Sri Lanka’s first wine appraising forum by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts

Whether it is Galileo Gallilei, Plato or Victor Hugo, everyone since time immemorial from across the board has weighed in on the pleasures of wine. With Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts offering an extensive portfolio of properties that aim on pleasing its global guests with the finer things in life, a forum was held 22 to 25 January at Cinnamon Lakeside with the main objective being to select the best wines from the available wine portfolios in the local market. The forum also gave an opportunity for the range of wines provided by local suppliers to be appraised live by an expert panel with the performance being rated in its entirety.

A bouquet of expert tasters were included: Joseph Kenny, a certified Wine Trainer, and the CEO of Beverage Academy International; Laure Oger, a Wine and Spirits Master representing Rockland Distilleries; Michael Whimmer, a Wine Expert, and Country Manager for MMI; Alex Heslop, a Wine Ambassador for Pernod Ricard; Shiyani Saranapala, a WSET certified Wine Adviser representing Decanter wines; and, Duminda Wijesinghe, a Cluster Training Manager for Cinnamon Resorts and WSET level 3 certified sommelier.

It goes without saying that the featured judges who partook in this forum had a vast knowledge when it came to the subject of wines and champagnes, and represented global companies, which produce some of the best wines in the world. At the forum, the judges had to rate all the wines, assessing the smell, colour and finally the taste; each wine was rated out of 100 marks. Moreover, this blind-tasting event sought to pitch the best wines on offer against each other that were of a certain price point. 

With 14 beverage suppliers in the Sri Lankan market, and the majority having wine portfolios that boast close to 1000 varieties of wine, this was a forum – featuring a panel of foreign and local judges – that was a first in the country. It also provided a chance to conduct an extensive screening of wines in the local industry on a large scale where most of the suppliers got an unbiased chance to check the performance of their wines in front of an expert panel.

The Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts chain comprises 13 distinct hotels and resorts located in key areas across Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The brand embodies a passion for inspired living and promises holistic and enhanced experiences that are tailor-made to suit the specific interests of travellers. The Cinnamon brand focuses on delivering memorable holidays and getaways that deliver exceptional standards of service whilst showcasing the warmth and vibrancy of contemporary Sri Lankan hospitality.