Phil Trickett tackles a large line-up of pinot noir

Let me take you to an imaginary wine show where there are over 3,000 wines to judge with five panels of judges (three judges and one associate for each panel) headed by a Chairperson of Judges.  Breakfast at 7.30am with kick-off at 8.30am.  On the first morning we face 41 Rieslings, 20 Dry White Blends, and 43 Chardonnays.  Lunch at about 1.15pm and then 33 Merlots.  But wait, there’s still 68 Shiraz to judge!  So we sit down and begin to wade through these.  About a third of the way through your gums feel like coarse sandpaper.  You restore your mouth and sense of taste by chewing some green olives (they’re great for absorbing tannins – try it at home) and soldier on.  You discover a Gold medal wine early on but then nothing of that quality until you hit wine No 64 – wow, this is good, another Gold medal?  I wonder what the other judges think?

You sit down with your fellow judges to tally the scores.  There is a fair measure of agreement on the middling and lesser wines but some divergence on what each judge thinks are the top wines, and so, any wine that scores a Gold medal from any judge is pulled out for re-evaluation.  The panel knuckles down again and reassesses those wines – eventually we all agree that Wine No 4 is Gold and the others are only of Silver standard but we’re still split on No 64 – let’s call in the Chairperson for his opinion.  Yes, he thinks the wine has the intensity to justify Gold - the panel agrees and we all reach for a beer to end the day at about 5.00pm.  Just as you’re relaxing, the realisation dawns that you have to do this all over again for another two days!

This doesn’t sound very glamorous, does it?  Wine judging is very hard work and is not for everyone.  Leaving aside the essential requirement that you need a very good palate, it also requires great concentration and stamina.  When you’re judging big classes, you need to do justice to all the wines, including the very last wine in a large line up.  You need to be able to recognise the wines that stand out while giving fair assessments of the lesser wines.  You also need to be tolerant: tolerant of different wine styles and regional characteristics, tolerant of grape varieties you don’t particularly like and tolerant of your fellow judges’ opinions. 

Having said that, it’s not all hard yakka.  What makes it worthwhile are the judges’ dinners and the special bottles each judge brings to the dinner table as well as the exchange of opinions and camaraderie that ensues.  Okay, Lester, when’s the next show?

Len Sorbello

Note: this is a revised version of an article that first appeared in Ethos - the official journal of the ACT Law Society - in 2007.

Next in the Series: The Value of Regional Wine Shows