Every now and then this question is raised by a perfectly reasonable wine-writer, the evidence is perused and the uncomfortable conclusion, that the answer is nearer yes than no, is quietly shelved. The latest episode in this uncomfortable debate was outlined by David Derbyshire in The Observer June 23 2013. He describes the experience of a Californian winemaker, Robert Hodgson, who for years has entered his wines in various competitions around the State. He felt that awards were distributed at random rather than according to excellence. To test this he persuaded the organisers of one competition to let him present three glasses from the same bottle to the judges, mixed in amongst the 30 being tasted. He found that only 10% of judges who gave an award to one glass also gave it to another identical glass. Another 10% who gave one glass an award would give another identical glass an award but not at the same level (gold/silver/bronze). The other 80% showed no consistency.
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Category Archives: Andrew Polmear
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My Conversion to Italian Wines
I’ve always thought I didn’t like Italian wines.When I started to take wine seriously I decided that Italian reds were thin and acidic and the whites tasteless. So every time I went to an Italian restaurant I ordered from the cheaper end of the wine list and had my dislike confirmed. Every now and then I was surprised, by a big-hearted Barolo for instance, or an old Chianti when visiting Tuscany, but the next cheap Valpolicella or Montepulciano d’Abruzzo would set me back to my old way of thinking. So when I saw that our very own branch of Majestic was offering a tasting of Italian wines recently I signed up, keen to put my prejudices to the test.
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Getting a handle on Australian wines
There are a lot of reasons to feel well disposed towards Australian wines. They led the world in introducing modern wine-making techniques. They introduced the screw-cap and invented the bag-in-box with a tap. They were the first to call their wines by the names of their grape varieties and their marketing has been brilliant. And at first it’s easy to like the wines. They don’t seem capable of making bad wines, and if you pay something between £5 and £10 you get a mouthful of huge fruit from the reds (usually Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon) or oaky vanilla if it’s white (almost always Chardonnay). But after a few bottles you find you only drink them round the ‘barbie’ or you start to look for something more; and that’s where the difficulties start.
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Wine Classifications
Have you noticed the changes occurring on European wine labels? European Council Regulation 479/2008 attempts to harmonise various European countries’ classifications of wine into three, in ascending order: table wine, Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) wine and Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wine. It sounds like a good idea. The consumer will know, whichever European country the wine comes from, the standards that the wine has met to be placed in this category.
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Sherry – but not as we know it
Ask a group of wine writers what they think is the best value for money in wine buying today and the chances are they’ll say sherry. So why do we drink so little of it? I think it’s partly because it’s seen as old fashioned and bourgeois, and partly because the most well-known names are sweetened and blended for a supposedly anaemic British palate.
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The Whistler 