Top tasters bemedalled

Last Thursday night the most recent batch of Masters of Wine were officially anointed at the annual MW get together in Vintners' Hall in London. One of the most coveted prizes given there since it was instituted in 1988 is the Bollinger Medal presented by the Madame Bollinger Foundation for excellence in tasting and outstanding achievement in the practical bits of this Everest of an exam. Last night it was awarded, for the 25th time, to Anne McHale MW of Berry Bros.

Over the years the Medal has gone to MWs of eight different nationalities (see table below), with Australians performing particularly well, it seems to me, as a proportion of all Australian candidates. It is also worth noting that 40% of the recipients have been female, even though only 29% of MWs are women.

The Madame Bollinger Foundation was founded in honour of Madame Lily Bollinger, who headed the eponymous champagne house from 1941 on the death of her husband until retirement in 1973. It was the first partner of The Institute of Masters of Wine and the Bollinger Medal was the first of what has become a long list of awards given to new MWs. Having become the first non-trade Master of Wine in 1984, I well remember being taken out for lunch at the Savoy Grill in 1987 by the then head of Mentzendorff, Bollinger's UK import company, Anthony Leschallas, and being sounded out about the Institute and its worthiness.

Other awards made at the annual ceremony were:

The Villa Maria Award for outstanding knowledge and understanding of viticulture in their exams – Dilek Caner MW of Turkey.

The Errázuriz Award for performance in the Business of Wine examination -Jon Pepper MW of the UK.

The Robert Mondavi Winery Award for outstanding performance across all of the theory papers (the award won by Julia Harding in 2004, along with the Tim Derouet Prize for excellence in all parts of the exam and the dissertation, now replaced by the Austrian-sponsored award below) – also Jon Pepper MW.

The Taransaud Tonnellerie Award for excellence in the Production and Handling of Wine paper – also Anne McHale MW.

The Noval Award, sponsored by Quinta da Noval, for the best dissertation – Dilek Caner MW for her dissertation on Washington State Syrah: US consumer and trade perspectives.

The Institute of Masters of Wine Outstanding Achievement Award, sponsored by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, for the candidate who was outstanding in all parts of the exam – Anne McHale MW.