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 The international wine competition that took birth in The Michelangelo Hotel in Johannesburg in 1997, moved to Stellenbosch since most of the wine industry is located in the Western Cape. Started with barely 146 entries in the first year, it had a slow growth in the earlier years but since 2003 it has been steadily growing in size and stature over the years with around 30% yearly growth. This is quite commendable achievement in South Africa where wine competitions seem to be mushrooming.
The record entries of 1829 samples make it perhaps the biggest wine competition in South Africa as of today. Traditionally Veritas has been the biggest Wine Competition with around 1700 entries. One doesn’t know the number of entries it will receive for this year’s edition next month. Elated with the achievement thus far, Lorraine Immelman, the CEO and founder of Michelangelo International Wine and Spirit Awards, clarifies, ‘we have received record entries this year, making us the biggest wine competition as on today. But the other important Competition, Veritas will take place next month and we don’t know yet whether they will overtake us but in any case we are thrilled that we have beaten our previous record achieved last year.’
Lorraine is particularly proud of the fact that this is the only competition in South Africa which is judged by a well represented international jury and says, ‘it is a matter of great pleasure for us that we have judges from 22 countries, giving it a global touch and the expertise of international judges. Our international entries are also the highest ever and the number of local producers participating in the competition has jumped to over 300. This number represents about 50% of the South African market, which is a huge feat.’ The competition is considered the only international wine competition in South Africa.
There were 5 panels for wines and one for brandy and spirits headed by the veteran David Hughes. One of the wine panels was chaired by Subhash Arora (India) and had a Master of Wine and a veteran of international judges awarded for an excellent and consistent palate in his panel. The other panels were chaired by Marin Berovic (Slovenia), Liz Parker (Canada) Carrie Adams from Johannesburg (South Africa) and Chris Alblas from Netherland, indicating the multinational flavour of the jury which had at least one South African judge in each panel of 5 judges. It was interesting to have two judges who had participated in the maiden edition- Petronella Salvi (Bordeaux) who was in my panel and Sergio Correa Undurraga (Chile) had both been present in the 1997 tasting.
The wines are obviously served blind and the information is provided only regarding vintage, residual sugar, varietals or the composition of blends and whether the wine has been matured in oak. Wines are stored well, directly on receipt from the participants in a cold storage room (It’s South African winter) and if at all, are sometimes served slightly colder and need to be nursed in the hands for a few seconds if they are red wines.
After marking individual scores, judges share them with the President who may allow discussion if there is a marked difference in the scores. They are encouraged to debate till a consensus is reached by the panel. This is also a useful learning process, especially when one judge finds it worthy of a Gold medal while another feels it does not merit a medal. Double Golds are a rarity but possible for the deserving wines.
Till last year, there were around 80 wines tasted every day. This year the number was reduced to a manageable 60 a day. This causes a lot less palate fatigue and is a welcome change which the organisers will hopefully continue with and not make it a one-off case during the celebratory year.
Judges are given an opportunity to visit wineries everyday with one free evening when they have the option of being driven to Cape Town Waterfront, an opportunity which I forewent and went instead to the Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Tasting –a unique tasting opportunity of some of the finest wines from the iconic winemakers.
With the judges taken to visit different wineries every day, MIWA is a win-win for the judges and South African wines alike in more ways than one. It helps South African producers to understand the foreign palates better. It gives them an opportunity to be showcased globally through the writings since most of the judges are journalists and opinion leaders in their countries. They also get to taste about 350 wines at the competition and 50-100 at the informal tastings and learn the latest trends. Over the years, the quality of South African wines has been improving and this is visible at the competition. The judges thus become their brand ambassadors in their own countries.
The Trophy Winners will be announced on September 26 at a black-tie gala dinner.
Subhash Arora |