Updated: 19 April 2006
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14^th CONCORSO ENOLOGICO INTERNAZIONALE 
40^th VINITALY, Verona-Italy
28 March – 02 April 2006

 a pictorial report of the proceedings by a member of the JURY from Singapore

THE GRIPES

I'd say the gripes are a few, but worthy of mention. Not to complain but to seek improvements for the next fellow on this same journey. Fortunately, Veronafiera and ICE do listen and I have seen improvements, this time around. Kudos to them, who continually strive to improve.

However, the ones who will not listen, are the ones now claiming victory over their elected representatives. The very people they voted for to lead them out of chaos. I am talking about the French Union leaders with vested interests and the French youth, who are being led to the slaughter .............. a vicious slaughter in the face of inevitable economic globalisation. The loss of jobs to the a more competitive world is reality .......... not reality TV. The loss of markets and market share was already exemplified in the violent protests by French grapegrowers and wine producers from uncompetitive vineyards.

Both groups share the same sorry attitude. The wooden wheel ain't broken, so we will not change to steel-rimmed ones. I enjoyed their little fight for status quo since I was booked on Air France with transits at Charles de Gaulle airport. I checked into Verona at 5pm, without lunch, instead of 12noon, having licked my chops, throughout the flight from Singapore. I dreamed about pasta in gorgonzola sauce with a glass of delicious Valpolicella and sumptuous gelato for afters, while watching the beautiful people along via Mazinni stroll by. Instead, I ended up with crusty bread, thankfully, some Parma ham and mortadella, gorgonzola/mascarpone cheese and soft pears from the neighbourhood supermarket, sharing with a sparrow & pigeon along River Adige. Oh yes, and mineral water instead of Valpolicella, a good sober start.

On the return journey, I enjoyed nippy 7deg C breezes at almost midnight, underneath CDG's aerobridges waiting to board a shuttle bus to my aeroplane parked somewhere in the distance.

Next, at the classical Due Torri Hotel, where we all stayed, full 5-star rated, they remained adamantly in the classical times. Although, current renovations seek to draw them into the current century. I read that they had internet. I search the whole of my room for a connection - none. So, I went down to reception and asked for a ADSL cable socket to use. "None." he said in disdain, "We have only WI-FI". My new "old" laptop had WI-FI problems, which I could not solve before departing, so I sulked back to my room to try dail-up roaming connections. This took forever with steady connections only at 6 o'clock in the morning.

I did that for almost 2 days before a fellow Juror whispered in my ear, "They have a internet connected PC in a function room cum business centre, downstairs". Apparently, we were banned from the room because it was booked, during the day, for a conference. I rushed down, soonest, and found not only an internet-connected PC but a spare ADSL socket and power-point for my laptop! Hurrah! 5-star service? Not forgetting that there are 21-odd wine journalists staying at this hotel, with many reasons to keep in contact with their office. The 2 days of dail-up connections cost me about S$50.00, the equivalent of one bottle of wonderful La Grola by Allegrini at Antica Bottega del Vino, here.

On the first day of tasting, I was pleasantly surprised that an electronic calculator came with my work desk. Unfortunately, the device did not work. Neither did several others in the room. Back to working my weary brains to add up to 100 points or thereabouts. After a couple of days, without being called in to correct my evaluation sheets, I found that my replacement & working calculator actually slowed down my additions. Guess my brain was not that affected by all that alcohol swirling around the room! I must say that throughout this Competition, my adding ups were flawless and did not get to meet those comely young ladies of the Notary.

I remembered when we were allowed about 4 mintutes between each wine sample in 2004. Apparently, several Jurors in previous Competitions, couldn't cope, so they prolonged the interval to 7 minutes. That meant spending less time at lunchbreak and always late for dinner and sleep.

This year, we had niggling problems with the Notary's work system. A flight of white wines showed up a RED wine - an obvious error. White wines were poured a little too cold or not cold enough. Their random allocation of wines seemed like I judged fewer RED wines than usual. Instead I felt loaded up with insipid whites, sparklers and sweets.

End of gripes. As you can see, they are rather minor except for my missed bottle of La Grola, so these did not mar the marvelous interactions I had with the rest of the wine journalistic world.

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