Hong Kong Washu Awards 2023: Behind-the-Scenes Judging Report

In the middle of the Obon holiday, while intense heat and typhoons raged across Japan, Hong Kong hosted the judging session for the Japanese wine and sake competition, the
"Hong Kong Washu Awards 2023".

The 22 judges were all wine and sake professionals from Hong Kong. It was an illustrious lineup, including a famous wine educator with his own TV show and prominent industry figures participating from Malaysia.
Here is a report on the passion-filled judging session.

Now in its fourth year, the Hong Kong Washu Awards saw a record number of entries, with over 150 items submitted from 40 wineries.
Divided into groups of five, each category was assigned to a specific group, and judges tasted and scored the wines flight by flight.

The judges evaluated each wine on a 20-point scale. Then, led by their group leaders, they calculated average scores and held discussions on the validity of those points.

These discussions were incredibly stimulating. True to their reputation as wine professionals, they exchanged earnest, deep commentary and debated thoroughly. But it didn't end there; at the end, they reconciled their evaluations with the chief judge.

The chief judge this year was Reez Choi, who won third place at the Best Sommelier of the World Competition held in Paris in February 2023.

Remarkably, he personally judged and scored every single item. If there was a significant divergence between a table's score and Mr. Choi's, further discussion was held to clarify the reasoning behind the points, ensuring even greater fairness.

Hours of tasting and discussion. I was overwhelmed by the staggering number of glasses that kept coming out fresh after being washed.

In the breaks during this intense judging session, we received comments from the leaders of the judging panels.
Please take a look! (Watch time: approx. 6 minutes)

After the intense judging session, which wine will claim the prestigious Platinum Award?
The eagerly awaited results will be announced on a special stage during Retaurant & Bar Hong Kong, also held in Hong Kong on September 6, 2023.

We plan to bring you full coverage of this event as well. Stay tuned! (There might even be a live broadcast!)

Before the excitement of the judging session had even cooled, that evening at a Michelin-starred restaurant located in the same hotel as the venue, "Ming Cort", a Japanese wine and Cantonese cuisine pairing dinner event was held concurrently.

It was a lavish and hearty program, pairing 11 types of Japanese wine with a full-course Cantonese meal. We welcomed over 60 guests, and I had the opportunity to speak about each bottle, its region, and more.

Since lunch during the judging session was also extremely lavish, I was so full the whole time that I could barely eat any dinner, which I deeply regret (cry).

* For the pairing menu on the day, please see this PDF.

"Promoting Japanese Wine to the World!" Next month, we will bring you another report from Hong Kong. Please be sure to check out our previous column as well.