Some say that the Golden Globes is the booziest award show, but those people probably haven’t been to the Golden Vines.
Organized by the company Liquid Icons, the so-called “Oscars of fine wine” celebrates the crème de la crème of the wine and spirits industry. The fifth edition of the awards took place Saturday evening at the Faena Forum in Miami, marking the first time the event has been held in the United States. Over about five hours and many, many more glasses of wine, the nine awards were doled out to wine producers from around the world.
The actor David Ajala hosted the evening, which took place at the Faena Forum in Miami.
Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for the Golden Vines
Throughout the evening, the British actor David Ajala served as master of ceremonies, even getting some guests to join him onstage for a quick boogie. The multi-course dinner was cooked up by Kyle and Katina Connaughton of the Michelin three-star SingleThread in California: A savory duck-liver parfait was paired with the sweet Château d’Yquem 2022, while guinea-hen katsu was accompanied by Château Lafite Rothschild 1989 poured out of a show-stopping Imperial bottle. And with the opening dish—an assortment of seafood bites meant to give a taste of both Sonoma and Miami—the attendees were the first to sample the Dom Pérignon 2008 Plénitude 2 before its global release next year.
As for the awards themselves, the nine trophies were voted on by a panel of 830 experts, including Master Sommeliers and WSET Diploma holders. A testament to the global nature of the event, the winners hailed from California (Harlan Estate, Best Fine Wine Producer in the Americas) to Australia (Henschke, Best Fine Wine Producer in the Rest of the World).
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