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 For the first time, the organisers split the competition into two parts. In order to encourage whites and the young reds from the new vintage and the New World, the first part of the competition was held in late February this year. It attracted around 3000 samples. Susanne Denzer, the Competition Director agreed that this was not necessarily an original idea but a convenient option. Christoph Meininger, who owns the competition with his sister Andrea, said it was a practical way to help the new vintages of white wines from the old world producers who had shown a desire to have them judged earlier so the winning wines would find it more useful. The dates would be in compatibility with ProWein so that the producers may showcase the wines appropriately.
The wines tasted at the current summer tasting in August-end, of course would help in the Christmas sales for the producers. Christoph conceded that by splitting the competition they have been able to get more samples, not denying either that the same producers might have ended up sending more number of samples and this could have been a factor for the growth of 17%. Stung by the world recession, the growth had slowed down during the last 5 years 2008-2013 which showed a total increase of 16% in samples in 5 years.
The competition is on the OIV guidelines and provides for a maximum of 50 wines a day to be tasted by each judge. The panel includes 5-7 judges; 2-3 of which are German. Silver (85+), Gold (90+) and Great Gold (95%) Medals are awarded to the deserving wines. Tasting is absolutely blind and the points are computer fed almost instantly. Every competition has a few parameters about the wines that are disclosed before the flight starts. At MUNDUSvini, grape varietals/blend, vintage, whether oaked or not, sugar levels are disclosed but the country, region or the price of the wine is not disclosed. Unlike in Vinitaly, the lowest and the highest points are not discarded unless they are outside a general limit which is within the range of average points scored by the panel as a whole. The region for each wine is disclosed after the tasting is over for the day. The following day, a chart showing the points given by each judge in the panel. The range of the other jurors can give you an idea how others in the group scored on the previous day.
 The competition is helpful for anyone wanting to sell wines in Europe and in particular, the German market. No wonder that at a wine dinner of the Delhi Wine Club at Hotel Dusit Devarana, Ms Esmari Kift, visiting Regional Business Manager of Asia pacific for KWV (the biggest wine producer of South Africa) proudly announced to the members that KWV wines win a lot of medals at MundusVini. No wonder Italian producers are the biggest contingent in MundusVini, with 1019 samples out of a total of 4415 from 40 countries in this part-B of the Tasting, called Summer Tasting to avoid confusion. Germany follows with 791 with Spain very close at 728.
The schedule for the tasters can be grueling. Leaving the hotel at an unearthly hour of 7:30 am after gulping breakfast, most tasters have tasted 15 wines by 9 am! But the schedule has its advantages. After lunch there is plenty of time, mood and the opportunity to visit vineyards and wineries to places in other regions. Following were some of the highlights:
· Tasting high quality Sekts (sparkling wines) and GG (Grosses Gewächs-Great Growth ) wines at the Fitz-Ritter winery in Bad-Dürkheim (www.fitz-ritter.de) ,
· Visiting the new and modern wine bar and store in Landau and tasting wines by young winemakers of Südliche Weinstrasse (www.suedlicheweinstrasse.de)
· Visiting a family-owned winery Gröhl (www.weingut-groehl.de ) in Reinhessen, the biggest wine growing region in Germany, and
· Grand finale with a visit to the Wet Rhinelands where at Hotel Darstein in Altrip, a unique wine tasting of DO Lanzarote in the volcanic region of Canary islands in Spain was conducted by none other than the Spanish Maestro Pedro Ballesteros, the only Master of Wine in Spain (the first MW Pancho Campo had withdrawn from the Institute of Masters of Wine a couple of years ago)
· Wines from different wineries owned by GonzalesByass with dinner
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MUNDUSvini is a well established, one of the better known and established names in the international wine competitions space and has been making steadily growing progress because of the image and brand building that helps the award winning wines to sell more easily. The organisers need to be applauded for keeping it professional, tight and giving useful tips to the producers and the customers alike.
Subhash Arora
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Tags: MUNDUSvini, Neustadt, Susanne Denzer, Christoph Meininger
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