Further scenes from DWWA regional chairs' lunch

Tom Stevenson: holiday prize – bucket and spade that will double as a chiller for his Champagne

At the lunch for the regional chairs that concludes the Decanter World Wine Awards there are always a few prizes for some of the judges. For the third year the lunch – very good indeed – was held at Enoteca Turi in Putney, London. Sarah Kemp, Decanter's publishing director, presented the awards.

Following his message to the wine world earlier this year (see below) that he would be chained to his desk due to various impending book projects, Tom Stevenson received a bucket and spade set appropriate for a man who needs a holiday.

Message to the wine world from Tom Stevenson

‘I have to complete a major revise of my Sotheby's Encyclopedia by April of next year, a major revise of my Christie's Encyclopedia and a completely new book for Sterling by the end of this year, then start an amazing five year project for Wiley USA. I managed to complete all my Sotheby's and Christie's revise travelling in 2008 and 2009, and must now chain myself to the desk for the rest of the year, relying on an automated response to decline invitations without reading them and risk getting seduced! But please put me back on your invitation list next year.’

John Livingstone-Learmonth will be appearing as Dracula in Jacques et Le Bean-stalk@Le théâtre du Grenache in Châteauneuf-du-Pape later this year

John Livingtone-Learmonth received the 'easy virtue ' prize – once the most parsimonious of regional chairs when awarding golds, John has been able to award many Rhône golds this year.

Giles MacDonogh and Richard Mayson were joint winners of the Horlicks Award given to those who are the latest to finish their daily judging sessions.

Sarah Kemp, publishing director – Decanter, presenting the Horlicks Award (pair of pyjamas) to Richard mayson and Giles MacDonogh

The 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards attracted just under 11,000 entries.

John Radford – "fuck-me shoes" remark silences wine critics

Christelle's red shoes

Ebullient and larger than life John Radford, leading Spanish wine expert, silenced the celebratory lunch at Enoteca Turi in Putney to mark the end of the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards. Speaking to a room packed full of famous wine writing names Radford's off the cuff remarks about event organiser Christelle Guibert's red shoes caused a collective gasp of surprise and an sharp intake of breath. 

John Radford 

Christelle Guibert

2010 Decanter World Wine Awards: photos from 1st day of Loire judging

Chee Wee Lee

As reported in the previous post we had two panels judging the Loire today due to the unprecedented level of entries, We judged a range of whites including wines from Cheverny, Reuilly, Menetou-Salon, Pouilly-Fumé, Sancerre, Muscadet, Touraine, Savennières, Vouvray and the Coteaux du Layon.

Göran Klintberg

Nick Room

Although the three new judges fitted in very well today, the number of wines left to taste means that there will be just one panel tomorrow – reuniting last year's judges:

Chris Kissack

Decidedly beyond the call of duty, Chris Kissack was up at around 4am this morning to catch an early flight from Edinburgh to London Stansted.

Sarah Ahmed considers a Sancerre

Nigel Wilkinson: serious consideration

2010 Decanter World Wine Awards: first day of Loire judging

Claude and Joëlle Papin: winners of the Regional Award for the best Loire sweet wine

Today sees the first day of judging for Loire wines. The good news is that the number of wines is apparently well up on previous years, which means for the first time we will need two panels of judges today, with one on Thursday.

As last year we have Chris Kissack (The Wine Doctor down from Edinburgh), Sarah Ahmed (The Wine Detective) and Nigel Wilkinson (RSJ Restaurant) for the two days. They will be joined today by Nick Room (wine buyer for Waitrose), Göran Klintberg (a Swedish wine buyer) and Chee Wee Lee (Equitable Nose on The Local Nose site based in Singapore).

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