JUDGES’ REFLECTIONS

Here, below, follows the Reflections of two of the 2009 Competition’s Judges who were judging for the first time on the Sydney International Wine Competition Panel

Mark Robertson (South Australia)
Mark Robertson is GM & Chief Winemaker for Cellarmaster Wines in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. New Zealand born, Roseworthy graduate with a first degree in Science from Otago University. As Chief Winemaker for Matua Valley Wines, he won numerous national and international awards including, in 2002, London’s International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Trophy for “Best Overall Chardonnay” and “New Zealand Winemaker of the Year in 1999”. Prior to his current responsibilities, Mark spent five years with the Fosters Wine Group, overseeing six of their Boutique wineries.

Judges Reflections
Mark Robertson (Barossa Valley, SA)

I was delighted to receive an invitation to judge the 2009 Sydney International Wine Competition because, as a senior winemaker, I have long been a supporter and follower - and an entrant - of this unique show, where your wines are given the chance to shine when judged with food. It was with a great sense of anticipation that I embarked from the Barossa Valley to Sydney for the Show.

I ended up missing my flight and had to make an apologetic call to the Convener, explaining my predicament (a great start for the new boy!). The unflappable Convener quickly arranged alternative transport and I eventually had a very pleasant drive up to the Blue Mountains with Jacques, my very French chauffeur. In a way, this set the tone for the rest of the week – nothing ever seemed a problem in this Gallic influenced culture.

The mechanics of how the judging is undertaken has been well documented by past judges of this Competition. Briefly, there is an initial pre-selection of wines done in judging pairs, overseen by the Chief Judge, in advance of a seven person panel review of the finalists, accompanied by food. I am also sure that it was no mistake that an arguably slightly jaded, technophile, journeyman winemaker was paired with one of the more commercially astute East Coast wine sales personalities for this first phase. Stephen Harris and I agreed on a lot of wines and, for my part, where other wines were put up for consideration, I could comfortably identify the logic for putting them forward and for quietly spanking myself for often missing the bleeding obvious.

At this point, I would like to refer to my fellow judges. I have been lucky enough to participate in a fair few shows over the years, enough anyway to have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly, in terms of judges’ egos. Convener Warren Mason and Chief Judge Kym Milne managed to put together a diverse yet cohesive team. There were a large number of wines to be judged each day and from what I could observe, this was achieved with common purpose and harmony. What’s more – it was fun. I especially enjoyed the input of the overseas judges whose comments and views on the wines were more expansive compared to my blinkered, technical approach to wine judging. The Masters of Wine (MW’s) present were certainly able to determine a wine’s provenance most effectively and I came away with a conviction to look at wines more for what they are, rather than focus on what they are not.

I’ve always thought of wine judging as I think of trout fishing. The flights of 20-30 wines lined up on the bench were like a pool waiting to be stalked. The sense of anticipation is always there and finding a great wine is the equivalent of the strike and the successful landing of a great fish.

In the first phase of judging I waded my way through Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Aromatic whites, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignons. There was a bag limit for each of these flights.

There were some memorable Sauvignon’s – truly world class - with minerality and purity defining the better wines. I am a slave to White Burgundy and anywhere where white fleshed stone fruit met struck-match chalkiness got my vote as it is those characters that to me define good white wine winemaking.

Likewise I found myself favouring those aromatics that had good fruit with clever winemaking supporting the palate and making the wine more complete.

The Pinot’s were a little more polarising. What’s good can be very good but there are a lot of wines that are either “could be anything” dry reds or green to the point of being like tasting wine made from broken tomato stalks. The usual debate over power or finesse was trotted out and, as always, not really won one way or the other. The wines that came through for me all had defined clean fruit and a bell like purity irrespective of the wine style being chased.

Medium and fuller bodied reds were an interesting mob. There are a few more Syrah styles coming through that tend to look like Pinot on Pepper. They are very clean and interesting but are in contrast to the more traditional style of built up, jammy extractive Shiraz wines. There’s a place for all-comers, I suspect, and the wines that got through had that elusive balance of fruit power, oak and tannin just right, irrespective of origin. Kind of Phil Spector like in a way.

The wines that were truly memorable for me were a brace of stunning 2006 Cabernets. They were pure, classic, tight and immensely satisfying wines.

Judging the wines with food was something that I had been looking forward to immensely. I found that I wasn’t changing too many of my scores. Interestingly for me, food tended to amplify anything that was edgy on the wine, green tannin, volatile acidity, oak or brettanomyces. This de-bunked my theory that food can act as a mask for a wine.

Aged characters seemed to me to work better which is probably not a surprise to most but has given me pause for thought as I have been a proponent for younger, fresher, better young, more drinkable wines for a while now.

Towards the end of the week I began wondering to myself what it is that makes this show so different. I had taken my bike and had made some great rides after each day’s judging. My ride down off the Blue Mountains into the Megalong Valley and back was a memory I will have forever and probably contributed to my joy, enthusiasm and sense of well being.

That wasn’t it though. It dawned on me as the kitchen brigade and the well oiled back room turned out yet another magnificent food dish and got the wines organised for us to taste in the final judging phase on time.

This was just like being in France, not only because the language of choice in the kitchen was French. It’s the Gallic flair across all aspects of running the show which reminded me of being in a very similar environment last year when I worked a vintage in Chassagne-Montrachet at Domaines Colin-Morey.

Each vintage, a team assembles from all over France and from all walks of life, for the harvest. They have, in some cases, been coming for decades and as a result everyone knows intuitively what to do at any given time. It’s structured, calm and welcoming, just like the Sydney International’s TOP 1OO Wine Show. I’m sure we all judged better as a result of it.

Dr Patrick Farrell MW (USA)

Judges Reflections
Dr Patrick Farrell MW (USA)

I have now been home 48 hours after a whirlwind visit to Australia for the Sydney International Wine Competition judging and the jet lag has begun to fade. My right knee still hurts from the cart induced trauma inflicted by United Airlines during my return flight. So too, does my head still ache from the elbow delivered by a United stewardess as she dashed down the aisle, anxious to get to her rest shift. She tripped and only had her fall broken - by my head!

We SIWC judges had joked that the gourmet food being served throughout the judging was part of a grand scheme to fatten us for the proverbial slaughter. Little did I know that United would actually try to "send me off" on my return flight home!

As someone who loves both food and wine, I very looked much forward to judging wine as it is meant to be consumed.....at the dining table! As a cook, I was delighted to be exposed to the Chef’s team, creating ever wondrous dishes, even though my full stomach sometimes argued to the contrary as yet as another flight of wines - another dish arrived.

I wasn't really sure as to how this Competition could work, especially with regard to the food. I had questions as to how valid a wine's performance with a single dish could really be. Just because a wine worked with a given dish does not guarantee harmony with any dish. I am also aware that we vary in our taste preferences, in part because of genetics and in part by virtue of culture.

That said, this Competition was different in many ways, food being only one of them. I really liked the concept that only the top twenty percent of wines went on to the final phase of the competition. The consumer should be keenly aware that these superior wines were judged as to how they were drinking at the time of the judging and not how the wines could be drinking in five or eight years. This is a crucial element as we know that the vast majority of wines, even age-worthy wines, are consumed very young. We were then asked to take our time to look at these wines, first as part of a group of free standing wines and then with food. This food aspect needs definition. The dishes were very well considered with regard to the type of wine being judged. As an example, I truly believe that goat cheese paired with Sauvignon Blanc is one of life's pleasures and a divine gift. Our flight of Sauvignon Blancs was served with a double baked goat cheese soufflé. If I were in a restaurant, I would have chosen that soufflé and would have ordered a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. In this sense, we were judging the wines as they should be consumed, with delicious food.

My reference to "delicious food" affords more consideration and discussion. We've all experienced food that can overpower almost any wine - and we have experienced wine that can overwhelm virtually any food. Show Conveners Jacquie and Warren Mason are wizards of the wine and food world. The dishes were not only delicious, they were balanced, subtle and nuanced. The food was also extremely wine friendly and tended to lift the vast majority of wines being tasted. Balanced and delicious wines that are ready for consumption generally make food taste better. Similarly, balanced and delicious foods generally make wines taste better.

The concept here, of judging the wines both in isolation and in combination with food, is a valid one that should be replicated in other parts of the world. This would encourage the production of wines with better balance.

The reality was that most of the wines that survived the culling process to the top 20%, were well balanced. The other 80% often suffered from too much extract, too much oak or generally, just lacked balance. Though some critics may prefer these brutes, most consumers, and certainly this judge, does not enjoy encountering such wines, especially at the dining table.

Back to the concept of using food as a judging tool, ethnic food affords almost endless opportunities for wine food pairings. Perhaps the final results of this wine Competition would vary as one altered the ethnicity of the dishes. But the results which would still be valid.

Lastly, I would like to comment on the scoring and rating process that I participated in during my week in the Blue Mountains. We were asked to judge the top 20% of wines on a ten point scale and to fully utilize that ten point scale. I tried to do so as much as possible, so please keep that in mind if reading my scores. A score of five or less did not necessarily mean it was a bad wine. It was being compared with the crème de la crème of the total entries.

Also, in my tape recorded comments, I gave my honest opinions about how those wines were tasting on the day of judging and not how they may perform in five or ten years. In that setting, wines that may ultimately prove to be outstanding after years in the bottle, were rated accordingly as not being so good if consumed young.

Eat well, drink well and use the results from this competition to improve your enjoyment of life!
 

Return to Newsletter (Monday, 22 December, 2008)