HONG KONG WASHU AWARDS 2023 REPORT
The 4th Edition of Hong Kong Washu Awards Ceremony has closed its curtain on the 6th September at Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong 2023 with great success, celebrating the announcement of the award-winning bottles together with honourable guests including: Mr. Yusuke Yamazaki, Director of Business Development of JETRO Hong Kong; Mr. Hiroyuki Uki, Representative from Tochigi Prefectural Government Hong Kong Office; Mr. NORIZO, Chief Editor of NihonWine.JP 日本ワイン.JP; and Ms. Beni Ninagawa from a rock music band WagakkiBand 和楽器バンド.
This year, the Hong Kong Washu Awards Judging has taken place at Cordis Hong Kong, a 5-star hotel located in the heart of Kowloon on 16th August 2023 (Wednesday). Growing from a merely 100 entries across both Sake & Wine category in 2020, the competition has set a new record this year by receiving a total of 62 Sake entries and 153 Wine entries from importers & distributors in Hong Kong as well as oversea entry via our Japan Coordination Office – CruX Limited. With the logistics support of Jupiter Group, a subsidiary company of JAL Group, all the sample bottles were collected and sent to Hong Kong with temperature controlled chain (below 5°C). Storage of the bottles is crucial, especially in the Summer of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Washu Awards is grateful to have the support from K-Cellars, a professional wine cellar service provider located in Kowloon Bay.
With an overwhelming number of over 200 entries this year, the 4th Edition of Hong Kong Washu Awards is honoured to have the judge panel formed by 21 industry professionals from various sectors carrying out the judging, including hotel and restaurant sommeliers, sake & wine educators, F&B industry media, as well as importers and retailers. Judges were divided into 4 judging panels with 3 of the panels judging 153 entries of wine, and 1 panel judging of all 62 sake entries.
In 2023, we are grateful to have the assistance of Mr. Reeze Choi – Founder of Somm’s Philosophy and Ms. Cecilia Wong – Wine & Spirits Host, Writer & Critic, to be the Head Judge of the Japanese Wine and Japanese Sake Department. Their professional knowledge and understanding about the category, as well as their experience in wine & sake judging have made the judging process smooth and pleasant. Together with the assistance of 3 other Judge Panel Leader, Ms. Rebecca Leung, Mr. Eddie Chui and Ms. Mabel Lai, we have selected and awarded 20 Platinum Awards, 42 Gold Awards and 110 Silver Awards across both Japanese Sake and Japanese Wine Department.
Partnering up with CruX Limited and its platform NihonWine.JP in the setup of the Japan Coordination Office for Hong Kong Washu Awards has smoothen the process of entry and logistic arrangement of samples and hence we have seen a big increase in direct entries from Japanese Wineries. And by partnering up with NihonWine.JP, we were able to reach out to wineries outside of famous winemaking regions such as Hokkaido, Yamagata, Nagano and Yamanashi. And working together with the Tochigi Prefectural Government Hong Kong Office, Hong Kong Washu Awards has made Tochigi prefecture the focused region & theme of the Japanese Sake department this year. Later this year, Washu Awards will be working with CRU Magazine in the publication of the Winter issue of the magazine featuring Tochigi Prefecture sake and other wine stories of Hong Kong Washu Awards.
“This year has marked a new milestone for Hong Kong Washu Awards. We are honoured to have Mr. Reeze Choi being our head judge for the wine department and Ms. Cecilia Wong to take care of the sake department. We are also delighted to work with our oversea partner NihonWine.jp in the recruitment in the Wine Department and also working with Tochigi Prefecture in the Sake Department. It is also the first time we have over 200 entries of sake and wine combined, and a judge panel of more than 20 industry professionals. We are looking forward to take Washu Awards as a platform to introduce quality Japanese Sake and Wine not only to Hong Kong consumers, but also to Asia and the World in the near future!”
– Comment from Mr. Kenneth Lee
“I am glad that to be appointed as the head judge of the wine department of Hong Kong Washu Awards 2023 to witness the improvement of the Japanese wine quality. We are very happy to receive some samples from the regions beside the iconic ones such as Hiroshima廣島, Kochi高知, Iwate 岩手, and Oita 大分 this year. And there was quite a number of stunning wines among the line-up. Over 40 wineries participated Washu Awards this year, the number is 4 times more compare to 4 years ago, which shows the recognition of Washu Awards in Japanese wine industry. I am excited to see an even bigger competition next year!”
– Comment from Mr. Reeze Choi
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