Australia Shares Wine Expertise with China’s Leading Palates
By 2009-9-13 10:02:18
Earlier this week, the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC), the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and Austrade hosted a professional Wine Flavours, Faults and Taints Evaluation Course for China’s leading palates.
Forty one of China’s top wine writers, educators and members of the wine trade from all across China participated in the half -day course held in Shanghai, which was led by Con Simos from the AWRI.
“The AWRI is an innovative industry-funded research organisation that is regarded as a global leader in scientific research and development for the world of wine” explained Simos, “We work with the Australian wine industry at a strategic and operational level to build best practice in grape-growing and winemaking. We help viticulturists and winemakers understand the origin of wine faults and how to avoid them, and are continually working on technical advancements to strive for optimum quality and regional expression in the vineyard and in the bottle.
“What we teach in Australia is equally important for professionals in the wine trade in China - particularly for buyers, sommeliers, educators and wine journalists.”
An expanded full day version of the course has been held previously in Dublin and London where guests have included Jancis Robinson MW, Decanter Magazine and Tesco. The first full day version was held in Hong Kong on 8 September 2009 and hot from its success, the first ever half day version of this seminar in mainland China shortly followed on 9 September.
The course in Shanghai commenced with a tasting of simulated wine flavours, taints and faults, followed by a tutored discussion on their origins. Pepper and eucalyptus flavour compounds, currently being studied at the AWRI, were brought to China for the first time.
Participants greatly valued the opportunity to attend this unique and informative tasting including Chantal Chi from Wine Press who commented that “…..This is the very first time I see this kind of workshop in China. In fact I have rarely come across similar events before, not even in France….through this kind of training and workshop, beginners can obtain a good base to enter the wine world and allow advanced drinkers and professionals to tune up their capacity. To play a beautiful song, we need to tune up the key first…?”
Ali Hogarth, Regional Manager, Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, added
“The Australian industry prides itself on leading the way with new technologies and equipping winemakers with the skills to make quality wines at all price points, which was evidenced in the tasting.”
For further information please contact:
Anthony Yan on (86 21) 6321 1333, (86) 138 0164 9487 or at Anthony.yan@austrade.gov.au
www.awri.com.auFrom Austrade/AWBC press