, the 2012 Competition Entry Form goes live onsite on 6 June 2011. A good date to diarise, as an Entries Cap of 2,000 entries sill applies. Our occasional Newsletters will offer early warnings.
Talk again soon? Yes please!
Warren Mason
Competition Director
28 March 2011 e-Newsletter
DIGGING DEEPER
The 2011 Website www.top100wines.com has been up since 5.00pm 26 February.
It is a completely free wine information service. There are still a few more things to add to the 2011 edition. But, in any event, that goes on all year!
In less than a month, as of Friday, 25 March, our - that’s you and the rest of us - website has received 17,489 individual log-on Visitors; Viewing 113,622 individual site pages; Registering 448,699 hits on the site; And averaging 14 minutes 37 seconds on the site per visit! Who are our friends - in Food and Wine? Surprisingly, in this period, 67% of our visitors logged on from North America, 16% from Asia, only 12% from Oceania (mainly Australia & New Zealand) and 5% from the rest of the world. Mind you North America and Asia have huge populations as compared with Oceania. These are just some of the fascinating statistics available to you from one small part of the Home Page.
An invitation to experiment. Our website’s principal aim is to offer you and all our friends objective information to help you seek out particular wine styles - and wines - you wish to trial with particular dishes that, hopefully, will add to your greater dining pleasure. To achieve that, we have adopted a layered approach to the site’s information. First, cast you eye down the Site Navigation Menu. Click on a link that’s of interest and you will be connected with an overview of what that link offers. Click a particular item from that overview and you will receive much more specific information. That’s the layered approach, allowing you to dig deeper, according to your interest.
Here’s a Summary of what lies behind each of the Site Navigation Menu Links.
Timetables - 2011 & 2012 Competitions
Of particular interest to Winemakers, gives the dates for the next Judging. For you, it also offers links to the details and booking info for the Competition’s next Public Events.
Award Winners 2011
Undoubtedly, the most interesting link for you when seeking Award winning wines to match with particular food courses and most likely to be currently available. Shows the links to the current Award winners in each of the thirteen Style Categories which in turn link you to the judges’ independent comments about that winner and other details including Recommended Retail Price, countries where distributed, website and email contacts for the winery etc. The letters “WS” and “AG” at the end of each wine’s name are links to wine-searcher.com and ablegrape.com. Wine-Searcher gives prices at which that wine is being offered globally. Able Grape gives everything about that wine that has been published on the World Wide Web.
Award Winners Archive
Offers you all the same information as Award Winners 2011 but for all the Competition’s previous Award Winners - from 1999 to 2010. Of particular interest for those of you with these wines in your Cellar or when you come across them on a Wine List etc.
Trophy Winners 2011
Offers a quick reference summary of the Trophy Winners from the current Competition. I heartily decry the tendency of some wine tragics to only “go for the one that won the Trophy” or which scored 96/100 from XYZ wine writer. Far, far more important to choose the wine you expect will complement the food alongside which you will present it. And price comes into that decision. If price is a consideration, and you see a wine that won a Highly Commended Award and retails for AU$18.00, go for it! Please, DON’T be just another label drinker. Labels are important but they are not the final arbiter. You are the final arbiter, and our judges merely offer you some independent expert guidance.
Judges' Résumés 2011
Who is judging my wine? Who is offering me their opinion on this wine? This is a vitally important question every winemaker and each of you, our friends, our website visitors, must ask themselves. Remember, every person’s palate “is as unique as their fingerprint”. There is no such thing as a “one fits all” single opinion about a given wine. That is why we offer a range of opinions on each particular Award winner. Who are these individual judges offering their independent opinions? This link offers the CVs of every judge who has judged this, your Wine Show, since 1999. Just cast you eye over this galaxy of stars, current and past.
Judges' Reflections 2011
No matter how skilled a Judge may be, judging wines, formally, in the presence of food for the first time, is a unique experience. Here, the Judges who have judged our Competition for the first time get to share their impressions of the process, its value and usefulness (or otherwise) for the consumer. Again, their “Reflections” essays stretch from the most recent Competition back to the 1999 Competition.
Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers is what it says it is.. Site visitors sometimes pose quite tricky questions. And sometimes the answers are quite educational.
Food for Wine Pairings 2011
This is a section that is most likely to interest the Chief Cook of the family. It offers detailed Recipes of the dishes that have been used for the Judging with Food element of the Competition. The Recipes go back to the 1999 Competition. It is most useful if you have a particular wine, you know its Style - eg Fuller Bodied Dry White - and you want some ideas for a dish with which to match it. Many of the Recipes show a photograph of the finished dish.
Key Note Address 2011
This link offers photography of each of our Key Note Speakers since the 2006 Awards and Trophies Presentations Banquet and the text or a video recording of their speeches.
Total Entries
From monoliths to micro boutique wineries, this link offers a list of the names of all the wines entered into each Competition since 2001. The lists are in PDF format. The preface guides you on how to install the necessary software to open the files if your computer does not already have it installed.
SIWC Events
This is the link to click to view the Competition’s upcoming public events. Events are uploaded as details are finalised. For example, at the moment this link reveals:
PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS - SIWC AWARD WINNING WINES 2011
Date:Saturday, 9 April, 2011
Place: Ballroom, The Menzies Hotel, 14 Carrington Street, Sydney CBD.
Times: Session 1: 10.00am to 12 noon. Session 2: 2.00pm to 5.00pm.
Maximum Attendance: 120 winelovers per Session.
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 TOP 1OO/Blue-Gold Award Winning Wines’ Public Exhibitions! To add 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. More.
Our Most Recent e-Newsletter
This link lists the our last few Subscribers e-Newsletters. Why not become a Subscriber? It’s free. Typically, we only send four or five a year to announce upcoming events, new additions to the website and the like. It is a particularly useful service for winemakers. The Competition can only accommodate 2,000 entries a year and when the quota is full, that’s it, entries close. The e-Newsletters offer a useful reminder. Refer Home Page, lower left column.
Banquet Photography 2011
Still photography of the winners, the people, the food, the atmosphere of the Awards & Trophies Presentations Banquet - with the opportunity to download the images free of charge for attaching to emails, for hardcopy prints, for posterity!
Beautiful Vineyards
Here you will find a complete list of the vineyard photography we see bouncing up randomly at the bottom of the Home Page, centre column. They are sent to us from all over the world by winemakers, their staff and wine tourists. One of the questions on the Questionnaire is “Why is this scene special to you?” The answers are often quite touching. It’s a free service. The idea is to encourage wine tourism. There is nothing like having been there to increase your appreciation of their wines. Too many to include in the package for random play, we rotate the photography that is on display from time to time.
Soon we will introduce and integrate into the Beautiful Vineyards scenes a new series of photography called:
MY CELLAR DOOR
To offer added encouragement to our viewers to visit your Region, we will invite wineries and wine tourists to submit your “Cellar Door” photography. It might be ever so humble, a tin shed, dirt floor, sun streaming through holes in a rusty tin roof, to ultra modern, stainless steel sculptures, conducted winery tours on the hour, displays of local artists paintings, smiling trained uniformed greeters, and everything in between. What’s more, it can be from anywhere in the world Let’s see it from Rheims, Tuscany, Israel, Mexico, Uruguay, Niagara, Lebanon, Greece, Penedès, Slovenia, Paarl, as well as Australasia. We expect to receive entries from all of these places. We will ask for the Cellar Door Manager’s name, too. “Is Margaret/Athena/Angelique in today?” Such an easy conversation starter for visitors to your “Cellar Door”. Why not have “Margaret/Athena/Angelique”, even the whole team, welcoming, greeting, on the steps? It’s free. Subscribe to our e-Newsletters. (Refer Home Page, lower left column. It’s free, too!). We will advise when the coding is in place for you to submit your My Cellar Door photography.
About Us
Well, this link is fairly predicable. It offers the Competition’s CV. But it also includes the current Competition’s Judges’ Briefing which outlines, particularly for the first time Judges, how our unique judging system is structured.
That will be of interest to winemakers and others interested in DIGGING DEEPER!
Write soon. Until then...
Warren Mason
Competition director
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