Francais | English | Espanõl

Wine competition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The most common form of wine competition is one in which awards are given to groups of wines in various winning categories on the basis of the blind tasting of wine. That is, the judges do not know the identity of the wines they are evaluating. The awards are frequently bronze, silver, gold, and double gold medals. However, ribbons of various colors are also sometimes used. It is not uncommon for one-third or more of the wines competing to be awarded medals. Some critical observers compare the results to "grade inflation." For example, in 2005 the International Wine Challenge received over 9,000 entries and handed out 5,628 awards. Thus, over one-half of the entries were "winners" and could advertise themselves as award-winning wines.

Such competitions tend to be organized by wineries, their trade associations, or entrepreneurs. They are popular with producers because there are many winners and the medals are useful in marketing their products.

The other form of competition, of which there have been only a few, is most often organized by wine lovers and is consumer-oriented. Its goal is not to help market wine but to evaluate wine quality. The judges also evaluate the wines blind. However, instead of giving numerous awards, the wines are ranked by number from high to low in each wine category, a process known as ordinal ranking. Thus, there is only one first place winner, one second place, one third place, and so on down to the lowest place. If 12 wines are evaluated, they are ranked from one to 12, although ties may occur.

The latter form of competition is often preferred by wine lovers. Producers often disassociate themselves from them because there can only be one winner in each category. Typically, there are only two categories, which are red and white wines.

Beginning in the 1960s, a number of winemakers in California aspired to create wines that could rival the great wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, which they so greatly admired. These wines were their standards of excellence, which they bought, drank, studied, and emulated. By the early 1970s a number had produced wines that they believed were outstanding, but had great difficulty marketing them, even the United States. The results of some early blind competitions were discounted and discredited by the wine world. Although the competitions were blind, the argument was that the judges somehow knew which wines they were tasting and were biased. Another was that the quality of the French wines was reduced in transit across the ocean.

However, the results of the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 couldn’t be ignored. The blind evaluations were conducted by crème de la crème of the French wine establishment and it was the California wines that had endured the transit. The judges ranked a California wine number one among the ten white wines, and they also ranked three California wines among the top four white wines. More important, they also ranked a California red wine number one among ten reds, including Château Mouton-Rothschild, Château Haut-Brion, Château Montrose, and Château Leoville Las Cases .

The results shocked the world of wine and led to the recognition that world class wines could and were being produced outside France . This, in turn, led other New World wine makers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, and a number of other countries to believe that they, too, might be able to compete with the very best. The results also led to raised aspirations among Old World producers such as Spain,Italy and Portugal. Some critics believe that the consequence has been even higher quality in French wines and that the results of the Paris Wine Tasting have benefited consumers around the world.

Because of the reputation of top French wines, they continue to be viewed as the benchmark against which all others are judged. Consequently, all of the following competitions have included prestigious French wines.

In the beginning it was wines from California that wished to compete against the legendary greats of France but increasingly wines from other New World locations are doing the same as their quality continues to rise.

In the wine competitions listed below (1) all tasting was performed blind and (2) all results were ranked in ordinal form -- strictly high to low -- within wine category. They are listed here chronologically and briefly described.

  • San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978: The same wines earlier evaluated in the Paris competition were again judged. On the first day, 98 judges awarded the top three ranks in the white wine category to California wines. On the second day, 99 judges awarded the highest rank for red wine to Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, which had earlier won first place in Paris. Second and third place ranks were won by other California reds, followed by Château Mouton Rothschild in fourth place.
  • Wine Olympics (1979): A French food and wine magazine organized a competition of 330 wines from 33 countries evaluated by 62 experts. A California wine was judged best Chardonnay in the world, California wines won six of the top ten ranks in the Cabernet-Merlot competition, and an Oregon wine won first place in the Pinot Noir competition.
  • Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981: In the Ottawa competition, experts evaluated 13 wines from France and California and awarded the top five ranks to California wines.
  • Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986: In a second tenth anniversary competition, six judges evaluated the same ten red wines earlier tasted in Paris. California wines won the top five ranks.
  • Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997: European jury tasted three vintages (1989, 1992 and 1994) of 27 Chardonnays from seven countries. Seventy percent were from France. All other countries were represented by one wine except for Australia, which had two entries. Ranked number one was Robert Mondavi Chardonnay Reserve, a California wine.
  • Berlin Wine Tasting of 2004: Thirty-six European wine experts evaluated two vintages each of eight top wines from France, Italy, and Chile. The first and second-place wines were both from Chile.
  • Ottawa Wine Tasting of 2005: Eighteen wines (six each from Bordeaux, Ontario, and British Columbia) were evaluated by 35 expert tasters and monitored by an organization responsible for marketing French wine. First rank went to a British Columbia wine, second went to an Ontario wine, and third place went to a Bordeaux wine.
  • The Wine Rematch of the Century: In a 30-year anniversary relication of the Paris competition, California wines increased their rankings and won the first five ranks in the field of ten.

World class wines are now being produced in many countries around the world. Wine makers continue to explore new areas for vineyards, new vineyard techniques, improved technology for enhancing quality during fermentation, and better ageing methods. In turn, many French winemakers no longer rely on tradition but have joined the wine revolutions to the benefit of consumers everywhere.

[edit] See also

[edit] Source

  • French Wine Producers and Consumers
  • Taber, George M. ‘’Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine’’. NY: Scribner, 2005.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Wine_competition"
Personal tools