You must however have a love for procedures, knowledge on the subject, be happy to conclude your thoughts in a matter of minutes, summarize your view with a number, and then defend this strongly within a panel.
The challenge is to maintain extreme focus on each wine, assessment of appearance, nose and palate and a conclusion in a minimum time, that honours each producer who has taken the time to send in his samples (often at a huge cost).
But let’s start at the beginning: each day it is mandatory to have a good breakfast, enough to drink (not necessarily loads of coffee or tea). As an experienced judge you know to spit, but after 2-5 hours of judging, you will still have “consumed a minimum of wine and alcohol”.
67 wines from Spain are on our list this morning, divided into categories. We tasted dry tannic Reds, Roses of a bright pink to onion skin colour, Brut Nature and Reserve Cavas to Sweet Muscatel. The nose and palate show signs of exhaustion. Desperation did creep in halfway through the morning. Bronze wines are wines representing a good example in their group, but where were the Silvers? Finally Silver Outstanding. As a judge at this oldest competition in the world, we are respected for our integrity, knowledge of the particular subject tasted, and invited to discuss if scores differ extremely. Another panel next door went through a similar judging routine today. It is time for a late lunch, relax, revive nose and palate. It is recommended not to eat too much spicy food at night.
Wines are grouped into categories, often into appellation zones, and variety distinct. It is of utmost importance that you know the styles from the region focus on each wine, not in comparison to another, but uniquely what is in the glass. If there is a huge difference in scores (and judges are relentless with their point of views) there are a number of ways to deal with this: ask for a review, ask the panel next door to taste. The process is recorded. The competition is tightly managed throughout the whole year, and thus is not a playing field for Diploma students to “learn how to taste”.
Another day of 64 wines. Again we are in Spain. Often there are categories (eg.like Merlot out of region X), where you would wish that the producers do not even present such varieties. Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon in blends work much better here. We gave some medals, even to wines with an older vintage. Then there are the categories where you know this grape variety does extremely well: 9 Silver medals out of 11 wines. Our panel chair was even happy to say that this category could do even better, as some of us had seen “gold in our glasses”. It is with inner satisfaction that you relax back into your chair, drinking water and neutralizing your palate for the next flight. A very pleasing result today was the category Cavas, especially the traditional blends, which were receiving higher marks than in previous years (considering the recent developments in Cava /Cava DO of 9 producers leaving and seeking a “quality orientated designation” for their wines). The afternoon sun was shining warm on our faces when we finally left for the day. With a feeling of contentment, we will come back to taste and hope for even better wines tomorrow. The shock in the mirror when getting home is, of course, those greying (nearly black) teeth, and tired eyes, and maybe even weight gain? How to go about maintaining white teeth, coping with sulphur, staying healthy during these days? Answers to this can be: Swish with gin, take vitamin pills or milk thistle… it is up to each professional.
Did we mind doing 15 wines in one category, our panel chair asked today? We would manage. It was heartening to finally get to the much loved Rioja, whether Joven, Crianza or Reserva. It was wonderful to see that there were now Gold medals in front of us. These wines, i.e. all Silver and Gold, go through for a technical analysis (chemical and microbiological analysis), are scrutinized and maybe even re-tasted in a review. There were smaller categories today that showed 5 out of 5 wines receiving Silver.
It is the last day of judging, and by now we have seen it all. Faulty wines, good but not worthy of an award wines, reviews, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Outstanding. We are tasting 14 categories today. Total scores are entered into the computer, showing an average with the scores of all judges (except for the scores of the associate judge). We are ecstatic today, there are a couple of Silver Outstandings, even a Gold Outstanding. The other 2 panels next door have also seen some great samples for the country in question.
So why go through all this trouble? At another competition’s recent judges’ feedback, I found the real answer:
- It is not the intricate detail of what happened in the Chenin Class or why Merlot again did not perform. It is in the big trends and direction, that in this case South African wine is taking: e.g.
- SA should definitely not produce only one style of Sauvignon Blanc.
- Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs are displaying better oak regimes.
- Nish varieties show well in their smaller classes and are often worth trying.
- The category of red non- Bordeaux wines will show more unusual blends.
Some Foreign judges also tell us how it is: Maybe our sparkling wines are not as much liked overseas as our national palate praises them. Maybe ripeness is not all that counts: high alcohol and a tired overall impression of a wine is not what the consumer seeks. Maybe it is time to help the consumer understand labels and know the RS of Riesling or whether the Chenin Blanc is wooded or not.
Wine Competitions are only as good as their organisers and judges, whether they judge 1040 South African wines over 3 days in South Africa (e.g. Old Mutual) , or whether they run panels of 5-7 judges over 7 months judging thousands of wines and spirits of over 30 countries (e.g. IWSC). Those industry players who are still shrugging their shoulders, and negating the marketing spend, will understand that competitions of this nature will increase awareness, sales and the profiles of those wines/spirits not only through the sticker on a bottle or the sponsored trophy, but through social media, wine shows and publications, reaching an interested global wine consumer.