Updated: 27 March 2004
(These pages are updated early/end of each day from 24 March till 5 April. Additional reportage, with background information, before the event. Additional in-depth articles after the event)
report by Remie Law in Verona, Italy
ANIMATION & VIDEOS
27 March
(these may take time to load, but is worth the time!!)
Jury of Concorzio Enologica Internazionale
Members of the JURY were from these countries -
Lituania, Canada, Australia, Czech Republic, Taiwan, South Korea, Poland,
France, Chile, India, Japan, Norway, Hungary, USA, Finland, Russia, Israel,
Bulgaria, SINGAPORE, China, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Argentina, Peru,
England, Peru, Romania, Germany, Slovenia, Portugal, Brazil & ITALY. Notable
non-representations were New Zealand, Turkey & Greece among wine-producing
countries.
This year, there are 18 panels consisting of 5 persons each (Total: 90 jurists). Each panel or "commission" consist of 2 journalists writing on wine, 1 non-Italian winemaker and 2 Italian winemakers. 3,406 samples were submitted, this year, but 30 were rejected for failing to comply with regulations. Thus, 3,376 wine samples were tasted in 7 sessions of 2 flights, each consisting of 12 -15 wines. The top 12 wines in each of the 22 categories will then be retasted by a random selection of 3 panels each, to determine the top 4 wines in each category where a Great Gold Medal, Gold Medal, Silver Medal and Bronze Medal are awarded. This is being done over 2 sessions. Thus, only 3% or not more than 88 medals will be awarded, this year.
The wine categories are:-
2 broad categories - Still & Sparkling
2 broad classes - appellation-controlled & others
8 groups for still wines- white wines, oaked white wines, max 3-year old red
wines, 4-6 year old red wines, more than 6 years old red wines, Rose wines,
naturally sweet wines and liqueur wines.
3 groups for sparkling wines - charmant process, bottled fermented and sweet
sparkling wines.
All wines are assessed according to eonological guidelines
laid down by the "Union Internationale des Eonologues". Each sample is
assessed separately & not comparatively be each JUROR working on his own
within the Panel. No discussion is allowed among JURORs before submission of his
scoring cards. This allows total independence of opinion. All wines are scored
on a total of 100 points with maximum scores, as follows:-
SIGHT - 18 points, with 3 assessment criteria
BOUQUET - 30 points, under 4 criteria
TASTE - 22 points under 3 criteria
FLAVOUR - 22 points under 3 criteria
OVERALL JUDGEMENT carries 8 points
A legal auditor is retained to ensure total anonymity of the wine samples.
The wine samples are professionally poured out by a hard-working team of qualified sommeliers, unlike some competitions, where sommeliers form the bulk of judges in the wine competition.
I shall discuss the debate issues regarding this judgement style, at a later date, as an appendum to this page.
VIDEO CLIPS WILL BE AVAILABLE, SOON.
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