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The Gems of the Competition
At Canada’s most popular food & wine show

Michael Vaughan • Wine & Spirits Columnist
National Post • Saturday, March 17, 2001
 

It makes them green with envy and it hasn’t got anything to do with St. Patrick’s Day! It’s my life as a professional taster. Sure, it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.

And when I complain to my friends, they shed crocodile tears. While casual tasting is most certainly a joy, wine judging isn’t always a cakewalk. Over the past three weeks I have waded through some 953 wines – over 40 a day! Multiply this by some three sips per glass and you have a tongue-numbing 120 spits a day. Indeed, the total expectorated (the polite word for spit) of this three-week period far exceeds the average person’s wine consumption over a whole year!

Part of these tastings were for next week’s Toronto Wine & Cheese Show. Having judged at competitions around the world, I occasionally see results that are not worth the paper they’re printed on. The key is not in getting a lot of well-known personalities on a panel. It’s the acuity of the taster’s palates that count. In fact, it’s not unusual to discover that the very best wine has not succeeded when confronted by a large panel of tasters with various skills. The reason is that less skilled tasters often impose their personal likes and dislikes into the evaluation process. The worst-case scenario sees different panels evaluating subgroups of the same type of wines producing virtually meaningless results. In contrast, a smaller panel of just a few highly qualified tasters will give you much more consistent and, therefore, meaningful results. 

Organized by the Food & Beverage Testing Institute, the wines are served blind in small flights by varietal and in appropriate categories by price. It makes sense to break out wines by price because a winemaker who receives twice as much money for his wine and can afford to make a better product by using more expensive grapes, better barrels, etc. Thus, the total points to win a gold medal in the under $12 range, for instance, will be less demanding than in the over $25 range.

There are three levels of awards – gold, silver and bronze for 17 different classes. Each class is broken down into smaller flights, which are graded and given awards without any discussion between the judges. Then the flight is carefully reviewed and final points tallied along with the award, which must be unanimous.

It’s tough because if 87 points is the threshold for a bronze, then there are may be many 86.5 point wines that are worth buying but don’t make the cut. As in any competition, a line has to be drawn. In addition, when a faulty wine is found a new bottle was opened. The second sample isn’t always sound. In a flight of seven Sauvignon Blanc (under $12), four were corked. Our retasting revealed that only one newly opened bottles were free of mustiness! It’s unnerving to think that there are a lot of folks out there who are not offended by drinking musty wines! One obvious problem with any competition is that a flawed wine may not be spotted.

In the past there were only three medals per class. This seemed unfair because in a class of 80+ competitors how do you decide whether the 92-point Riesling or 92 point Chardonnay should get gold?  You can’t – they both deserve gold! For the consumer, it’s great to include a much wider selection all of which make the cut.

This year’s competition saw some 500 entries and resulted in only 32 gold medals – less than two per class or about 6% of the total! Where the wines in a class didn’t make the cut, there was no award! There are also “best of” awards focusing on the crème de la crème. Best yet, this competition pits Canada’s best against its international peers – a real competition of wines you can buy!

Knowing what to taste at next weekend’s show is critical. Starting at the top, the “best value” white was the South African KWV 2000 Chardonnay a delicious buy at $8.85 (all wines are at the LCBO unless otherwise noted). “Best of show” white was Ontario’s Cilento 1999 Chardonnay Reserve a stellar example at $29.95 (currently at the winery only).

“Best value” red was the Chilean Concha y Toro 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon fine value at $10.40, while the “best of show” red was the remarkable Henry of Pelham 1998 Cabernet/Merlot available through Vintages ($29.95) or at the winery.

With Easter around the corner, this “best of show” off-dry fruit wine Stoney Ridge 1999 Cranberry is a must-taste. It’s only $12.95 and has a delicious, fresh, slightly sweet, ripe cranberry flavour with just the perfect touch of tartness. It’s the perfect elixir for a juicy, freshly baked ham (turkey or chicken) and is part of the Vintages “Essential” program.

Finally, the “best of show” sweet wine was Magnotta 1999 Riesling Icewine Merritt Road Limited Edition at $39.95 for 375 ml. (available only at Magnotta stores – call 1-800-461-9463). Its sweet, rich, pungent, caramelized apple essence flavours will sweep you off your feet - perfect all by itself.

You can taste these award-winning wines at the respective agent booths at the show as well as at the Wine Access booth where David Lawrason (who was on the judging panel) will be on hand to taste them with you. To see all the results click here: FBTI Wine Awards

Running next weekend, Friday (starting noon) through Sunday (6 pm), the Toronto Wine & Cheese Show is the largest show of its kind in Canada with over 30,000 in attendance. It features more than a thousand wines by the glass on a ticket basis.

As for me, I'll take an Irish 1798 Revolution Red Ale!

 

 

 

 

Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada 2004
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net