Apprentice comes good

Paul, along with dozens of other readers had volunteered to join me in London for an extraordinary day out as a guest associate judge at the Challenge. After submitting a wine “CV”, I then asked for an example of his tasting notes for a selection of wines. Paul’s entry came in with good notes and a clear descriptive style, which is essential for a judge, and so he beat several other good contenders for the coveted place.

Writing good tasting notes is one thing, but actually keeping up with blind tasting over a hundred wines in a day is another. “I don’t think I realised the pace of the competition, it really demands concentration and focus,” said Paul. “But I really enjoyed the day which has opened my eyes to new wines, especially to some stunning Portuguese white wines.”

Tasting with other judges is also a learning experience. On my team that day was a Croatian wine writer whose knowledge of Eastern Europe was especially useful, as were his pronunciation skills for some of the trickier grape varieties such as Graševina and Pošip. Master of Wine Robin Crameri was another valuable team member bringing decades of experience in the wine trade.

My job, as panel chairman was to steer the group towards consensus about each wine, making sure that each one was judged fairly for quality, potential and typicity, and also making sure that each panel member had the chance to voice their opinion.

We started off with a flight of seven champagnes, all the bottles carefully covered up and each given a four-digit number for identification. There is no chance of cheating. Then we tasted through some fairly disappointing French rosé wines, some crisp New Zealand whites and a flight of sturdy Argentinian Malbecs.

As we tasted through one flight of wines, another was being set up on the next table. There was no time for a sip of water or a biscuit between wines; this was serious tasting – swirl, sniff, slurp and spit – and good tasting notes to decide the fate of each wine. There was a good lunch, without wine, and a chance to rest the feet, since most serious tasting is done standing up, then back to the tasting hall and yet more flights of wine. The end of the day was rewarded with a selection of stunning Loire sweet wines which hung on the palate like dew-drops of sweetness, floral complexity and clean acidity.

But the decision to put a wine forward or reject it did not rest solely with my panel. Every wine which we decided was not good enough for a medal, including those rejected for faults was re-tasted, blind, by one of the six chairmen of the competition. These chairmen, including four Masters of Wine and some of the world’s best palates, had the ultimate casting vote. So every wine was tasted at least twice before a decision was made.

Those sent through to the next round of tastings and medals were assessed again, by one of the twenty panels in the following week, and maybe even by my own panel, although the system of numbering seems designed so that you can’t actually remember any of them. This makes the process completely fair.

At one point Paul was rescued from the relentless tasting regime by the chairmen of the Challenge which include TV wine expert Oz Clarke and regular Yorkshire visitor, Charles Metcalfe. “I had already met Oz before at one of his book launches,” said Paul “and I had heard Charles speak at a York Festival event, so it was nice to meet them in person.” They took Paul though the process of being the ultimate arbiters in the competition, although even they need back-up from another chairman to change a medal decision. “Tasting with Oz was a terrific experience,” said Paul. “I even got to taste some of the faulty wines, cork taint, oxidation and chemical taints which I have heard about but never tasted before.”

Of all the wine competitions, and there are several, The Challenge is the one that I think has the widest reach across all wines, the most rigorous tasting procedures and the most reliable results.

A medal-winning wine sells better than one that doesn’t have a medal and if this kind of competition encourages wine producers to improve the quality of their winemaking then I am all for it.

The full results including Trophy winners and top merchant awards won’t be out until September, but the medals are already listed on the website www.internationalwinechallenge.com.

Look out for some of the Gold medal-winning wines which are already out.

Halifax Wine Co (01422 256333) has the excellent, Carmenère Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 at £9.45. Asda’s Extra Special Vintage Champagne 2002 won gold and at just £20.17, is a remarkable bargain and Domaine Les Yeuses ‘Les Epices’ Syrah 2009 (Majestic £6.99 on multibuy) stood out for its elegant spicy fruit and soft, rounded tannins.

As for Paul, has he recovered from his experience? “Yes it was a fantastic day out and a great opportunity to taste some terrific wines,” he said, and it seems to have sparked even more interest in wine. “I would really like to visit the vineyards of Chile and Argentina, if it wasn’t so expensive to get there.”

Meanwhile, I will probably be looking for another apprentice wine taster next year, so watch this space.