“One glimpse of the label is worth a lifetime of tasting experience” is a quotation attributed to several of the 20th century’s most famous wine personalities. It hardly matters whether this, or something similar, was ever said by Michael Broadbent or André Simon: what counts is to understand – as Roald Dahl did in his famous short story “Taste” – that once you know what you are tasting, you can fit anything to a pre-conceived mould.
Blind tasting - as an exercise to judge wine quality - is completely different from trying to guess origin and vintage. The former aims to separate marketing message (inherent in every wine label – from Chateau Cardboard to Chateau Lafite) from wine quality; the latter is about identifying features – good or bad – associated with a particular vineyard, vintage or cellar.
Jancis Robinson MW OBE, who was one of three international judges at the 2023 Investec Trophy Wine Show and who is widely regarded as the most influential wine writer in the English speaking world, is very clear about the importance of separating the label from the opinion. In her words “I value the chance to really assess wine by wine, not knowing who produced them, and not being bedazzled by a reputation.” No matter how much you think you are able to insulate yourself from the hype around a wine, you can never fully detach your judgement of quality from the reputation enjoyed by a particular wine. When your favourite bottle doesn’t live up to your expectations, you are more likely to blame yourself or the closure than the winemaker or the vintage.
The Trophy Wine Show, now in its 22nd iteration, exists solely to ensure that the opinions of highly regarded and suitably trained professional judges take precedence over the messages framed by the marketing departments of the nation’s wine producers. It should therefore come as no surprise to discover that many wineries choose not to enter. Even though their wines are available for sale – and in that sense they are in the public domain – they prefer to send out the “harvested at optimum ripeness” messages and elect not to expose their offerings to critical palates.
This is not a uniquely South African problem. Some twenty years ago several of the world’s leading critics – including Jancis Robinson and Michel Bettane – persuaded the Bordeaux producers to let them taste the “primeur” offerings blind. This “privilege” lasted only a few years: even the top Bordeaux chateaux were not so confident of their very young wines that they were willing to expose them to critical judgement without “a glimpse of the label.”
Since 2022 The Trophy Wine Show shares its platform of excellence with Investec. This partnership unites Investec’s “Out of the Ordinary” approach to service with the competition’s commitment to identifying South Africa’s best wines. With just under 700 wines on the tasting benches, the outcome was pretty much in line with the two decade average: only 32 gold medals awarded (which in turn yielded a paltry 19 Best-in-Class Trophies), a mere 84 silver medals and 320 bronze awards. Over the two decades of its existence roughly half the wines entered have won no medal at all. This is as it should be: the purpose of the show is to serve consumers, rather than to make producers feel good.
The time has now arrived for wine enthusiasts to discover what the judging panels thought about the wines. The results, made public at an awards function hosted in the Winelands on 8th June, are available on The Trophy Wine Show website. The winning wines are available here from Port2Port.
