Going for Gold?

The moral of this story is to trust your own taste, rather than official ratings.

Last Spring, the International Wine Challenge 2006 judging took place. Over 9,000 wines were tasted and rated, by panels of judges including amateurs (who had passed a tasting test), wine industry professions and experts. Just over 300 of these wines were given gold medals, meaning that they had been given marks of eighteen or more out of twenty by at least two panels of judges.

At the International Wine Fair in May, at the Excel Centre in London Docklands, many of these wines were shown by the producer or the importer, and (completely unofficially) were advertised as having won a gold medal. I tried quite a few of them there, in comparison with many that did not reach this level. To say the least, I differed for the official judgement on many of the wines, and some that reached gold medal level I found very crude and commercial.

A few years ago, I took part in judging a preliminary round of another competition, and found that my marks and comments were at odds with a majority of the judges – very much lower in most cases.

In October last year, the official results were published in Wine International Magazine. Paul Mapplebeck was commissioned by the Chalfont and Amersham Club to show a range of the gold medal wines, and managed to acquire 17 of them. Many are not imported, or are in short supply and extremely difficult to find. They held a tasting in late February, and Paul presented another selection to the Central London Society in early March.

Three of the wines were very badly received, getting less than half the possible marks. Only one of the wines was voted better than ‘quaffing’ quality – the extremely impressive Jim Barry MacCrae Wood Shiraz 2003. Average marks are given – the range was not large except for the Casillero del Diabolo and the Jacobs Creek . Only the two starred * wines were regarded as good value for money.

CENTRAL LONDON WINE SOCIETY IWC

2006 GOLD MEDAL WINNERS

	Wine	Notes	Supplier	Mark %
1.	Germany (Mosel) 2005 Ayler Kupp Margaretenhof Riesling Kabinett 8.5%	Sugar water with acidity under – no Riesling character	Majestic Wine Warehouse £5.99	40
2.	South Africa (Stellenbosch) 2005 Warwick Estate – Prof. Black Sauvignon Blanc 14%	Hot, acidic, modest Fruit, very earthy	Flagship Wine (St Albans) £11.50	45
3.	France (Loire) 2005 Taste the Difference Sauvignon Blanc 13%	Some oak & length, but little fruit and poor structure	Sainsbury £8.99	57
4.	France (Bordeaux) 2001 Ch de Lussac (80% Merlot) Lussac-St-Emilion 13%	Mature fruit on nose, very dried out on palate. Far too old.	Tesco £11.99	53
5.	Chile (Central Valley) 2005 Casillero del Diabolo Merlot 13.5%	Straightforward, fruity. Short & rather hard on finish	Majestic Wine Warehouse £5.49	68*
6.	California (CentralCoast) 2004 Cycles Gladiator Merlot 13.5%	Rich fruit, ripe tannins, but not very varietal. Little development	Waitrose £6.99	66
7.	Portugal (Duoro) 2004 Taste the Difference Duoro 14%	Porty nose, old- fashioned wood taste, hot on end	Sainsbury £6.99	57
8.	South Africa (Stellenbosch) Spier Private Collection Pinotage 14%	Minerals and spice but little fruit: dry and harsh. Earthy finish	ASDA £11.99	56
9.	Australia (South Eastern) 2004 Jacob’s Creek Shiraz 14%	Over-ripe fruit, no Shiraz character, drying out and medicinal	Morrisons £5.99	44
10	Australia (South – ClareValley) 2003 Jim Barry MacCrae Wood Shiraz 15.5%	Deep, rich, balanced; oak, violets and leather. Long & developing	Flagship Wine (St Albans) £18.99	83*

 

 

Presented by Paul Mapplebeck 8 March 2007