IWC

Last week I joined the chaps at the IWC for a day of judging wines, my first time for the company. The best way to describe them, is as the company that award the little medals you may have seen on bottles of wines, with tens of thousands of applicants vying for the top spots, from all corners of the world. I needed to step away from laboratory work and dissertations, and put my tasting hat on.

I'd like to think that my senses are reasonably sophisticated, I once told somebody that their car smelt like fish sauce, only to later find a bottle in the car... That's right. Move over Derren Brown.

This was something else though, the room was filled with hugely influential wine-types, from all walks of life. The first two people I spoke to had flown from South Africa and Tokyo just to do some judging for the day, a huge commitment, and a testament to the global outreach the IWC boasts. The rest of the day proved to be more of the same, the handful of other judges that I managed to rub shoulders with had been buyers and winemakers for companies with global reputations for decades. This was something I was excited by, but at the same time, slightly concerned of.

The first flight of wines to score were 2014 Trentino Alto-Adige Chardonnay. "Okay", I thought, before rummaging through my Mind-Palace and recalling what I expected the profile of the wines to be like. Bracing acidity, no oak, dry, citrus. GO! Five minutes later we gave the scores and reasons behind them. I suggested one of the wines should be struck from the competition as it had a bitter note to it, something I noted as a fault. The other judges, all at least 20 years senior to me, at this point put down their glasses, placed a look of concern on their collective faces and declared in unison that a "2014 Trentino- Alto Adige Chardonnay" is expected to have a certain bitter quality, and it should be lauded for it.

A great start. The level of knowledge I needed for the rest of the 100 wines for the day, was to have the ability to recall the characters of specific grapes from specific years, from towns within regions within countries for the entire globe. A thought that should have perhaps crossed my mind before signing up.

The rest of the day was a great success, I found my stride after not too long, and my scores matched (to within reason) that of the most senior judges on my table. Something the selection of judges on my panel appreciated, especially when realizing that I was younger than some of their children. This "you weren't alive when this song was made" theme ran for a while, and even if slightly patronizing, the overall view from my peers was that the achievement of being a judge for a global wine event, at the age of 29, is something that shows great promise.

Hopefully I'll get invited back, I made some excellent contacts, something I'd like to abuse in the coming years

Cheers!