Wine
Competitions, bah! Humbug.
I have been a
judge in quite a few wine competitions in the UK and elsewhere in the world.
They were challenging and some were corrupt, sadly one nearest to home; The
International Wine Challenge was one I was rather uncomfortable with.
One panel, I was
the boss, found a wine which we all thought was worth a gold medal. Later when
I checked it had not received any commendation what so ever. So why judge? My
wine experience goes way back to the 70's, so I believe I have some street
cred.
For many years I
went to the en primeur tasting in Bordeaux. Certainly a challenge, a worthwhile
trial for the world's finest wines.
Several bank's
used my marks against Robert Parker's marks for the same wines in the same
year, and over a twelve year period the banks found just one difference in our
marks. I remember the wine very well and we were both correct as it so happens,
the first bottle I tried was poor. I mentioned it to the wine's owner who said
'No this is the best wine I have made'. The sample I had tried was very poor as
indeed Parker's must have been.
So an honest
discrepancy was found and corrected in my case. How many wines get through that
should be binned? A lot. How many wines get medals that should be rejected - a
lot.
In South America
I was a judge in both the Argentine and Uruguay. Several of the other people on
the bench were hopeless in my opinion. Yet their marks count as much as mine. Judges
argue, good, but some no nothing but push their opinions so hard that their
marks get counted.
Bah! Fishcakes!
It is March 2009
and in the next few weeks there are three important events. The en primeur
tastings in Bordeaux; The Concorde Mondial in Valencia and the International
Wine Challenge in London.
The en primeur
tasting are judged by journalists, and wine buyers. Both should be putting
their money where their mouths are. The six hundred and fifty judges in
Valencia are out of the same mould as the four hundred in London.
OK many of the
judges are students who have to learn sometime but not in a way that influences
professionals. The British supermarkets will shout in the press that they are
selling x number of gold medal winners. Bah! A number of years ago I was at a
press tasting in Finchley given by Waitrose.
One white wine purported
to have won a gold medal. I knew the wine very well as at one time I had
imported the same wine. The wine in the bottle was not the same as the wine in
the competition. The white wine, which was showing rather poorly, had a
slightly yellow hue. The wine that had won the gold was a bright greenish
white.
One could and I
would bang on about the amazingly high price of wines in the UK. A simple
example happened last week; an ordinary yet simple, but drinking very well Cote
du Rhone was on offer at one Euro fifty centimes in Geant Casino, Gassin,
France.
The London price
would be £7. What a rip off country Britain of today has become. Why?
