By Melinda Kelly
(image by Chris Elfes)
Swirl, sniff, taste and spit. Imagine repeating that process 120 times each day for up to three consecutive days. How would your palate, taste buds, nose and brain process all of that information?
For most of us, it would be a total sensory overload. But for Sarah Crowe, one of the Hunter Valley’s leading young winemakers, it’s all in a day’s work.
The 2009 Hunter Valley Rising Star of the Year, former assistant winemaker at Brokenwood Wines and now Senior Winemaker with Bimbadgen Estate, has just finished judging at the 2010 Hunter Valley Wine Show.
She says that although she loves judging at wine shows and it is a real privilege to be invited, it is far from the glamorous wine indulgence we imagine.
“We begin judging at 8:30am sharp. You might start the day with 60 one year old reds with lots of tannin, which dries out your mouth first thing. Alternatively, it could be 60 current vintage Semillons with all that fresh zesty acidity, which can also dry out the mouth. Depending on your dental history, it can be quite painful. Not to mention scaring small children with blackened teeth when you smile at then,” Sarah said.
“It’s actually a job and a very serious one. There is an obligation to the exhibitors to judge fairly and consistently, and also to the wine show system to maintain the integrity it has fostered for over 150 years to improve the quality of Australian wine,” she said.
At all Australian wine shows, judging is done “blind”, that is, labels and any distinguishing marks on bottles are covered, the wine is poured by stewards and except for the name of the class, the judges are not aware of what wine they are tasting.
How the scoring works
Each wine is usually tasted by a panel made up of three judges and one assistant judge and is scored on a 20 point scale. Points are divided into a maximum of three points for appearance, seven points for nose and ten points for palate.
“Any wine scoring less than 15.5 is awarded nothing, 15.5 to 16.9 receives a bronze, 17 to 18.4 receives a silver, and 18.5 or above receives a gold medal,” explains Sarah.
The top gold medal winners in each category are then judged again to decide which wine is the ultimate trophy winner in class.
Australia’s first wine show was held in the Hunter Valley in 1848, while the Hunter Valley Wine Show has been held continuously since 1974 and is regarded as Australia’s premier regional wine show.
At this year’s Hunter Valley Wine Show, an incredible 768 wines were exhibited by 100 Hunter Valley exhibitors. They were judged by a senior panel of respected palates, led by Chairman of Judges, Iain Riggs, and including Guest International Judge, the highly respected New Zealand wine editor and speaker, Bob Campbell.
The trophies were shared between an eclectic mix of successful up-and-coming and well-established wineries, with Tempus Two awarded Best Dry White Wine for their 2003 Copper Zenith Semillon and Tyrrell’s Vineyards awarded Best Dry Red Wine for their 2009 Vat 9 Shiraz.
Other respected Hunter Valley wineries to collect trophies included First Creek, Phat Wine, Drayton Family Wines, Pepper Tree Wines, De Iuliis Wines, Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard, McGuigan Wines and McWilliam’s Mount Pleasant Winery.
For a listing of all trophy winning wines and more information on the wine show system, go to www.hunterwineshow.com.au
More Rescu. articles about wine, you may enjoy:
1. RESCU’s Semillon wine cheat sheet
2. Stop and smell the rosé: RESCU’s Rosé wine cheat sheet
3. Wines to serve for special occasion dinners
4. Learn the art of Wine Tasting