Here Comes the Judge

Recently I participated as a judge in my first official wine competition sponsored by WineMaker Magazine and conducted at the lovely Equinox Resort in Manchester Vermont. I was one of forty-five judges, working in three-person teams to smell, taste and assess a record-breaking 4,329 entered wines. The number of wines was up from 3,411, the record set last year and represented entries from all over North America. Our judging would not have been possible without the diligent and always cheerful assistance of over thirty “Worker Bees,” volunteers that gathered wines, organized and poured our flights and emptied our spittoons (Ugh…). Yup, spittoons. Personally, I judged nearly 300 wines over the course of the weekend and without spitting, the job would have been impossible. The wines were all amateur wines, but they were all very well made with only a few really flawed entries. We used the UC Davis twenty-point system, which I lauded in December of 2005. After using the system repeatedly to rate 300 wines, its efficiency and accuracy were reaffirmed. The key to judging, in my opinion is the ability to separate personal bias from the process. You may not like a wine because of its taste or style, but if the wine is technically well made, correctly styled and distinctive in flavor, then you must judge it appropriately. Judging and assessing wines depends on a structured, repeatable process, with a clear understanding of the technical components of wine making, as well as knowledge of wine typicality and style. Another key to effective judging is the ability to provide accurate feedback to the winemaker. It’s not sufficient to provide merely a numeric score in a wine competition, especially an amateur competition. Winemakers need feedback why their wines did, or didn’t score well – this will enable them to improve on their shortcomings, or repeat the successes. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the competition. It was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun too. I’m looking forward to taking part again next year and the whole experience has given me thought to becoming a Certified Wine Judge, an accreditation bestowed by the American Wine Society (www.americanwinesociety.org). One thing that clearly resonates with me throughout this process – there are a lot of folks making non-commercial wine with great enthusiasm and passion. I did a little research and found that home winemaking production has increased over 40% in the last five years. Now, this number is admittedly a little soft, largely because there is no measurable production/sales market for non-commercial wine. However, the percentage is based on the sale of wine making kits and wine making grapes through non-commercial outlets. The sales of kits and grapes are clearly climbing, which is further underscored by the turnout at the WineMaker competition. In many of my classes, folks ask about home winemaking – its difficulty and cost. Given that the first wine making efforts were likely accidental, it’s not terribly difficult to make wine at home. Making really good wine at home takes a bit more effort and knowledge, but even then, wine making can be as difficult, or as easy as you want. Cost-wise, we produce our Whistling Frog wines for a little less than $4 per bottle, which includes grapes, amortized equipment costs, bottles and incidentals. I’m sure that cost is less with kits, or using plain juice/concentrates. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you ever wanted to try your hand at making your own wine – now is the time. The number of wine making supply shops is growing and the available expertise, through publications like WineMaker Magazine is plentiful. So, Carpe Vinum!

Cheers!
Paul & Betsy