Awards for new MWs announced

The UK’s Jon Pepper and Anne McHale, along with Turkey’s Dilek Caner, dominated this year’s awards for new Masters of Wine.

12 new MWs were welcomed into Institute by Master Vintner Anthony Sykes and Jean-Michel Valette MW, the 51st chairman of the IMW

During a welcoming ceremony on Thursday last week for this year’s 12 new MWs, seven prizes were given in recognition of excellence in a particular area of the Master of Wine exam and sponsored by a supporter of the Institute.

Firstly, Dilek Caner MW was recipient of both The Villa Maria Award for her knowledge of viticulture as well as The Noval Award for her dissertation Washington State Syrah: US consumer and trade perspectives.

Similarly, Jon Pepper MW picked up two awards, gaining both The Errázuriz Award for best performance in the Business of Wine examination, as well as The Robert Mondavi Winery Award for outstanding performance across all of the Theory papers.

However, it was Anne McHale MW who gained the most accolades, taking home The Taransaud Tonnellerie Award for excellence in the Production and Handling of Wine paper; The Bollinger Medal for outstanding tasting ability; and The Institute of Masters of Wine Outstanding Achievement Award, sponsored by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board.

The twelve new Masters of Wine who were officially welcomed into the Institute on 7 November are below:

Dilek Caner MW (US/Turkey)
Amy Christine MW (US)
James Davis MW (UK)
Barry Dick MW (UK)
Alison Eisermann Ctercteko MW (Australia)
Eric Hemer MW (US)
Matthew Hemming MW (UK)
Adam Lapierre MW (US)
Anne McHale MW (UK)
Jon Pepper MW (UK)
Demetri Walters MW (UK)
Cees van Casteren MW (The Netherlands)