Associate Judging.

One of the questions I get asked the most is what I want to be in the wine industry, a question I find extremely hard to answer. Do I want to be tied down as a certain part of the industry or could I spread myself across numerous parts. I have no desire to be a wine maker or work in the vineyards, although I do want to learn and spend time doing each of them in order to understand more about wine.

It's always been very clear to me that having respect and an identity within the industry with my peers and industry leaders is paramount to longevity and success. There seem to be a lot of flash in the pan sort of ventures in wine, people looking to make a quick buck or try their hand at a side hustle. It’s a fun industry to be a part of, wine and food, events and lots of socializing, I mean who wouldn’t want a piece of that pie. To me this is how I am going to support my family, how I’m going to make a living so its so much more than a side hustle now.

Being invited to associate judge at the Melbourne Royal Wine Show was a truly exciting moment in my career, its one thing to taste and review wines, but another to judge them as part of a panel of experts, many who have been judging for decades! It’s kind of scary and nerve-wracking, but as I was told by some people who were there ‘your obviously here for a reason’. Basically it was a kick in the butt I needed, to believe that I was meant to be there, sure I wasn’t an expert or highly decorated wine judge, but everyone has to start somewhere, and why not start in an environment I was very uncomfortable in!

We were greeted with 28 glasses of 2022 Vintage Shiraz, what a way to start the day. A short and sharp brief by my panel chair, Tom Carson had me shitting bricks more than I thought possible. 40 minutes was the expected time to get through these wines, to assess them on color, clarity, aroma, palate weight, tannin and fruit balance. It would seem to many that it would be an easy job, a dream job perhaps and it is, its incredible. But that does not make it any easier to do, it’s extremely hard work, keeping focused and ensuring your palate is in check takes time and skill, 2 things I don’t carry with me in large volumes. 

I truly believe I can assess wine at a pretty high level, I’m no expert and have an absolute ton of information to learn and wines to taste, we have such a small sample size of wines here in Aus compared to what’s out there. It seems impossible to know it all or to be a perfect taster. Going through the wines in blocks of 5, smelling and assessing color, tasting and evaluating, pushing the ones back that weren’t going to score high enough for a medal, keeping the ones I thought were higher quality out front, aiming to get back to them if time permitted. I used 4 key areas to asses, color, aromas, palate weight/balance and length. Did the wine have nice bright coloring being a young vintage, were there any detectable faults (like Brett) on the nose, did the fruit show on the palate or was it overrun by harsh tannins or aggressive acid. Balance on the palate and length are 2 key factors I look for in any wine, so it became apparent if I was methodical, stuck to my times and assessed on the same 4 factors I could get into a rhythm and do it somewhat effectively. Time seemed to fly by and as I got to my last flight of 5 wines I noticed Tom already off his table and on another table going through his notes and scores, almost as if he was waiting for us to finish.

Upon finishing you head over as a group and begin what seems like an interrogation, its not, but it did feel daunting for me. There were 3 judges and 3 associates, I was told by numerous people to just keep quiet and only speak if spoken to, seems odd but its hierarchy and it needs to be respected. Each wine is loaded onto your screen (well the wine number anyway) and each judges score and notes are visible for all to see. There may be a short discussion or a question as to why someone scored the wine highly or poorly compared to others or it may just be edited to have the average score applied. Its so interesting to read notes and descriptors from seasoned professionals and winemakers, there is a level of detail other parts of the industry just don’t seem to have. It doesn’t mean that they have the superior palates or that what I wrote was invalid, it meant the exact opposite, palate skills range from person to person on any given day, some people are sensitive to certain faults or techniques as others are not. I truly enjoyed the discussion and when questioned on a comment or score stayed true to what I believed and thought rather than being swayed as many people would. I managed to pick the 2 faulty wines that were affected by Brettyomysis and that felt good to me. Scoring was varied as you would expect with 6 people on the panel, but it seemed the wines that shone for most were the ones to actually medal. Of the 28 wines 7 were called back to go through and check the final score/medal.  The group tastes and discusses these wines again, ultimately giving each a bronze, silver or gold medal. During the process the head chair of the show, in this case Melanie Chester from Giant Steps comes over and goes through the final medals, taking notes and numbers to input into the system. A short break followed whilst the stewards headed in a cleared all the glassware and re-set for the next bracket, Chardonnay.

 

This felt much more comfortable to me, with Chardonnay being one of my favourite varieties and the one wine I consume the most of. Would this make it easier foe me, maybe, but I knew I would be more critical of these wines, after all I have high expectations for what makes a great chardonnay and feel more confident to pick that out. 30 premium chardonnays greeted me with a great smile, but how would my palate hold up, how would I deal with another 30 wines. It seemed that many of them became a bit of a blur during the middle stages of the tasting, ensuring I drank plenty of sparkling water and ate bread and biscuits helped to re-set my mouth. I found it harder to award high medals in this bracket, many of the wines were good without being great and there is a big difference. Again we had our discussion and then the call backs, some wines were fought for by the judges and some waved away if the group consensus didn’t align with a particular judge’s view. Mel came over again and we awarded our medals, that was it, lunchtime and a great group discussion on the industry and where it’s heading. A lot of the questions directed to me were about what I hope to do moving forward, a really hard question as I obviously have a family to support and a career to forge. It’s the respect and ability to be recognized within the industry by the industry that means the most to me, you cannot build sustained success and longevity of business without those key factors.

For now I will continue to grind, put my hand up for any associate judging that is available and continue to learn as much as I can about as many regions as possible. Knowledge is power, respect is key and the Wine Animal is here to stay, stay tuned for more long form articles, I love that I get to share this with you all.

Wine Animal Out.