Judging Week at Decanter: an
Insider’s View
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As
Britons were enjoying the early spring bank holiday weekend in the first week
of May, I was travelling from home in South-West England to London to join the
Asia panel of
Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the world’s most
influential wine competition. I had a full week of wine tasting ahead me, expecting
samples mostly from China, Japan and India; but there are always wines sent
from Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Kazakhstan too. Reviewing nearly 600 wines
is a bit more work than one may imagine. It is also highly educational, whilst admittedly
the tasting room is filled with collegial air. Here is my insider’s view from the
2024 competition.
The Origins & Growth of DWWA
DWWA
was the brainchild of the late Steven Spurrier, organiser of the 1976 Judgement
of Paris, a blind tasting event which became famous for the Cabernet Sauvignon
of
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars from Napa, California beating the fine
claret of
Château Mouton Rothschild, the first-growth Pauillac property in
Bordeaux, into the second place. Spurrier’s name may also be known to Indian wine
drinkers from The Wine Society of India, formerly a Mumbai-based mail
order wine club; or
Fratelli Wines, with whom Spurrier collaborated to create
the M/S range. In any case, Spurrier suggested to Sarah Kemp, the then-publisher
of Decanter magazine, the creation of a wine awards in the early 2000s. Since
the inaugural competition, which saw around 3,000 wines judged in a West London
studio, DWWA has grown into the world’s most influential wine competition in
just over 20 years, with producers entering more than 18,000 wines in 2024. I
was honoured to return and lend my expertise on Asian wines. Also, what an opportunity
to reconnect with friends and colleagues from all over the world who were
amongst the 250 wine professionals judging for a full week.
Judging Week
The
tasting took place at the ExCel Exhibition Centre in London’s docklands, in the
vicinity of City Airport. The venue hosted the first week of DWWA during which
judges reviewed and rated all the wines. The enormous fairground had hosted the
wine competition before the Covid pandemic for the first time, simply because its
unparalleled logistical capability provides ample space for the army of runners
and backroom operatives who invisibly organise more than 1,500 cases of wine. Miraculously,
all the wines got lined up in front of the judges fully blind without delay and
when a bottle was refused due to a taint, the replacement found its way from storage
within less than 15 minutes. If anyone, it is the runners who worked truly hard
to ensure us judges could focus on swirling, smelling, tasting and spitting all
day long.
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The
industrial venue would certainly not evoke romantic images of cellars, yet there
was a special sense of comradery in the tasting rooms. If rigorous tasting by regional
experts is the foundation of the competition, it is the ensuing discussions
which make the heart of DWWA. These post-tasting conversations guarantee that
no wine is looked over, no single judge sways the outcome, and every wine has a
fair chance. It is also a perfect opportunity to geek out in like-minded company
if I am honest.
Poh Tiong Ch'ng, the regional chair for Asia, is always
up for a good discussion to consider the merits of the wine in the glass,
whilst imparting his vast experience on China and Japan. At times, we cannot
avoid getting one of the co-chairs participate in the conversation. Regardless whether
it is
Andrew Jefford,
Michael Hill-Smith MW,
Sarah Jane Evans
MW,
Ronan Sayburn MS or
Beth Willard; they are all keen to
listen to our arguments as to why we believe a wine merits a good medal before
facilitating a conclusion that all judges consider fair. Ultimately, the verdict
of the tasting panel is translated into a score, if high enough, into a medal, and
the essence of the discussion is captured in tasting notes, published for wine
lovers in the magazine and online.
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During
its second week, DWWA moved into Decanter magazine’s editorial offices in
London’s Paddington base, so the co-chairs may review all the wines which had
been awarded with a gold. The aim of the second week is to select the best of the
best: platinum and the best of show wines. It is a hugely rigorous and
time-consuming process which ensures the credibility of every medal for the assurance
of winemaker and consumer alike.
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As
I was writing i
n my article on Decanter’s website earlier this year, there
has been a spectacular rise of Asian wines at DWWA, reflecting the growing
importance of domestic production in China, Japan, India, Thailand, Taiwan and
Indonesia. It is noteworthy that in the autumn of 2023 I was invited for a
whirlwind trip to Changsha in China to celebrate 20 years of Decanter World
Wine Awards (DWWA). Nearly all the leading Chinese winemakers were in
attendance. The remaining part of the trip took me to coastal Yantai in Shandong
province, where the programme included a visit to
Domaine de Long Dai,
the Rothschild property;
Longting Vineyard, an organic producer; and Changyu,
the oldest and largest winery in China.
It
was also in the autumn of last year that during my visit to India the
Wine
Growers Association of India asked me to host a tasting for a group of
sommeliers, writers and educators at the
Taj Lands End hotel in Mumbai. The
trade part of the event was followed by a walk-around tasting for consumers and
the fact that it was well attended despite the relatively short notice proves
the point that interest in wine is exponentially increasing in India, just as in
other Asian countries.
The
curtains are down, and judging is completed. However, there is still a tremendous
amount of work for the DWWA team before the announcement of the results on 19th
June. I will be excited to marry up my tasting notes with the labels and winery
names when the medals and scores are released. It will also be satisfying to
know that anyone who will take a bottle of wine with a Decanter medal off the
shelf, or order it online, should have every confidence in their choice and
enjoy it the same way as the judges did.