The National Wine
UnClub
Newsletter
March/April 2006
Wine Judging - A Good Thing?
What is it about our fascination in the United States with competition regarding everything - from sports at all levels (starting with neighborhood kindergartners to our world-class professional sports leagues) to the Academy Awards and Grammys, to the Republican/Democrat campaign wars? One wonders if there might be a better way to achieve and recognize competence and excellence in these fields of endeavor.
This same spirit of competition extends its ubiquitous nature into the culinary world with restaurants and wineries competing for top honors in the hearts and minds of the critics who write columns or broadcast for a multitude of media outlets. Striving to be "Number 1" is part of the great American Dream it seems!
Having just completed a massive wine judging hosted by our local Hearst-family newspaper in San Antonio, the question of critic credibility once again has come into focus in my mind. When it comes to something as subjective as taste can any one critic (or even the averaged score of several professional wine tasters) really be a valid determining factor to assess which wine is best for the individual palate?
Honestly, I don't think so. Perhaps high-scoring or medal-winning wines in the various categories can serve as a general guide for the novice wine enthusiast as a starting place for the exploration of their own palate preferences. But, in due time, the novice becomes the acolyte and this individual no longer requires an "expert" to tell them what they might or might not like in the world of wine!
Thank God for this evolution of individual preference in the area of wine taste! If only the critically acclaimed wine labels were left standing the variety of wines for sale in shops and restaurants would shrink to a miserable state of high-scoring mediocrity! It's nice to have the immense variety that exists in the world of the culinary arts so that this essential part of life never gets boring.
So why not just promote wine with food in a home or restaurant setting where it belongs? This is done thankfully in restaurants around the civilized world where a passionate owner, waiter, or sommelier takes the time to show their patrons what they've found that's a new and wonderful example of a classic varietal or a wine that is the epitome of a well-established regional style.
Many of you know that we've also just completed a series of dinner wine tastings in San Antonio that we call the Wine Olympics. This program is designed to show off new wines with food in an appropriate setting. Yes, there is a panel of judges present who are asked to rank the eight wines present (sorted in a single varietal grouping or as a set representing the classic blends from wine regions around the globe). An audience of eager taster/diners is also present enjoying the same wines with the same food in the universally accepted 'double-blind' format. The audience is asked to vote on their 'Best of Show' which is later compared with the judging panel's rankings.
Everyone in attendance is asked to simply have fun with the arbitrary judging process, and believe me, after tasting eight excellent wines with four to five courses of beautifully presented, high-quality cuisine, we do have way too much fun! Many times the wines ranked highest by the audience don't receive a medal from the judges at all! When that happens it just becomes part of the entertainment during the event as this reminds us of how often critics and enthusiasts disagree about what they like.
So, here in essence is my reason to have wine judging: to popularize wine in an atmosphere of fun-filled competition where it is understood by all that the results are arbitrary and are meant for entertainment purposes primarily. Once we put more stock in our own palate experience then it's possible to enjoy the wide range of opinions we find among the expert and novice wine enthusiast alike.
Cheers!
Donald W. White