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Huon Hooke is an Australian wine writer and critic.
Hooke is the Chair of the Vin de Champagne Awards and judge of the Australian Winemaker of the Year. He tastes wines blind and writes for The Real Review, Decanter and Gourmet Traveller Wine, Sydney Morning Herald. Hooke judges about ten wine competitions a year in Australia, New Zealand, Italy and other countries.
Hooke's career in wine started in 1983. Today he is known for his reviews in the Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine and his weekly wine section in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Living section. In 2011 Hooke started his own website and mobile app, which contain all of his tasting notes. In 2016 he and Bob Campbell MW became the Principal Wine Writers for The Real Review, a wine review website focussing on Australian and New Zealand wines.
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 Hooke has hosted corporate tastings and dinners, and has given many wine appreciation courses.
For 17 years Hooke co-authored the Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide.
Hooke has been awarded eight reviews for wine writing. He was awarded 2008 Wine Communicator of the Year and 2018 Legend of the Vine, awarded by Wine Communicators of Australia for his outstanding contribution to the Australian wine industry.
Hooke's long-term partner was Australian artist Bronwyn Oliver.
Hooke prefers blind tastings and is independent from any retail interests. He does not hire other people to taste wine on his behalf. On his website, Hooke describes his approach as follows: ::"Almost all the wines I review are first tasted ‘blind’. I believe it is important for that first impression to be uncoloured by any preconception that may come from viewing the label. Having blind-tasted, though, I don’t consider the result to be holy writ: after unmasking I always check, and if necessary re-taste. 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. In blind tasting, it is easy for a minor blemish to have a disproportionate influence on the assessment. We have to be mindful that wine is a drink, and often, wines with a small imperfection are often great to drink. 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." [2]
Hooke's wine reviews comprise 55,000 notes and ratings and are focused on wines from the following countries:
Penfolds Grange is an Australian wine, made predominantly from the Shiraz (Syrah) grape and usually a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is widely considered one of Australia's "first growth" and its most collectable wine. The term "Hermitage", the name of a French wine appellation, was commonly used in Australia as another synonym for Shiraz or Syrah. Penfolds is owned by Treasury Wine Estates.
The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy through production, employment, export, and tourism.
De Bortoli Wines is a wine-producing private family owned company based in Australia. In 2022 it was ranked the seventh largest Australian wine company by production,and the sixth largest in terms of total revenue. Its range of wines includes the sweet white dessert wine, Noble One.
James Halliday is an Australian wine writer and critic, winemaker, and senior wine competition judge.
Max Schubert was a pioneering Australian winemaker, with Penfolds, who is best known as the creator of Grange Hermitage. Schubert was included in the Sydney Morning Herald's 100 most influential Australians of the century, which was published in 2001.
Houghton Wines is an Australian winery originating in the Swan Valley wine region of Western Australia at the historic Houghton Estate.
Accolade Wines is an international wine business with headquarters in South Australia and corporate offices in Melbourne. It has been owned by the Carlyle Group, an American private equity company, since 2018.
Max Emory Lake, OAM was an Australian winemaker and surgeon, who is generally regarded as the "father of the Australian boutique wine industry".
Howard Park Wines are Margaret River and Great Southern wine specialists and a family-owned winery owned by the Burch family, which is responsible for such brands as Howard Park, MadFish, and Marchand & Burch. With an established winery based in Margaret River, Western Australia and vineyards in the Great Southern, the Burch family are the first Australians to gain ownership in the production of a French Burgundian Grand Cru.
Pat Nourse is an Australian restaurant critic and food writer. He is the Creative Director for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, and was formerly employed by Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine as their chief restaurant critic and deputy editor. He also writes about Australia for the American food magazine Gourmet, and is the Australian member of the voting academy for the World's 50 Best Restaurants. He has been a contributor to The Age Good Food Guide and The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, among other publications.
Giaconda is an Australian winery in Beechworth, Victoria.
Leeuwin Estate is an Australian winery and restaurant based in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia.
Greenhouse was an eco-friendly bar and restaurant at 100 St Georges Terrace in Perth, Western Australia. With a concept that included being well designed and completely waste free, the restaurant featured a vegetable garden on the roof, a zero-carbon footprint, and ground its own organic flour. Designed by Dutch-born florist, artist, builder and environmentalist Joost Bakker, Greenhouse opened in 2009 and closed in 2017.
Castle Rock Estate is an Australian winery based at Porongurup, in the Great Southern wine region of Western Australia and owned and operated by the Diletti family. According to prominent Australian wine writer James Halliday, it has an exceptionally beautifully sited and immaculately maintained vineyard, winery and cellar door sales area with sweeping vistas from the Porongurups.
Robert Stein Wines trace their winemaking history back to 1838, when the Macarthur family brought Johann Stein to Australia with the country's first cuttings of Rhine Riesling. 138 years later, in 1976, Robert ‘Bob’ Stein purchased 75 acres in Mudgee and planted vines. Robert Stein Winery currently have approximately 20 wines.
d'Arenberg Cube is a five-storey building situated within the d'Arenberg vineyards in the locality of McLaren Vale in South Australia. The design concept for the building was developed by d'Arenberg's Chief Winemaker, Chester Osborn, who is of the fourth generation of the Osborn family, who established the vineyards in 1912. Completed in 2017, the building is noted for its distinctive geometric design, largely resembling a Rubik's Cube, with its facades predominantly consisting of double-tempered glass.
The Marlborough wine region is by far New Zealand's largest, accounting for three quarters of the country's wine production, 70% of its vineyard area and 85% of its wine exports. A Geographical Indication in the north-east of the South Island, it covers the entire Marlborough District and the Kaikōura District of the Canterbury Region, but in practice the vineyards are concentrated around the Blenheim and Seddon townships. Internationally, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is recognised as world class; wine writers such as Oz Clarke and George Taber have described it as the best in the world.
Gil Wahlquist (1927–2012) was an Australian journalist and "pioneer organic wine producer" who was largely responsible for re-establishing the Mudgee wine industry and raising the international profile of the Australian wine industry in the 1970s.
Philip Shaw is an Australian winemaker.
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