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Judges and the Jury
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Silver Medal Winners |
Some people might fault the selection of Jury members
and the quality of judges selected. Notwithstanding
the fact that some might have felt Sehwaged out, the
choice was as judicious as could be expected.
The international judges at London had Australian,
British or South African background and were acknowledged
wine experts; two were MWs and others were professionals
with up to 30 years of tasting experience. Some of them
had driven for over 2 hours and spent their own time
and money just, 'so they could have the thrill of tasting
some new wines including Indian wines that had already
been submitted,' explained Robert.
Ronnie Lobo (In London) , the ex Taj Hotel F&B
man had his hotel management training in London from
where he used to visit French vineyards, set up the
Taj wine programme when most of us had barely reached
the drinking age. The number of wines he has tasted
over the years in India and the various wineries he
has been visiting run into big numbers.
Abhay Kewadkar (in London and India) has had a winemaking
career of over 20 years with Chateau Indage and Grover
that won him the top management spot last year with
the giant UB. A frequent visitor to international shows
and events, he has perhaps tasted more wines than the
number of cups many people go though their lifetime.
Sourish Bhattacharyya has been visiting wineries, tasting
wines at wine dinners and visiting wine shows, writing
about wines for over 5 years now. He also co-authored
the Italian Wine Guide along with Subhash Arora last
year.
Alok Chandra has spent over a couple of decades in
the wine and spirit industry and now drinks and writes
wine only and works as a wine consultant.
Subhash Arora (in London and India) has been drinking
and studying wine for over 25 years. He has been an
international judge at Vinitaly, MundusVini (where he
was the first Indian invited to judge wines). During
around 15 overseas visits during the last 2 years alone,
he has tasted well over 3000 wines, excluding over 1000
wines tasted in the Delhi Wine Club during the last
5 years.
Stephane Soret, the French Head Sommelier at the Imperial
Hotel is the highest qualified professional sommelier
working full time with experience in France, UK and
USA with an enviable record.
Bill Marchetti, the ex- ITC Chef from Australia needs
no introduction- with a lifetime of cooking food with,
and drinking wine (even though he may be biased towards
Australian wines!)
This is not to say the others were not invited. Magandeep
Singh declined as he has been in Europe. Akash Singh
Rathore, who has also authored a book on Indian wines,
was in Pakistan where his wife is a diplomat. Ritu Dalmia
confirmed to participate but had to drop out as she
had to go out of town, suddenly. Ditto with Ronnie.
Omissions and Exceptions
Supposedly, one could have started from the top and
invited Robert Parker to judge. If someone was willing
to sponsor their trip, even Jancis Robinson, Steven
Spurrier or Hugh Johnson might have come along. I personally
know over 2 dozen international juror friends-many of
them MWs who would have loved to come provided they
were extended the full hospitality.
'But that is not the point,' insists Robert. 'Why should
a foreign expert impose his or her taste on the Indian
palate? Theoretically, I would like to see most of judges
from India.'
Perhaps the legal minded enthusiasts would have liked
to see the Supreme court of high Court wine loving judges
to decide the medals. It might not even be a bad idea
to induct a retired judge or a lawyer to oversee the
competition, like an Election Commissioner. At Vinitaly,
they do follow this policy. 'Italians love to control
everything through laws and more laws,' he says with
sarcasm.
Two persons who were considered as judges were Sanjay
Menon of Sansula and Hershel Shah, a sommelier from
Australia who is working with Brindco. To avoid any
controversy, it was decided not to involve any importer.
To avoid any possible controversy, Robert had taken
a sworn-in letter from all those judges who might have
any connections with the entrants- an established norm
for international wine competitions.
Abhay who decided to enter UB's Bouvet Ladubay wines
was not allowed to taste his wines. -the tasting flights
were re-aligned accordingly. Being an ex-Grover person,
it was considered prudent not to allow him tasting the
Grover wines either.
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