Great Wines of the World 2021 [Spring]: The numbers, innovations and wines

Thanks to the just concluded Great Wines of the World 2021 Masterclasses & Tastings [Spring Edition], 2021, more than 900 wine trade and wine lovers in Hong Kong were able to taste and evaluate top wines from around the world over the past four weeks, including some of the wine world’s biggest labels.

More than 70 wineries from five countries poured 125 top-scoring wines over the course of the masterclasses, which attendees tasted at individual tables, served by a team of sommeliers in James Suckling Wine Central in Soho, Hong Kong. All the wines had been tasted by James prior to the event and were rated 91 points or above, with most falling in the 95-97 point range, ensuring the tastings were a showcase for high quality wines.

Some of the highlight names included Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Bryant Family Estate, Almaviva, Pio Cesare and Chacra, which poured the wine that won Wine of the Year 2020, among others.

Much of the content relating to the event is still available for wine trade and wine lovers around the world to enjoy too. The official guidebook for the tastings is available as a free download, and includes profiles of each winery as well as the scores and tasting notes for their featured wines, and ‘video tasting notes’ sent in by winemakers and winery owners exclusively for these masterclass sessions are also available to view. Click the buttons below for each. These video tasting notes are a world-first on this scale, and are just one of the innovations the JamesSuckling.com team has executed to ensure the wine-tasting experience is as interactive as possible, despite the current restrictions on travel.

This new format of grand tasting also featured themed masterclass workshops, hosted and presented by James Suckling, on a range of topics including ‘Icons of Chile’, ‘Brunello 2006 – 10 years later’ and ‘Napa 2018 – A new benchmark?’ James used his 40 years of experience as a wine critic to give his insights and observations on these topics and many others, to a packed room each time.

Throughout the masterclasses and tastings updates, insights, images and videos were posted to the JamesSuckling.com social channels and distributed though newsletters too. We estimate the total reach for all content posted during the four-week period was close to 1 million people, worldwide!

Check out some photos of the masterclasses below, and also below see the wine notes for all wines poured during the event.

For details on the upcoming Summer edition of Great Wines of the World 2021, click here.