To ensure that the quality of the wine will be objectively assessed and meet or exceed its recommended retail value, the price of Buddha's Wine will be decided by an independent panel of judges, and not by Stuart Wines Company.

If the tasting panel agrees that the Buddha's Wine Chardonnay has a retail value of A$10.00 (for example), it will be sold for A$10.50 - the extra 50 cents being the donation made by the consumer to Buddha's Wine Global Children's Fund.

By relinquishing control of the pricing process, Stuart Wines Company cannot over-inflate the cost, relevant to the quality of the wine. This means that the consumer will always get excellent value, and Stuart Wines Company will continue to produce wines of the best possible quality.

Stuart Wines would like to sincerely thank all members of the panel for participating and donating their time and expertise for the cause.

 

Our Tasting Panel of judges include;

 

Jancis Robinson OBE

Jancis Robinson OBE, Master of Wine and award-winning TV host, has written millions of words about wine, in books such as The Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine (with Hugh Johnson), as wine correspondent of the Financial Times, and for www.jancisrobinson.com, nowadays her principal preoccupation with subscribers from more than 60 countries.
 

 

Steven Spurrier

Steven Spurrier joined the London wine trade in 1964 as a trainee, traveling extensively through the main European vineyards during 1965. In 1970 he relocated with his wife to Paris and purchased the Caves de la Madeleine, a small wine shop which he transformed during the next few years into one of the most interesting and dynamic in the city. In 1973 he opened, next door to the Caves, L'Academie du Vin, France's first independent wine school. In 1976, l'Academie held a tasting comparing top California Chardonnays and Cabernets with top white Burgundies and Red Bordeaux, judged by a highly prestigious panel of French tasters. California wines took first places in both white and red in this event that was subsequently known as The Judgement of Paris, and which helped introduce California to the international wine scene. After diversifying into wine warehousing, a restaurant and a wine bar, Spurrier returned with his wife and children to London in 1982 to set up the Christie's Wine Course on the invitation of Michael Broadbent of Christie's Wine Department and Robert Cumming of Christie's Education.

During the 1980s, Spurrier wrote several books including L'Academie du Vin Wine Course, L'Academie du Vin Guide to French Wines and How to Buy Fine Wine, none of which are currently in print. In 1988 he sold his Paris businesses to become an independent wine consultant. Clients have included Harrods, Delta Air Lines and Hediard and since 1989 he has been Singapore Airline's wine consultant. In 1999 he collaborated with Oz Clarke on The Clarke-Spurrier Fine Wine Guide, which was updated and reissued in 2001. After two terms as Chairman, he is currently Vice-President of the Circle of Wine Writers.

Recipient of several national and international awards, Spurrier is a regular official judge on the international wine competition circuit and is Chairman of the Japan Wine Challenge. He lives in London and Dorset.
 

CH'NG Poh Tiong is a lawyer by training.

He is the publisher of The Wine Review, South-East Asia's oldest wine magazine (since 1991) and the world's first annual Guide to Bordeaux in Chinese (since 2000). Poh Tiong's articles have also appeared in other magazines, including l'Amateur de Bordeaux of France, UK's Harper's and Decanter, for which he also writes a column. He is also the wine columnist of Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore's largest-circulation Chinese daily.

Poh Tiong is the Regional Chairman: Middle East, Far East & Asia, for Decanter magazine's World Wine Awards. Founder of Sommelier Seminars and Sommeliers of Asia, Poh Tiong also organized the first-ever sommelier seminar in China in 2004. He was also Conference Chairman of the inaugural Wine For Asia 2003 exhibition held in Singapore.

In 2002, Poh Tiong was a key-note speaker at the Master of Wine Symposium in Vienna. More recently, he was a speaker at the Twelfth Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference 2004 and has also addressed Wine Australia and the World Inflight Food Service Association's Congress in Osaka. In 2005, he chaired the Forum on Asia in Wine Evolution 2005 in Paris.

Poh Tiong also works as a consultant. His clients include FairPrice & Liberty Supermarkets, Conrad Centennial Singapore and Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur. He is also founder of the Lianhe Zaobao Wine Review Annual Wine Challenge, Singapore's first, independent wine competition (since 1999). Poh Tiong is also Consultant to The Tower Club Wine Awards of Singapore.

Poh Tiong lectures on wine extensively including in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. He also speaks on the subject to private clients, including international law firms, multi-national banks and corporations, France's Sopexa, and the Wine Institute of California.

Poh Tiong was a judge of the 1999 Robert Mondavi Decanter Magazine Wine by the Glass Competition. He has also judged wines in England, South Africa and Japan.

His newest publication, since 2003, is "TABLES", an annual, independent restaurant guide to the "Great & Greatest Tables" of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
 

Michael Cooper

Michael Cooper was born and educated in Auckland, where he worked for ten years as Marketing Manager for Babich Wines before becoming a full-time wine writer in 1991. Now the author of 29 books, including New Zealand's biggest-selling wine book Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines, and the definitive Wine Atlas of New Zealand, he has been tasting wine critically for 36 years, including 15 years as a national show judge, and is currently the Chief Judge for the New World Wine Awards. Michael has also been Wine Editor for Cuisine magazine, made countless contributions to newspapers and other magazines including Winestate, for whom he is currently the New Zealand Editor, and in 2004 was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to the wine industry.
 

Peter Wilson - Chief Winemaker

Our chief wine maker is Peter Wilson. Peter was the winemaker for Yarra Yering for 10 years and has made Stuart Co. wines since vintage 2001. He is also one of Australia's leading chocolatiers, with his company Kennedy and Wilson recognized as one of the finest chocolate producers in this country. Peter is dedicated to producing super-premium wines utilizing traditional winemaking techniques whilst employing the benefits of a modern, sophisticated winery.
 

Dominic Massarotti - Fund Coordinator

Having a multi-faceted background in horticulture, particularly in the viticultural industry, Dominic's experience ranges from the development of vineyards to the production of wine. Dominic's viticulture expertise is reflected in many of the notable vineyards in Heathcote and the Yarra Valley.

Dominic's knowledge stems from having traveled in Europe and Asia's wine production regions. This has resulted in his extensive knowledge in soil types, site and clonal selection, and his experience has been applied directly to Stuart wines, enabling them to produce some of the finest wines in the world. Dominic is now proud to offer these fine wines to the global market.