Somewhere in the fantasy world of wine enthusiasts, there’s a place where you can apply to become a professional – or even a volunteer – wine judge. It appears there’s no shortage of people willing to give up their day jobs for a chance to join the ranks of the fraternity. Even if wine judging was a well-paid activity (which it isn’t, anywhere in the world) and even if the social activities which generally accompany it meet your most elevated expectations, the job itself is not as easy as it sounds. It requires some innate skill, a period of formal study, and an arduous training schedule to keep “palate fit”.
Blind tasting as an exercise to determine wine quality is completely different from the party trick of guessing the identity of a wine (or at least its area of origin and vintage) after a few minutes of swirling, sipping and savouring. The former aims to separate the brand message from the intrinsic quality of what is in the glass; the latter is about recognising the features associated with a particular site or vintage.
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 23rd iteration, serves to ensure that the opinions of highly regarded and suitably trained professional judges take precedence over the commercial messages of the nation’s wine producers. Unsurprisingly many wineries choose not to enter. Fortunately, an impressive number are willing to put their wines to the test. As one producer recently said, “we’d rather know how good or bad our wines are than to live forever in a fools’ paradise.” Others prefer to send out the “harvested at optimum ripeness” messages and not to expose their offerings to critical palates.
This is not a uniquely South African problem. Wine marketers understand that mystique is an important component of the sales message. Many commercially successful producers use price as a proxy for quality: charge more and people will assume it must be better. An interesting corollary to this that some of the highest-ranked wines at blind tastings cost less than many of these more highly-priced vinous rarities. Wine drinkers willing to be guided by some of the world’s best-known wine judges can use the results board of the Trophy Wine Show to buy better while spending less.
The results of the 2024 Trophy Wine Show were made public at an awards function hosted in the Winelands on 4th June and are available on the Trophy Wine Show website. With just under 650 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 126 silver medals and 440 bronze awards. Over the two decades of the Trophy Wine Show’s 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 winning wines are available here from Port2Port.
