The inaugural Essex Wine Awards took place at Clay Hill Vineyard on Friday, 16th June 2023, with an experienced 4-strong panel drawn from across the industry.
The varied line-up comprised five separate flights, spanning sparkling and still styles. This was a fascinating tasting, shining the spotlight on Essex and its extraordinary potential in terms of absolute quality and style. The calibre of the wines was consistently high, while a handful of particularly impressive examples scooping silver or gold medals
The wines were judged using the scoring methods of the International Wines and Spirits Competition (https://iwsc.net) and the Decanter World Wine Awards (www.decanter.com)
Rebecca Palmer
Rebecca Palmer is Associate Director and Head of Merchanting Buying for Corney & Barrow Ltd based in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.
She is responsible for the core portfolio of Corney & Barrow’s merchanting business globally, heading up an eight-strong team, and covering most world wine regions. A modern languages graduate, Rebecca has extensive experience of the wine industry in a career spanning almost three decades and roles in buying, sales and marketing, business development and strategic consultancy. Rebecca is a regular judge for a number of major wine competitions including Decanter, IWSC and also Wine GB. She is a passionate advocate for the UK’s burgeoning wine industry.
Nick Oakley
Nick Oakley has been in the wine trade for over 35 years, starting at wine merchants Lay & Wheeler in Colchester. In the late 80s he had a ‘road to Damascus’ moment following a visit to Portugal, and as a result he established his own business as an import agent specialising in Portuguese wine. Wines from NW Spain were added about ten years ago. His company, Oakley Wine Agencies, is today one of the UK’s leading Portuguese specialists and counts most major supermarket group in its client portfolio.
In recent years, the company has also started supplying Portuguese & Spanish wines to overseas markets, including Japan, Ireland, Australia, USA and Japan. Oakley Wine Agencies celebrated 30 years trading in January this year. Nick also judges for Decanter and IWC.
Mia Haye
Is a wine and spirits presenter, having recently graduated with the WSET Diploma and presently NOT studying! Working in the wine & spirits industry for over 10 years, presenter, educator & guide at Ridgeview Wine Estate, Vinopolis, The London Eye & L’Atelier de Chef in London. She has been a judges assistant at Decanter World Wine Awards for over 10 years enabling smooth running of the judging panels. Assistant Manager in wine & spirits retail & wine writer for online publication.
Kirsty Woodgate
Holds her DipWSET is a wine writer, wine judge and communications professional based in Essex
