Ying Hsien Tan, owner of Taberna, a wine academy and bar in Singapore, is a judge at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).
Ying Hsien Tan MW
Ying Hsien Tan qualified as the first Singaporean Master of Wine in 2015. He was one of the first two Asian men to attain the qualification that year. He won the Institute of Masters of Wine Champagne Trinity Scholarship 2010 and was nominated to attend the Master Napa Programme in September 2013. He also won a French Wine Society scholarship for the Sud de France Master Level Program in 2013 and the 2013 AXA Millésime Scholarship for MW students.
A member of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and Commanderie de Bordeaux, Ying started tasting and studying wine as a hobby in 1983 while pursuing law studies at university in the United Kingdom. In 2009, after more than 20 years as a corporate and banking lawyer, he embarked on a different career path building on his enthusiasm for wine to become a wine journalist, speaker and educator. He owns Taberna Wine Academy where he conducts tastings, classes and wine dinners as well as hosting many leading wine producers.
As a speaker, Ying organized and hosted the Singapore Business Times Wine Night for senior business executives in 2010 and co-hosted the wine segment of the Wine & Dine TV series broadcast on Channel News Asia in the late 1990s. Outside Singapore, he has also spoken at wine events in Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, London, Ningxia and Perth
Ying judges at international wine competitions frequently. He was a judge at the 5th Singapore National Sommelier Competition in 2014 and 2016, Sopexa French Wine Sommelier Competition 2015 and at the Concours de Mondial 2016. He was on the tasting panel of Wine & Dine Singapore for several years and was a wine consultant to the World Gourmet Summit 2013 in Singapore. He was also a judge in the Decanter Asia Wine Awards (DAWA).
He is currently researching a book on Champagne.
