The final selection for the Future 50 awards was revealed at an International Wine & Spirit Competition event last night.
The Future 50 is a list of 50 individuals under 40 years old in the global drinks trade who will shape the industry in years to come. It is a joint venture between the IWSC and the Wine & Spirit Education Trust to mark the 50th birthday of both organisations.
The UK winners – pictured above left to right – were – Amelia Singer, Dr Anne Brock, Hannah Lanfear, Joel Harrison, Lora Henry, Michael Vachon, Natsuki Kikuya, Oliver Hilton Johnson, Rebecca Gibb, Regine Lee and Will Lowe.
To be eligible for the award, recipients must have made a significant contribution to the industry in the last three years, whether that be in academia, social responsibility and innovation, or a number of other categories.
The finalists come from a wide range of backgrounds and countries and their current roles include distiller, viticulturalist, historian, bartender and food and beverage activist.
The competition received more than 600 nominations for the first round, which was then whittled down to 200 in the second round. Judges included Stephanie Macleod, and Richard Paterson, master blenders at Dewar’s and Whyte & MacKay respectively; restaurateur Xavier Rousset MS; Harpers columnist and presenter of The Wine Show, Joe Fattorini; WSET chief executive Ian Harris; (WSET) and IWSC managing director Allen Gibbons. The judges were supported by a regional advisory panel covering 17 countries worldwide.
Ian Harris said: “We are delighted with the final Future 50 list. It offers a genuine reflection of the young talent we have in the wine, spirit and sake categories globally. Each of the winners should be very proud their achievement. We look forward to seeing them making their mark and shaping the future of our industry.”
The final 50 are:
Wine
Agnes Herczeg, Hungary
Amelia Singer, UK
Christian Zhang, China
Christina (Wanyi) Lee, China
Christine Clair, USA
Emilie Steckenborn, China
Fernando Mora MW, Spain
Gus Zhu MW, China
Heidi Mäkinen, Finland
James Forsyth, USA
James Hook, Australia
Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre, USA
Jessica Marinzeck, Brazil
Julie Dupouy, Ireland
Julien Camus, USA
Konstantin Baum MW, Germany
Leonid Fadeev, Russia
Lingzi He, China
Madison Pantlin, Canada
Micky Chan, Hong Kong (also for sake)
Nick Glaetzer, Australia
Paolo Brammer, Brazil
Qian Janice Wang, Denmark
Rebecca Gibb, UK
Regine Lee MW, UK
Santiago Mayorga Boaknin, Argentina
Sarah Heller MW, Hong Kong
Sovna Puri, India
Terry Xu, China
Yang Lu, China
Spirits
Ashtin Berry, USA
Chris So, Hong Kong
Christina Veira, Canada
Dan Q. Dao, USA
Dr Anne Brock, UK
Hannah Lanfear, UK
Jason Barrett, USA
Joel Harrison, UK
Kelsey Ramage, Canada
Lora Hemy, UK
Michael Vachon, UK
Nick Korn, USA
Ryan Hartshorn, Australia
Victoria Chow, Hong Kong
Will Lowe, UK
Yuchen Zhong, China (also for sake)
Sake
Adrian Goh De Jun, Singapore
Micky Chan, Hong Kong (also for wine)
Monica Samuels, USA
Natsuki Kikuya, UK
Oliver Hilton Johnson, UK
Yuchen Zhong, China (also for spirits)