Judging report at
IWSC 2012
It was raining in the morning...but the prospects of
spending my day judging wines with respectful personalities from the industry
made me feel positive and excited. Table 10 (team of 4) was waiting for me with
Jane Mastering the team, the Nice David writing the tasting notes and then this
3rd guy, that was taking been professional to a step I never seen
before! To start champagne, that early showed that the tasters were analyzing
and giving more importance to different characteristics...but the same principle.
Some Champagnes were just too oxidised, but others you could
see how some producers went in a big effort to create delicious products. Some
medals awarded and time arrived for Rioja red...Is really hard to give a medal
to a wine without the main context that is obvious the average price that a
consumer would paid. Price aside the beautiful fruit of Tempranilho (Tinta
Roriz, Aragonez) was literally there and aged in oaks from around the world.
First unusual blind
tasting that came to the table and was from Bulgaria (Merlot and Cabernet
Sauvignon Blend). Was strange, unusual and for me hints of sulphur in some. I
assumed that they had the normal contents but the weak body wouldn’t cover even
that! Time for Portuguese wine arrived and completely out of context, I mean
heavy dry red wine from Alentejo 2011. All done with traditional wine making
and by experience I know that they are perfect for the local gastronomy (sopa
da pedra, Carne alentejana,etc)...no medals at all but the 3rd guy
could save some unpleasant comments and the chain of laugh like it was
something personal...lol.
One hour break arrived to have lunch and rest our exhausted senses.
Satisfied and replenish some pink champagne was waiting for us, when is good is
a really pleasant taste and overall some deserved medals were given. Then more
red wine, the strong and famed Corbieres full of wild berries jams flavours and
amazing roundness and complex richness. Second round for Portuguese wine but
this time they were Douro red 2008 with some pretentious reserves in the
middle. They were good and represented proudly the region, exception to a few
producers that decided to cover the natural fruit with heavy oak. After, in my
opinion the first gold medal arrived and should go to a Pouilly-Fume from Loire
Region, amazing balance between crispness, minerality and cleanliness in the
palate and some passion fruit in the nose...After that I decided to join the
tasting mood of my colleagues and like we say around the world THE CAPTAIN IS
ALWAYS THE LAST TO LIVE THE BOAT and for last ICE WINE suited perfectly the
position, sophisticated and Imaginative WINEMAKING...