Eight new Associate Judges for the 2016 New World Wine Awards have been selected from New World’s team of Liquor Managers. The confirmed panel of Associate Judges are: Blair MacMillan from New World Khandallah; Nichelle Jenkins from New World Glenview; Roslyn Dalton from New World Hillcrest; Jim Bishop from New World Railway; Cathy McCullum from New World Melody’s; Melanie Shore from New World Blenheim; Zelda Pearson from New World Balclutha; Cameron Lovell from New World Wigram.
The New World Wine Awards are judged by an independent panel of 13 expert wine judges chaired by Jim Harré. The panel blind taste and judge each wine using the same internationally recognised 20-point scale as other leading wine shows. They award Gold, Silver, Bronze medals, with the best wines in each category re-tasted to determine the Champion wine of each varietal, plus the overall Champion Red and Champion White.
The Associate Judges work alongside the panel of independent expert wine judges at the New World Wine Awards judging. They provide a score and an opinion on each wine, but their scores do not count towards the final mark.
The experience of being involved in the wine tastings and judging process alongside the expert wine judges gives the Associate Judges invaluable knowledge and skills beneficial to their roles as liquor managers. It improves their knowledge and ability to select wines for the New World cellars and to assist customers with questions about wine.
Judging takes place over three days in August. The New World Wine Awards have become one of New Zealand’s most influential wine shows.
