This year’s Landmark Australia Tutorial in the Yarra Valley will build on the inaugural success with an expanded group of 14 participants.
The applications for the September 2010 experience were as keenly contested as the previous year, and reflected an increased awareness and interest from North and South-East Asia. China provides two participants from the mainland, plus one from Hong Kong, and there are two from Singapore and one from Japan. Add to these two Australians, and just over half the participants are representative of the Asia-Pacific region.
New and emerging markets are not the only benefactors, however, with exciting representation from the US, UK, Germany and Denmark. The successful applicants are:
• Ms Sarah Ahmed, freelance wine writer and educator, United Kingdom
• Ms Kim Bickley, sommelier, Hilton Hotel, Australia
• Mr Tony Love, wine writer, News Ltd. metropolitan newspapers, Australia
• Ms Karen MacNeil, chairman, Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America, United States
• Mr Kenichi Ohashi, president, Yamajin Co. Ltd., Utsunomiya, Japan
• Ms Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Asian wine correspondent and reviewer, eRobertParker.com and The Wine Advocate, Singapore
• Ms Diwen Qiu, managing editor, “Wine in China” magazine, Singapore
• Dr Edward Ragg, wine writer, educator and consultant, Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting, China
• Mr Thomas Rydberg, wine writer and editor, Ekstra Bladet, Denmark
• Mr Joerg Sievers, editor, Weinwirtschaft, Meininger Publications, Germany
• Mr Simon Tam, wine journalist, educator and consultant, Independent Wine Centre, Hong Kong
• Ms Fongyee Walker, wine writer, educator and consultant, Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting, China
• Mr Thomas Woolrych, buying manager, Direct Wines, United Kingdom
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, on discovering she had been selected, said: “The Landmark Australia Tutorial is one of the best educational tools ever to be developed by any wine organisation in the world and I’m very excited to be accepted to participate. Ever a wine student as much as a wine educator and commentator myself, I’m looking forward to this valuable opportunity to better understand the development of traditional versus new wine styles from Australia’s wide range of regions and the levels of quality and ageability that have been and are now being achieved.”
Wine Australia’s general manager market development, Paul Henry added: “The focus of the Tutorial remains to capture the interest and support of the next wave of international wine opinion leaders. The importance of addressing the image of Australian wine as a whole is well served by this program, and while it is delivered with a relatively small number of carefully selected wines (around 250), it capably displays the depth and range of Australia’s quality winemaking. Once again, a collaborative but uncompromised approach will demonstrate that Australia produces some of the best wines in the world.”
The Landmark Australia Tutorial 2010 will take place in the Yarra Valley from the 20 - 24 September. Click here to download the schedule for the 2010 Landmark Australia Tutorial.
