Institute welcomes 18 new MWs

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 10 November, 2016

The Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) has inducted 18 new Masters of Wine to its prestigious roster.

A ceremony at the institute's annual awards ceremony in London took place to formally induct the new members, bringing the total number of MWs up to 354 across 28 different countries.

The new members included the first MWs from mainland China, Croatia, Czech Republic, India, Israel, Malaysia, Romania, Taiwan and Wales.

Jane Masters MW, chairman of the IMW said: "The diversity of geographies and range of their professional wine experience reflects the international membership of the Institute of Masters of Wine."Their future contribution individually and collectively as professional, knowledgeable, critical independent thinkers represents a bright future for the global wine trade. "

The 18 new MWs, who passed the MW Examinations in February and September in 2016 are: Richard Ballantyne MW (Wales), Ivan Barbic MW (Switzerland), Bree Boskov MW (Australia), Barbara Boyle MW (Ireland), Matthew Deller MW (USA), Matthew Forster MW (UK), Sonal Holland MW (India), Jeremy Lithgow MW (UK), Mary Margaret McCamic MW (USA), Iain Munson MW (France), Mick O'Connell MW (Ireland), Eran Pick MW (Israel), Mark Pygott MW (Taiwan), Ana-Emilia Sapungiu MW (UK), Jan Schwarzenbach MW (Switzerland), Lenka Sedlackova MW (UK), Fongyee Walker MW (China) and Stephen Wong MW (New Zealand).

Individual awards were given on the night of the ceremony to MWs who excelled in particular areas of their MW examination.

Mary Margaret McCamic MW was presented with the 28^th Bollinger Medal from the Madame Bollinger Foundation, marking the thirteenth time a woman has won the award.

The winners of The Bollinger Medal comprise nine different nationalities of Master of Wine, with twelve coming from Great Britain.

McCamic is an American wine professional living in Napa, where she is currently a sales manager for Screaming Eagle, one of the region's top wineries.

She also won the Outstanding Achievement Award, sponsored by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board.

The Villa Maria Award was presented to Mick O'Connell MW for his knowledge and understanding of viticulture.

The Errázuriz Award was presented to Fongyee Walker MW for her performance in the Business of Wine exam.

Stephen Wong MW was won the Taransaud Tonnellerie Award for his Production and Handling of Wine paper and the Robert Mondavi Winery Award for his performance across all of the Theory papers.

The Noval Award, sponsored by Quinta do Noval, part of AXA Millésimes is awarded to the best Research Paper by a new MW.

Matthew Forster MW won the award for his Research Paper: The Colheita and Frasqueira Classifications: A Study of the Legal Framework and Key Themes in the Production of Vintage Madeira.

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