Huon Hooke

Hooke is the Chair of the Vin de Champagne Awards and judge of the Australian Winemaker of the Year.

Hooke judges about ten wine competitions a year in Australia, New Zealand, Italy and other countries.

Hooke chairs Australia’s Wine List of The Year, is the founding chairman of the Boutique Wine Awards and judges about 10 competitions per year in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Italy, England, Canada, Chile, Belgium, Japan, Slovenia, and South Africa.

No-one’s palate is perfect and there are always wines that will “fall through the cracks”, ending up with rougher treatment than they deserve.

A slight whiff of reduction in a young riesling may be a defect to a clinical blind-taster in his ivory tower, but in the final summation, it is barely worth commenting on – and usually dissipates after a little exposure to the air anyway."