THE HONG KONG WINE SOCIETY

History

On 3 September 1981 twelve residents of Hong Kong who wanted to find good drinking wine in a market then with little interest in wine, signed the constitutional documents of the Hong Kong Wine Society. Some were connected with a predecessor club that had been systematically tasting wine in Hong Kong since at least 1977.

Meetings of the Society have always followed the pattern of tasting 12 wines blind, each participant making notes and scoring the wines, the scores being aggregated to rank the wines and the group discussing the wines and recording opinions.

Since 1981 the Society has met at least every two weeks, latterly more frequently. Each meeting is organised by one or more members, very often contributing wines from their own cellar, or using wine from the HKWS inventory.

It is believed the Hong Kong Wine Society is one of only a handful of organisations in the world that systematically evaluates fine, often mature, wines; particularly having done so over such a long period of time.

Today

Members come from all walks of life. Only a few are connected with the wine industry. In 1982 the first Master of Wine resident in Hong Kong was a HKWS member, and the second was a member of the HKWS for many years before studying to become an MW in 2008. In recent years many younger members have taken academic wine courses on wine and obtained recognition. Annually the HKWS awards the Barry Burton Memorial Prize to a younger non-member who is likely to make a significant contribution to the appreciation of wine in Hong Kong in the coming years. The prize is named in honour of one of our founders and a past chairman.

Membership

Membership is by invitation and the number of members is currently limited to 65. To join it is necessary to attend tastings whenever possible (a list of potential members is maintained who are offered places not taken up by members) and to participate actively in the discussion and evaluation of the wines. Compatibility with the members is another important consideration.

Address:

22/F, Tai Yau Building
181 Johnston Road

ou GPO Box 9028

Hong Kong

Tél.: +852 2820 2204

Contact: hkws@vfm888.fastmail.fm

Site: www.thehongkongwinesociety.com

Chairman Emeritus: Vernon Moore

Chairman: Roland Muksch

Deputy Chairman: Edward Smith

Treasurer: Kay Lau Chun

Secretary: Sarah Heller

Committee members: Nigel Jamie, Jamie Pettigrew, Chris Robinson, Michael Shum, C.K.Tsang

NEWS

This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site.