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Sam Harrop MW to step down as IWC chair after 11 years on judging panel

Published:  01 November, 2016

The International Wine Challenge (IWC) has announced a shuffle of its judging panel ahead of its November tastings.

The International Wine Challenge (IWC) has announced a shuffle of its judging panel ahead of its November tastings.

Sam Harrop MW will leave his position as co-chair after 11 years on the judging panel and will be replaced by two new co-chairs, Dr Jamie Goode and Sarah Abbott MW.

During his tenure, the New Zealand native has been responsible for driving several successful initiatives for the IWC, including setting up the IWC fault clinic in 2006 for the diagnosis of wine faults, and launching the IWC Sake competition, which celebrated its ninth year in 2016. 

He is stepping down to move onto new wine and sake projects and spend more time with his family in New Zealand.

New co-chairs Goode and Abbott both have years of experience on the panel, with Goode taking over management of the IWC fault clinic.

Sarah Abbott MW will be the first female co-chair in the 33 years of the IWC, bringing 20 years of industry experience to the table as well as specialist knowledge of Eastern European wines.

"I know from working with producers in emerging regions how important the feedback and approval from our competition is, and also how important it is to take the 'fear' out of choosing wine for consumers. It's a noble task, I'm very grateful to the all the team for asking me to join them," she said.

Harrop has also been recognised for his work on the sake judging panel, having been responsible for bringing sake into the competition through his role as a Sake Samurai

The mantle will be taken up by Beau Timken from the USA, and Åke Nordgren from Sweden.

"Sam was responsible for bringing sake into the competition through his role as a Sake Samurai and desire to bring global recognition to this category," IWC event director, Chris Ashton said.

"IWC Sake is now the world's largest international Sake competition and is an influential domestic and international sales catalyst for sake.'

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