John Avery was the first person to import New Zealand wines into Europe. He has judged wine competitions around the world and helped organize early tastings of New Zealand wines in London. Ch'ng Poh is a lawyer and publisher of wine publications in Asia. He is also the Regional Chairman for Decanter magazine's World Wine Awards in the Middle East, Far East, and Asia. He has lectured and spoken extensively on wine in countries across Asia and elsewhere. Huon Hooke is an independent wine writer based in Sydney, Australia who makes a living from writing, judging, and educating about wine. He writes weekly wine columns and has authored several books on wine.
2. Past International Judges - 2009
•John Avery MW
• John Avery is the fourth generation in his family wine business in Bristol. He passed the Master of Wine Exam in 1975, which is
considered to be the pinnacle of academic achievement in the wine industry. He was Chairman of The Institute of Masters of Wine
from 2000 to 2001.
• John has made a considerable reputation for himself as a pioneer in the discovery and importation of non-European wines (he coined
the term New World Wines) into the United Kingdom. This started with quality table wines from California in 1965 followed by
unfortified wines from Australia in the early 1970s when he also imported a couple of New Zealand wines. In 1979 he expanded this
to include a selection of the best New Zealand wines from 7 leading producers. He was, in short, the first person to import New
Zealand wines into Europe!
• In 1978 he was invited to be the first European to be the Chief Judge at the Air New Zealand / Tourist Hotel Corporation wine
competition in New Zealand and was invited back as Chief Judge in 1981.Since then he has been an International Wine Judge at wine
competitions all over the world particularly Australia and the Far East and has judged at more overseas shows than any other
European.
• In 1982 with Terry Dunleavy and Don Walker (then Minister for Trade in London) he helped to organise and select the wines for the
first of the now annual wine tastings of New Zealand wines in London.
He has been in the U.K. wine trade for over 40 years and is still Chairman of the company formerly owned by his family He still travels
to France and the rest of the world to select the wines his company sells and is also still much involved with selling them to his
customers. One of principal responsibilities is the tasting and selection of 'En Primeur' wines (i.e. very young wines 6 to 12 months
old) which is very important considering that many of the wines in the competition are very young. He travels throughout the U.K. and
elsewhere giving tastings and talking about the wines being shown. He writes considerably about wine mostly in his company’s
literature.
• John was Master of his own Livery Company – The Vintners for twelve months 2004/05 and during his year of office took the Court of
The Company to the vineyards of New Zealand.
3. CH'NG Poh – Chng Poh
• CH’NG Poh is a lawyer by training.
• He is publisher of The Wine Review, the oldest and most established wine publication in South-East Asia, Hong Kong and China.
Ch’ng also publishes, since 2000, the world’s first “Guide to Bordeaux in Chinese” and the annual “Asian Sommelier Guide”. His
articles have also appeared in other magazines, including l’Amateur de Bordeaux of France, United Kingdom’s Harper’s, World
of Fine World, and Decanter, for which he also writes a column. Ch’ng is also the wine columnist of Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s
largest-circulation Chinese daily. His articles have also appeared in China’s Food & Wine and in Wine in China magazines. And in
Sommelier India magazine.
• Ch’ng Poh is the Regional Chairman: Middle East, Far East & Asia, for Decanter magazine’s World Wine Awards. Founder of
Sommelier Seminars and Sommeliers of Asia, he also organized the first-ever sommelier seminar in China in 2004.
• In 2002, Ch’ng was a key-note speaker at the Master of Wine Symposium in Vienna. He was also a speaker at the Twelfth
Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference 2004 and has also addressed Wine Australia and the World Inflight Food Service
Association’s Congress in Osaka. In 2005, he spoke at, and chaired the Forum on Asia in Wine Evolution in Paris.
• Ch’ng was a keynote speaker at the Cool Climate Symposium 2006, Christchurch, New Zealand, and at the inaugural China
International Wine Summit and China International Wine Technology, Trade & Investment Annual Conference 2006 in Beijing. In
2007, he spoke at the Pinot Noir Conference in Wellington, New Zealand, and at the Enoforum Congress in Piacenza, Italy. More
recently, in January 2008, he spoke at the Pinot Noir Celebrations, Otago, New Zealand, and in June 2008 at the Frankland
Estate International Riesling Conference.
• Ch’ng Poh also works as a consultant. His clients include FairPrice & Liberty Supermarkets and Conrad Centennial Singapore. He
is also founder of the Lianhe Zaobao Wine Review Annual Wine Challenge, Singapore’s first, independent wine competition
(since 1999). Ch’ng is also consultant to The American Express Tower Club Wine Awards of Singapore. He lectures extensively on
wine including in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore. Ch’ng also speaks on the
subject to private clients, including international law firms and multi-national banks.
• Ch’ng Poh Tiong also founded ICCCW and held the first International Congress of Chinese Cuisine & Wine, 23 to 25 May 2008, in
Beijing, The next ICCCW will be held in Singapore in October 2009. China. He is fluent in English, Chinese, Cantonese and
Fukienese.
4. Huon Hooke
• Huon Hooke is a leading independent wine writer, based in Sydney, who makes his living entirely out of writing, judging and educating
about wine. A journalist first and wine professional second, he has tertiary qualifications in both fields and has been writing on wine for 26
years. He pens a weekly column for both the Sydney Morning Herald ‘Good Living’ section and Good Weekend magazine, as well as
contributing to Gourmet Traveller Wine, The World of Fine Wine, Decanter, Tom Stevenson’s annual Wine Report and other publications on
an occasional basis. He has published 17 books on wine including the biography of Penfolds Grange creator Max Schubert. He co-authored
the annual Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide for 14 years until retiring from it in 2007. In 2008 he was named Australia’s Wine
Communicator of the Year. He’s been a show judge for 22 years and judges about ten competitions a year in Australia and overseas.
5. More From Chng Poh
• www.chngpohtiong.com
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNWaXxbMg4Y
• https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/my-weekend-7
• www.airnzwineawards.co.nz
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2rJNbLpd7M
• https://medium.com/@chngpoh8/chng-poh-chng-poh-
chng-poh-tiong-632b1e1e8950
