The ceremony celebrates the induction of the new MWs to the Institute and recognises individual excellence in all aspects of the Masters of Wine (MW) examination. There are now 369 MWs based in 29 countries.

The 18 new MWs, who passed all parts of the MW examination in March and September 2017 are:

Mark Andrew MW (UK), Nova Cadamatre MW (US), Julie Chéné Nyheim MW (Norway), Alistair Cooper MW (UK), Jeremy Cukierman MW (France), Emma Dawson MW (UK), David Forer MW (Spain), Philip Harden MW (UK), Ashley Hausman Vaughters MW (US), Sarah Heller MW (Hong Kong), Tim Jackson MW (UK), Andreas Kubach MW (Spain), Fernando Mora MW (Spain), Aina Mee Myhre MW (Norway), Billo Naravane MW (US), Catherine Petrie MW (UK), Nigel Sneyd MW (USA) and Morgan Twain-Peterson MW (USA).

Nova Cadamatre MW received the Taransaud Tonnellerie Award, for her excellent knowledge in the production and handling of wine. The award was presented by Henri de Pracomtal, chairman and CEO of Chêne Et Cie, the parent company of Taransaud.

For his outstanding tasting ability, Jeremy Cukierman MW received the Bollinger Medal, presented by Andrew Hawes, the managing director of Mentzendorff and secretary of the Madame Bollinger Foundation.

The Noval Award, sponsored by Quinta do Noval, part of AXA Millésimes, is awarded for the best research paper by a new MW. Christian Seely, managing director of AXA Millésimes presented the honour to Fernando Mora MW for his research paper ‘Proposals for creating a revised wine quality classification in Denomination of Origin (DO) Campo de Borja, with recommendations for potential implementation in other DOs in Spain’.

Sarah Heller MW was rewarded four times on the evening. She received the Villa Maria Prize for her outstanding knowledge and understanding of viticulture and the Errazuriz Award for her performance in the business of wine exam, both presented by Phil Tuck MW, from Hatch Mansfield. For her outstanding performance across all of the theory papers in the MW examination, the Robert Mondavi Winery Award was presented to Heller by Mark de Vere MW of Constellation Brands.

She also received the final accolade of the evening, the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB) Outstanding Achievement Award. Presented by Barbara Waxenegger from AWMB, this award was given to Heller for her overall performance in all areas of the MW examination.