Chinese MW student hired by Air New Zealand

Alongside Linda Murphy from the US, Cambridge-graduate Fongyee Walker has been chosen to join Air New Zealand’s resident wine judges, Jim Harre and John Belsham, in helping to select the one million bottles of wine served annually to its passengers.

Walker has been instrumental in offering advice for international wine companies looking to tackle the Chinese market and co-runs Beijing-based Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting, China’s most successful WSET provider.

db has also previously earmarked her as one of the ‘Women in wine to watch‘ and Walker appeared in the 2013 wine documentary, Red Obsession, which focused on China’s passion for Bordeaux to offer her insight on the emergence of China as an international wine player.

Commenting on her appointment, Walker said: “Premium New Zealand wine is in strong demand and through events that I will run with Air New Zealand, I look forward to encouraging even more people to discover it and then inspire them to travel to where it was produced.

“And for those who haven’t tried New Zealand wine I look forward to working with the airline and my fellow consultants to ensure their first taste of the country is even more enjoyable than they imagined it would be.”