HOW WINEWISE TASTINGS ARE CONDUCTED
The Winewise panel hard at work
BLIND PANEL TASTINGS
Most of the wines assessed by Winewise are reviewed by a panel through blind tastings conducted under Australian show judging conditions.
A panel (as compared to assessments by one person) is likely to give more balanced assessments, overcoming individual preferences as to style, variety and quality. Occasionally, even experienced judges have an off-day so a panel ensures all wines get a fair go. Much debate occurs around the Winewise tasting tables!
The wines are poured into Riedel Ouverture Magnums by our stewards, out of sight of our panel members. As far as possible, we assess like-with-like; that is, wines are grouped by variety, age and region. It is important that all styles are fairly considered, from the very elegant to the big blockbusters. Generally, we taste only 12 wines at a time. Thus, if there are 36 wines to assess in a particular class, they would be judged in three groups of 12. This method of assessment is far less stressful than in a normal show judging environment but, as per the show system, panel members refrain from discussing a wine until all the score sheets are handed in.
After each group is assessed, the scores from each panel member are collated and the merits of each wine considered - if necessary, after (sometimes) robust discussion, the scores are adjusted. When all wines in the class have been assessed in this way, an order of preference is determined based on the scores and the accompanying comments and then, and only then, the identity of each wine is revealed.
While we use the 20 point score scale of the Australian show system, we place greater importance on the comments of each panel member so that we may make our recommendations to our readers according to the following categories: 'Outstanding', 'Highly Recommended', 'Recommended', 'Agreeable', 'Acceptable', and 'Unacceptable'. We do not publish scores as they really tell you little about a wine - concise descriptions of a wine's characteristics are far more informative.
Our stewards David Yeates and Andrew Veilands pour the wines
