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Gold Medal Winners |
'There is no need to have the competition, timing is
not right, where are the qualified judges, how does
one ensure that the competition is not rigged? What
if the samples submitted by the producers are not imported
from Bordeaux or Barossa?' would be but a few of the
questions raised.
Well, Robert has not been disappointed. Most of the
predicted predicaments came true. After shouting hoarse
that the competition was too pre-mature etc. the first
salvo was fired by a few self-appointed vanguards and
experts that the competition must have been rigged.
After all, how could a popular wine A not get the award?
Or the other way around?
In a country where every election is claimed to be
rigged by the losers, where every cricket match where
the Indian team loses or wins beyond expectation is
considered rigged, where a nuclear treaty being sought
in good faith by two sovereign governments is considered
a sell-out, this reaction should hardly have been a
surprise for Robert.
Shaken but not stirred ( he is back in February to
plan for the second edition) Robert has conducted about
50 of such competitions after initiating the London
International Wine Challenge in 1984, which has gone
from 50 samples to over 9000 now and is the biggest
in the world. 'A sample of 350 wines in the very first
year is not bad though I am disappointed by not enough
Indian wineries taking part in the programme.'
'I don't know why People in India are so suspicious
and negative. These challenges are not the be-all and
end-all of judging the wine quality. They simply tell
you what the independent panel of judges with good palate
and working knowledge of wines feel about wines tasted
blind in a transparent and neutral atmosphere.'
Tasting Blind
This should be the most important criteria and as
all the judges would vouch for it, IWC was blind with
a capital B. Judges had no clue about what they were
drinking-whether it was a one Euro plonk (it tasted
like there were a few, that got thrown out in nanoseconds)
or a Chateau wine from Bordeaux (there appeared to be
none). No one knew details of what was being tasted
and nobody seemed to care.
At my suggestion Robert had even asked Montgomery International,
London where the first round was conducted, to send
the same masking bags so that there was no scope of
guessing the producer
When the top Indian red wine was being taken out of
the grey masking bag after judges had pronounced the
winning number (a random number that had been picked
up and lodged in Robert's computer and on the bag) judges
were betting on Dindori or La Reserve (we presumed both
were there, though there was no way of knowing till
one saw a bronze medal against Dindori the next morning).
But the winner was Nine Hills Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
from Seagram's!
Only love could be more blind!
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