Decanter awards

Usually I spend my time exclusively on the Loire Valleybut this year I decanter awards some time judging in Bordeaux as well. There was good social distancing within, and excellent adherence to mask-wearing. All participants judges, runners, decanter awards, Decanter staff and support staff self-tested for Covid antigen on a daily basis before attending.

The Decanter World Wine Awards is the largest wine competition in the world. More and more countries enter every year and sees 57 of them put forward their wines to be judged by over wine industry heavyweights over the course of two weeks. As I arrive at Excel CentrEd to see behind the scenes of the judging process — where the magic happens — I marvel at how unceremonious it all seems. Perhaps inside the judging rooms is a different story? Instead of bustling rooms of excitement, the rooms are quiet, serious and sedate. The judges are concentrating, swirling, spitting, frowning, furrowing.

Decanter awards

The Decanter Awards are the largest and most influential wine awards globally and this year 18, wines were tasted by judges whose tongues must have been made of steel in a rigorous process which ensures fair judging with the drinker and consumer firming in mind. Libby was fortunate to sit down with Co-Chair Andrew Jefford, who has been with the Awards since they were set up 18 years ago, and ask him a few questions on his wine background, preferences and what he thinks of the awards. I felt there should be more, so I started making my own wine with carrots and elderflower and grape juice. It was an interesting process. I was by Hugh Johnson and others and decided to have a go at writing about wine myself. It worked out though! You do a range of roles within wine, which do you love the most? There are three main privileges of the job. Tasting, like these last 2 weeks and being a part of the Decanter Awards, the travel of course, until recently but probably my favourite thing is the writing. How did you originally become involved with Decanter Awards? I have been here since the first year. I was on the original panel of region chairs for Languedoc-Roussilon and then I worked my way up to be one of the three Co-Chairs of the whole Awards now. We want a cross section of skills with judges, so we have those working in trade, buyers, people making commercial decisions, educators and of course, sommeliers. They taste on behalf of the drinkers. Sommeliers are really surrogate drinkers with expertise whereas others can lose sight of the fact that this is about what is good for a person in a shop or restaurant who wants to find their way to a nice bottle which will over-deliver.

Bordeaux was also part of my plans for the end of the week, as I expected today to be able to add a couple more tasting notes to my published Bordeaux reports, decanter awards.

I spent three fulfilling days last week chairing the Burgundy panel at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The competition has flourished over the 10 years since its inception, and now attracts over 14, entries for the various teams to taste. One significant change is the move to writing notes on iPads which, allowing for some teething problems, worked superbly well. I particularly enjoyed inputting notes through the iPad, since that is what I do these days when tasting in cellars, and at least I can read what I have written afterwards. The change of venue to Tobacco Dock was also an unqualified success — or would have been if the tube strike had not put obstacles in our way. Everybody got there in the end, with the river boats being favoured until the early sailings on Wednesday morning got cancelled because of fog. And so to the tasting.

March 7th — Decanter World Wine Awards DWWA present wine producers with the opportunity to be judged by some of the most experienced and prominent experts from around the world. A medal at DWWA provides international recognition and is a trusted benchmark for both trade and consumers. The largest wine competition in the world, last year, the 20 th anniversary of the awards saw a record number of 18, wines from 57 countries judged. The rigorous judging process sees wines blind tasted in order to conceal producer identities and are categorised based on region, colour, grape, style, vintage and price point to accurately benchmark wine quality. If DWWA is the largest wine competition in the world as it has been since at least , those judges are a key reason. After extensive tasting and re-tasting by the judges, wines are given points. The very finest wines are promoted to Platinum medal status points with the best 50 wines from this list then promoted to Best in Show. Sustainability is a key focus for the DWWA team. All plastic and cardboard is collected and recycled, while every bottle is crushed and remelted, ready to be remade into usable glass within 30 days.

Decanter awards

Top medals showcase an exciting breadth of world-class wine regions on the West Coast, as New York winery also strikes Gold. In , more than expert judges, including 44 Masters of Wine and 11 Master Sommeliers, tasted a record 18, wines from 56 countries. Just 0. There were also Platinum and Gold medals awarded, making up 0. There were also six Gold medals for sparkling wines, and a cache of exciting Golds for wines that might normally fly below the radar.

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Glass is a big question for the wine world. This is where diplomacy is very much a virtue and it is necessary to deal with the tricky realities of the judging process. France, I think, stylistically it has remained pretty true to itself because every region is different and every region has its own parameters. Who does it benefit? In the long-run you have to be able to offer a bit more than that, I think. We make a real impact on the winemakers and the drinkers and the industry. All of this is done to keep the competition as fair and as unbiased as possible. For example, if everyone in the industry is loving high acidity, dry Rieslings at the time, would they think a softer, floral wine is less good just because it is less fashionable? Main brands. I think for all of us, learning to have the confidence to talk is super important, especially when you come from different countries — building relationships is important before you can judge confidently. About Alan Rickman and moustaches and his accent? After all, no palate is the same, there is no ultimate correct answer. Blog , Bordeaux , Loire Valley.

The world's largest and most influential wine competition, Decanter World Wine Awards results offer a definitive guide to the dynamic world of wine. An all-time record for wines tasted, discover the results from the 19th edition of the competition.

But certainly, you just have to be fair to the wines. This new strategy is giving them great joy and the wines are receiving high scores in the most prestigious wine competitions. Clearly, the imperative is to make the highest quality wine possible and this is all good news for the consumer. Next Post ». How are the judges selected? Confidence to be able to talk and defend your decisions is key as both a chair and a judge, which is something Sarah empathises with. Steven Spurrier. Any favourites? Did you ask him the questions I told you too? The wine world has plenty of competitions and dishes out numerous medals — but few make the industry sit up and take notice like the Decanter World Wine Awards. The geographical aspect of it is fascinating, the geological aspect is fascinating. At the top end, the gold-level wines awarded in this region always intrigue; I always find myself wondering if it is from a domaine I know well, or could this be a new discovery? Everything is changing every year. Bodegas Vicente Gandia, the first winery to be ranked as a socially responsible entity. Turkey, Lebanon and Maldova are also very exciting.