A wine with medals is better? Generally yes. It was in the 1980s when in the United States emerged the culture of criticism and evaluation of wines to guarantee the quality of their production. It is important to remember that in Europe the Regulatory Councils of the Appellations of Origin as well as the family traditions of years or even centuries are the guarantee of quality in itself. Wine in the new world had to find a way to legitimize its quality and both the specialized publications and the medals awarded in competitions, generally organized by these magazines, help the consumer to choose a wine on the shelf.
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In the early 1980s, Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator magazines introduced the idea of 100 points as the best rating for a wine and from then on competitions became popular. One of the most prestigious today is the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles or Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, whose main objective is precisely to provide consumers with a guarantee that they are consuming quality and a pleasant experience through wine.
The judges
The reputation of the judges must be indisputable, since any evaluation must have total objectivity, which must be meticulously cared for by those who lend their nose, palate and knowledge. For this evaluation of wines, the external parameters are very careful to ensure that the temperature of the room is adequate, that there is no noise, the glasses are glass, the temperature of the wines is correct and the number of samples for each round is no more than 18 labels so that it is not exhausting for the taster. Ideally, the panel should have an adequate balance between sommeliers on duty, buyers for stores or restaurants, experts in different regions, winemakers and, above all, there should be no conflict of interest with the participating producers.
The contest
The judges meet for one or several days to lend their senses, especially their sense of smell, to evaluate the wines presented to them. The tasting is done blind, that is, they do not know what they are tasting, they only have knowledge of, for example, the country of origin or the varietal. In no way do they know what label it is. Then, within the category of Malbec wines from Argentina or wines from Mexico, they evaluate the quality of the wine tasted by sight, smell and taste. It is necessary to remember that taste is subjective but quality is completely objective and the judges are trained to evaluate in the most professional and accurate way the quality of the wines. There is no quota of medals to be awarded, but in general it can be said that about 30% of the wines that participate receive a medal and most of the time they are silver, gold and double gold. double gold for the highlights of the competition.
The wines
I am convinced that producers make wine with passion, enthusiasm and hope that the market will receive it with pleasure and that it will sell well. Some wineries have more resources, others less, but all with the aim of creating high quality wines. Winning a medal in a competition is the culmination of many days of work in the field and in the winery. No winemaker bottles wine thinking that the quality is bad, on the contrary, however, something that wineries recognize is that there is always something new to learn and some process to improve.
A medal on a label is a guide and an element of trust for consumers. The next time you visit a store physically or online, take a look at the medals on some labels, you will be buying a wine that was previously guaranteed through the expert senses of judges. It will hardly be a bad fit.
