Wine Competitions- The Debate Continues

July 29, 2008

The other day, on SA Rocks, I posted that Nederburg had won the Lexus Shiraz challenge.

Well the post received an interesting comment from a person by the name of Lenie ,  who was very quick to criticize wine competitions and the nature of judging.

I naturally responded, sharing with Lenie the wisdom and learning’s that I have gained from criticizing competitions in the past.

Part of Lenie’s comment: “I don’t want to take anything away from Nederburg, but the way certain wines were blatently placed ahead of others in the selection process deserves to be looked at.”

You can read the full comments here.

Anyway, I then stumbled upon an article written by Neil Pendock who shares his thoughts on technical tastings and the judging process adopted in certain competitions.

Read the full article here.

I personally love the way in which Pendock constructs his argument and again, it does highlight that there is lot to be desired when it comes to competitions.

“The Lexus Challenge implies that a highly rated Orange Shiraz will not find favour with Mr. Blonde, and vice-versa. Perhaps tasting in pairs is one way forward or in panels where maverick opinions may be discarded as outliers. Although averaging scores does have a habit of advancing mediocrity.

I’m not going to bickle about it though - but rather warn people not to take the results of competitions too seriously - they are merely a guide and not a bible on what to buy.

Posted in Views & Opinions