Finished at the IWC

With the judging now over, my stint at the International Wine Challenge is complete. All that remains next week is for the judging of the wines that will be awarded trophies and the clear up of the hall at the Barbican. That means packing up all the remaining wines, which could total 20,000 bottles or more, many of which will go to charity, and all the paraphernalia that is required in support of the world's largest blind tasting wine competitions. For me it's back to the day job and studying.

I'm glad I did it again this year. As a Diploma student it's a unique experience to be able at the end of each day (see picture) to taste and learn from so many wines whether it is comparing new and old world pinots or trying out new (to me) grapes such as pecorino. Hearing the judge's comments and seeing their written assessments is invaluable. (For a judge's perspective on the IWC see Jamie Goode's blog.) It is also a great opportunity to be able to network with professionals from across the trade be they winemakers, importers, journalists or Masters of Wine.

I am glad however I did not do the initial 3 week setup as I had done last year. It's physically demanding and a young man's job, although simply supporting the judging is a lot physically given the long days typically from 8 to 7 at least.

Before the staff party on Friday evening Sam Harrop MW, who monitors all the wine faults in the competition, gave a seminar on faults which was unique and truly excellent. I'll blog on this separately.

The second week of judging at the IWC

We are half way through the second week of judging at the International Wine Challenge and it's going very well. It all seems very calm especially after the frenetic but organised pace of last week. Although that's principally due to the fact around 1000 wines per day are being judged as against 2000 per day last week it's also due to the fact the highly professional judges are taking that extra bit of time to come to their decision - should the wine be awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal or should it simply be commended.

Everyone "backstage" is feeling a little less pressured this week compared to last week. All the key functions - dispensing the wines, support to the judges on the tasting floor, glass washing, warehouse, the activity to help the co-chairmen and finally the checking function - have that little more time.

This week has helped expand my knowledge of key producers in places such as Burgundy, Champagne, Australia and Chile. I can't mention any names as the medal winners are not announced until the LIWF next month.

Another by-product of these 2 weeks for me has been my ability to taste 60 to 80 wines per day whereas I had previously found at trade tastings 25 to 30 was my limit. This makes attending future trade tastings a whole lot less intimidating AND more useful.

Noble Rot by William Echikson

I've just finished reading Noble Rot by William Echikson, this month's recommended read over at the Wine Book Club and I'm still not sure what to make of it.

The first chapter was quite a mix covering the pricing of the 2000 vintage, investment in Chateau Lascombes, new winemakers such as Michel Gracia and Parker's influence. There was quite a heavy emphasis on family feuds at Chateau d'Yquem throughout the book which would be interesting to those interested in that sort of thing which isn't me. Robert Parker got a lot of mentions which is to be expected given the author being American. I suspect therefore this book will be enjoyed a bit more by US readers rather than us Europeans. I had hoped for a bit more emphasis on what Bordeaux was doing to address the current crisis in the French wine industry but maybe at the time this book was written (2001 to 2003) it seemed like less of a problem than it is now. (For a very good summary of the current crisis listen to the podcast over at the UK's Harpers magazine.)

The last book we read for the Wine Book Club is now sitting on my bookshelf and gets referred to every time I want a bit more detail about Italian wines. Although I'm glad I have read Noble Rot I wouldn't go out of my way to suggest to others they buy it and I suspect it will sit on my shelf gathering dust.

If this was a wine I was rating I think I'd give it an 84.

Grapefan on the web

I was interested to see over at Robert Mackintosh's site a wine related search facility I had not come across before. Able Grape is not simply a facility for finding someone who sells a particular wine like Wine Searcher. They describe themselves as "We're a wine search engine — not for comparison shopping, but for learning and research. We aim to be the world's most comprehensive, up-to-date, and authoritative source for online wine information."

I gave it a try and typed in Grapefan and was amazed to find in amongst the (painfully few) results a review of a wine I had done early on in my days of blogging. The review had been used by the producer in Israel, Yarden Wines, for a magazine they had produced. I felt quite honoured! It also reminded me how anything you put up on the web is fair game for others to use.

I'm going to add a button to this blog to access Able Grape directly from this site when I have the time to work out how to do it.

Robert's site also now has a list of UK blogs. I've asked him to add this site to his list in a bid to get a few more readers and some valuable input.

Two exhausting weeks

I've just finished the second of my three weeks helping out at the International Wine Challenge held at the Barbican in London.

Week one for me was all about "bagging and tagging". That is picking the wines to make up the flights the judges were to taste, putting them in a bag with a label tag so they couldn't identify them when blind tasting.

Week two was the start of the judging with five solid days of setting out the wines for the judges to taste, clearing them away, getting replacement bottles from the warehouse, glass washing and a myriad of other things that need doing to ensure the world's biggest wine competition runs smoothly.

The task all us wine students enjoy is "checking" which entails taking the wine out of the bag after it has been tasted and confirming it was the wine it was supposed to be according to the checking sheet. This is the chance to taste the wines and is an extraordinary opportunity to try out as many wines as you can taste as long as it doesn't get in the way of the smooth but fast paced operation of the event.

Week three for me is the second week of judging when the medals and trophy winners are decided. I'm looking forward to it despite the long hours and physical nature of the work as it's a further opportunity to be exposed to quality wines and a great cross section of judges from across the wine industry.

For a judge's eye of the event read what Jamie Goode has to say.

What's happened to the last 3 weeks?

It's been about 3 weeks since my last post. What's happened? I've had plenty to write about so it would appear I've got no excuses.

I've drunk some good wine I could have written about including the unpronounceable but excellent Freiherr Langwerth von Simmern Hattenheimer Wisselbrunnen Rheingau 2002.

I've been entertained by Simon Wood's blogged exploits drinking "big label" wines.

I've been reading Robert Mackintosh's thoughts on blogging and the upcoming European Wine Blogger Conference.

I've taken pictures to add to my collection.

I've started my annual stint helping out at the world's largest wine competition, the International Wine Challenge.

I've bought an excellent case of Rhone wines from Yapp Bros. to help with my Diploma studies tasting.

I've submitted my essay on The Crisis in the French Wine Industry for Unit 1 of the WSET Diploma.

I've started further studies on Unit 3 for the Diploma.

I've read Noble Rot by William Echikson.

No wonder I've haven't found time to blog!!!

Karl's good food and wine

If you are ever in Canterbury I'd encourage you to visit Karl's. It's a new (opened 3 weeks ago) delicatessen that has a great range of wine, cheese, bread and coffee. The care in the selection of the wine shows as Karl, the owner, is a WSET Diploma graduate.

They also do a great range of snacks you can eat in or take out. For our lunch they did a very nicely presented dish of 3 meats and 3 cheeses with a variety of breads, chutney and a few slices of pear. I washed my down with a glass of verdejo from Rueda while Janet had a decent glass of rose Vin Gris de Cigare from the Bonny Doon vineyard in California. Lunch of this quality with the service to match for £23.75 was good value.

I wish them every success.