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 A decanter is a vessel that is used to hold the decantation of a liquid (such as wine) which may contain sediment. Decanters, which have a varied shape and design, have been traditionally made from glass or crystal. Their volume is usually equ ...

and

Gourmet Traveller Are Media is an Australian media company that was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press during the 2010s ...

Wine,

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

. Hooke judges about ten wine competitions a year in Australia, New Zealand, Italy and other countries. Huon Hooke at Geelong Wine Show 2010

Life and career

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

Good Living section. In 2011 Hooke started his own website and

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

, 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 Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, 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 Bronwyn Joy Oliver (née Gooda, 22 February 1959 – 10 July 2006) was an Australian sculptor whose work primarily consisted of metalwork. Oliver was raised in rural New South Wales. She trained at Sydney's Alexander Mackie College of Ad ...

Scoring method

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 websitel, 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."''

Wine review coverage

Hooke's wine reviews comprise 55,000 notes and ratings and are focused on wines from the following countries: * Australia * New Zealand * France –

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

and Rhone wines * Italy –

Barolo Barolo ( , , ; pms, bareul ) is a red (DOCG) wine produced in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is made from the nebbiolo grape and is often described as one of Italy's greatest wines. The zone of production extends into the commu ...

. Hooke often participates in annual tasting events in

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Books

* ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 1994-95'', (1994), * ''Max Schubert, Winemaker'', (1994) * ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 1996-97'', (1996) * ''Max Schubert'' (1996), * ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 1997-98'', (1997) * ''Words on Wine'', (1997) * ''The Penguin Wine Cellar Book'' (1999), * ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide: 1999'', (1999; co-authored with Ralph Kyte-Powell) * ''Good Australian Wine Guide'', (2000; co-authored with Ralph Kyte-Powell) * ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2003'', (2003) * ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2004-05'', (2004), * ''The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2006'', (2006)

References

External links