Wink Lorch reports back from the inaugural 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicators Awards, in which members took home a clutch of awards and nominations.
Friday September 6th at midday saw a glittering collection of wine communicators and trade gather at St John’s, Smith Square also known as the Sinfonia Smith Square, in Westminster, London. We were there for the inaugural gala awards ceremony for the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicators Awards. A fair number of CWW members had been shortlisted, with many more (like me) longlisted and therefore in receipt of a welcome invite. It really felt like the best sort of ‘start of a new term’ get-together just as had the awards ceremonies for the competition’s predecessor, the Louis Roederer Wine Writing Awards, which were also held traditionally in the first week of September.
The final Louis Roederer Awards, the 16th, had ended rather sadly in 2020 with an online awards ceremony as these were Covid times. At previous ceremonies, several of which I had the privilege to attend, the sponsor’s Champagne (often one of their Vintage cuvées) had flowed and there was palpable excitement and positivity in the room, always held at illustrious central London venues – the final live one was at the Royal Academy of Arts. Before these awards there had been wine writing awards sponsored by Lanson Champagne and once again, the fine bubbles flowed when we gathered to discover and congratulate the winners. The new awards gala we enjoyed last month saw Gusbourne English sparkling flowing before moving onto still wines from Juliet Victor in Hungary and Errazuriz in Chile – plenty of canapés were offered too, creating a convivial atmosphere.
There have been and there continue to be other wine writing competitions – the André Simon Food and Drinks Book Awards are, as the name indicates, exclusively for books, and often reward the most in-depth educational books; the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drinks Awards rewards various forms of communications, but the emphasis is definitely more on food and on the most stylish production; and there have been several competitions emerging and disappearing (through lack of sponsorship) over the past 15 years or so to reward the best of online wine writing, notably the Born Digital Wine Awards. Yet, there has obviously been a big void since the Roederers ceased to be. Awards encourage good communications, giving winners welcome kudos and publicity; they usually incentivise with decent cash prizes too. The essence of the awards is, of course, to attract good entries and to have diligent and excellent judges.
It really was welcome news when at the start of 2024, 67 Pall Mall announced its brand new wine communicator awards and encouraged entries, which we in CWW circulated to make sure as many of our members as possible participated. All the credit for not only the concept but also the hard work and organisation behind these awards must be given to Richard Hemming MW, who is 67 Pall Mall’s ‘man in Singapore’ and it was he who came to London to compere the awards ceremony, which was also live streamed in Singapore and recorded.
The idea of the awards was partly to ensure that they were inclusive of all the new forms of wine communication online, as well as rewarding traditional wine writing in short- and long-form articles. Chair of judges was Elaine Chukan Brown from the US, who also spoke at the ceremony, and the list of judges was truly international as well as broad in terms of communications experience. From the UK, Olly Smith commented about the entries, “the high standard across entries this year from all over the world is inspiring and makes judging all the more delightful and meticulous!”
So, I’d like to extend my congratulations to all the winners and finalists, especially our own members of the Circle of Wine Writers. It was so gratifying that many came to London especially for these awards and it was wonderful to be able to support them by being there to see the winners wreathed in smiles!
The following are our CWW winners:
Peter Richards MW, who with his wife Susie Barrie won ‘The 67 Pall Mall Award for Best Global Wine Communicator in Audio’. The other finalists included members Katherine Cole and Samantha Cole-Johnson. Peter was also a finalist for ‘The 67 Pall Mall Award for Best Global Wine Communicator in Long-Form Video’.
Henna Bakshi won not one, but two awards ‘The 67 Pall Mall Award for Best Global Wine Communicator in Short-Form Video’ and ‘The Gusbourne Estate Award for Best Global Wine Communicator in Long-Form Writing’. Malu Lambert was a finalist for the latter.
Amanda Barnes, editor of The Circular, which you are reading now, won ‘The Berkmann Award for Best All-Round Wine Communicator’. CWW member Samantha Cole-Johnson was a finalist.
The full results, details of all the judges and more can be seen here.