Panel of MWs to judge Argentina Wine Awards

For the first time in the three year history of the Argentina Wine Awards it has been announced the 2010 international judging panel will comprise entirely of Masters of Wine.

The four-day tasting competition which is held in in Mendoza during February will consist of 12 MWs from seven countries.

While MWs have always been represented on the event's international judging panel, 2010 will be the first year that all the judges will hold the qualification, which is held by only 278 people worldwide.

The international judging panel for 2010 will comprise of Jo Ahearne MW (UK); Essi Avellan MW (Finland); Rosemary George MW (UK); Peter McCombie MW (UK); Sebastian Payne MW (UK); Sheryl Sauter Morano MW (USA); Barbara Philip MW (Canada); Roger Bohmrich MW (USA); Dirceu Vianna Junior MW (UK); Frank Roeder MW (Germany); Madeleine Stenwreth MW (Sweden); and Debra Meiburg MW (Hong Kong).

The Argentina Wine Awards, launched in 2007 as an initiative of Wines of Argentina, benchmark and reward the quality and advancement of the Argentine wine industry. In 2009, more than 500 wines from 128 producers were entered into the competition and it is hoped that 2010 will see an even greater number of entries.

Jane Hunt MW, of the event organisers Hunt & Coady Ltd., said: "We have been fortunate to have MWs represented on the judging panel from the beginning of the Argentina Wine Awards where their expertise has proved essential to assessing the quality of the wines entered. The composition of the international tasting panel for 2010 reflects both the growing importance of the awards and the increasingly international membership of the Institute of Masters of Wine with MWs from seven countries judging the wines."

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