The Young Wine Writer's Award

Information about the 2008 award will be posted here in March

The Circle of Wine Writers and Pavilion Books are delighted to announce the winner for 2007...

Ray O Connor for his entry on ‘Exploring Wine’s New Frontiers – India’.

Ray has worked in the wine trade since 2000, starting off with an assortment of jobs, running bars in Luxembourg, the French Alps and Dublin, doing the harvest in the Rhône Valley to being assistant head sommelier at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze. He is currently the sales and marketing manager for the International Wine Challenge. 

The prize is a cheque for £1000, courtesy of Pavilion Books, and a two-week trip of a lifetime to Australia courtesy of Wine Australia and Qantas. 

Richard Hemming and Rebecca Skinner were also shortlisted for their entries.

Oz Clarke with three winners of the Young Wine Writer of the Year award: (from left to right) Matt Day (2002). Ray O'Connor (the new winner in 2007), Oz Clarke and Rebecca Gibb (2006).

Congratulating the new winner, Ray O'Connor: (from left to right) Robin Wood, CEO of Anova/Pavilion Books, the new sponsor of the award, Steven Spurrier, President of the Circle of Wine Writers, Ray O'Connor and Kirsten Moore, head of Wine Australia UK

Biography

Ray O Connor was previously co-owner of two bars in Luxembourg before returning to his native Dublin to study wine. Completing the WSET Diploma in one year scoring the highest blind tasting results in the country. As Assistant Head Sommelier for Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant, Maze, he expanded his wine knowledge by increasing the number of niche wines on the wine-list. Following a harvest at Chateau Pesquie, Ray remained on the continent seeking wines from Piedmont and the Rhone for private clients.
His work on the Decanter World Wine Awards helped to increase entries substantially and create their most successful awards to date.
Ray is currently with the largest wine competition in the world, the International Wine Challenge. Ray hopes that winning this award will forward his aspirations to pursue his passion for wine writing on a broad range of topics.

About the award

Now in its seventh year, the award was started by Websters International Publishers in 2001 who sponsored it for the first six years. Pavilion Books – the new publishers of Oz Clarke and Michael Broadbent – have taken over the sponsorship as a result of the acquisition.

The Circle of Wine Writers is pleased to offer this annual award to help develop promising young UK-based wine writers. The award is open to any wine writer aged 30 or under by the end of the year in question who has not yet had a book published and is not yet an established columnist or regular contributor to a magazine. He or she should be able to demonstrate wine-writing ability and commitment to popular consumer wine-writing.

Now in its seventh year the award currently enjoys two major prizes. The first prize is a cheque for £1000, sponsored for the first time in 2007 by Pavilion Books, Oz Clarke’s new wine publishers to enable the winner to travel to a wine region of his or her choice to gain first-hand experience and to develop a book or article based on that experience. 

Wine Australia and Qantas are the sponsors of the second major prize, a 14-day, expenses-paid trip to the wine regions of Australia. The winner will also have an opportunity to write articles about the trip for the Wine Australia website.

Additional prizes in 2007 included a bottle of Stag's Leap Cellars SLV Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, kindly donated by Warren Winiarski. 

The winner in 2006 was Rebecca Gibb who now works for Harpers Wine Magazine

Oz Clarke congratulating Rebecca Gibb on winning the Young Wine Writer Award 2006.

Rebecca Gibb

Following a degree in History and Politics at Warwick University, Rebecca worked for two years at Wrightson & Company, a small independent wine importer based in North Yorkshire whilst also acting as agent for two small Australian wineries, searching out UK distribution. Between February and April 2006 Rebecca worked at Boynton’s, a boutique winery in the Alpine Valleys, Victoria, Australia and then tasted her way round much of South-Eastern Australia before returning to England in August to continue with her WSET Diploma exams.

Rebecca now works for Harpers Wine Magazine.

For full details on how to enter contact Fiona Holman 00 44 (0)20 7605 1403 or email fholman@anovabooks.com or pavilionwine@anovabooks.com

Good Luck!