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17 Masters of Wine inducted to Institute at awards ceremony

24 March 2022 By Patrick Schmitt

Seventeen Masters of Wine were inducted to the Institute of Masters of Wine at an awards ceremony last night in London.

The new members became Masters of Wine in 2020 and 2021. The ceremony welcomed new MWs to the IMW and recognised individual excellence in aspects of the MW exam.

Usually in November each year, the event was added to the IMW’s calendar to make up for a cancelled ceremony during the pandemic.

The six 2020 MWs inaugurated at Vintners’ Hall were, Beans Boughton MW (UAE), Jacqueline Cole Blisson MW (Canada), Heidi Iren Hansen MW (Norway), Annette Lacey MW (Australia), Geoffrey Moss MW (Canada) and Ross Wise MW (Canada).

The 11 MWs from the 2021 vintage were Claire Blackler MW (UK), James Doidge MW (UK), Gabriele Gorelli MW (Italy), Susan Lin MW (US), Moritz Nikolaus Lüeke MW (Germany), Álvaro Ribalta MW (Spain), Tze Sam MW (UK), Melissa Saunders MW (US), Kryss Speegle MW (US), Clare Tooley MW (US) and Siobhan Turner MW (UK). Michael Henley MW and Sophie Parker-Thomson MW, both based in New Zealand, were unable to travel to the ceremony but will be celebrated at the November 2022 event.

During the ceremony, which was also live-streamed, individual awards were given to the MWs who performed exceptionally in a particular area of the MW exam.

Tze Sam MW received the Villa Maria Award for her outstanding knowledge and understanding of viticulture.

For his outstanding tasting ability, Álvaro Ribalta MW received the Madame Bollinger Medal.

The Quinta do Noval award for the best research paper went to Sophie Parker-Thomson MW. Sophie was unable to attend the ceremony in person but expressed her delight at winning the award via video link. Her winning research paper was titled: What is the relationship between the use of sulphur dioxide and biogenic amine levels in wine?

Kryss Speegle MW scooped four awards on the night: the IMW chair’s award for her top performance in the business of wine paper, the Taransaud Tonnellerie award for her excellent knowledge in the production and handling of wine, the Robert Mondavi Winery award for the best performance across all the theory papers and the Austrian Wine outstanding achievement award for her overall performance in all areas of the MW exam.

The Masters of Wine who celebrated their 50th year as MWs in 2021 were also honoured during the ceremony. Nick Clarke MW and Clive Coates MW passed the MW exam in 1970.

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