International Wine Challenge from the kitchen – Act 1

Even though the competition is now finished, in anticipation of the final results that will be announced at London International Wine Fair in less than a fortnight, let me go back in time to relive these few unforgettable weeks.

For Act 2 click here

For the Epilogue click here

The IWC is one of the biggest and the most important annual blind wine tasting competitions across the globe.

Approximately 13,000 entries from nearly 50 countries, over 450 grape varieties, more than 400 international judges tasting from 25 different countries, re-tasting and assessing over a two-week period, and  three dozen or so support team members – myself among them.

Location: Lord’s Cricket Ground – the home of cricket – and the home of wine during the event.

The operation to set up the event is massive in terms of logistics. To get all these fragile samples to the destination, catalogue and categorize them so that every sample can be tracked down in a matter of seconds and protect their identity from the judges is a major feat. Then of course the tasting room needs to be prepared, which means: tables, tablecloths, wineglasses, water bottles, spittoons, and the rest of it – all in great quantities.

I reckon that by the time all bottles were shelved, and the place buttoned up each of the team members had probably walked a marathon, seriously.

Have you ever seen 50,000 great wine bottles (4 samples of each) on a mere 350m²? Wines that you have tasted, and others that you have wanted to taste for a while, and others still that you haven’t even imagined existed. From all over the world, from the classic locations, and from such countries like Japan, India or Mexico. It’s amazing to have a tangible map of the wine industry from around the world on such a reduced surface.

At the same time one realizes the impossibility to be familiar with more than a fraction of the labels. Good luck to the marketing teams, brand managers, and graphic designers. I can almost see them pulling their hair out thinking how to make their product stand out and attract an indecisive customer. Their hard work is clearly seen through a combination of different bottle shapes, colours, labels and caps. They are all one of a kind and each of them tells a fascinating story of a unique winery, people and terroir. ‘God’s plenty’.

Some of these wines reminded me of good times from dinners, fairs, tastings, travels.

‘Saudades’, as they would say in Brazil.

To be continued…

For Act 2 click here

For the Epilogue click here