Preselection for the Russian Wines Competition©.
A lot of people wonder what the procedure for choosing 180 samples of Russian wines to be tasted at the first independent international wine competition, the Russian Wines Competition© involving Masters of Wine and Weinakademikers will be like. The selection of wines to be shortlisted is entirely my responsibility as the organizer of the competition. It is a very important process which requires me to be utterly impartial and professional without being biased towards producers.
The main criteria for selecting wines to enter the competition:
1. To cover as many wines produced from different grape varieties as possible unfailingly including Russian indigenous grape varieties.
2. To engage as many Russian wine producers as possible.
3. To classify as many Russian wines as possible in the following categories: sparkling wines made by the tank method; sparkling wines made by the traditional method; still white wines; still red wines.
4. To cover wines falling into various price categories ranging from consumer grade to mid-price and premium price segments.
Principles underlying preselection:
At the stage of preselection wines are bought only from specialized wine boutiques or manufacturer’s brand stores.
Wines undergo a comparative tasting according to the principle of homogeneity and/or similarity of varietal composition of grapes and/or place of origin of wines. Different vintages are taken into account.
For every tasting session wines are selected by independent representatives of the wine business in view of criteria set by the organizer, brought to the required temperature, uncorked and served blind. Until the session is over participants do not have any information on the wine producer, the place of origin, the varietal composition, the vintage, the alcohol level, the production technology and the price category of samples.
Tastings are off-limits to visitors. The results of the tasting sessions within the framework of the preselection for the competition are not to be made public.
No more than five minutes are given to taste each sample. The results of tastings are registered.
To eliminate the possibility of putting psychological pressure on the organizer wines are not tasted in wineries before the competition is held.
A number of tastings are done with the support of Frank Duseigneur, an oenologist and the winemaking consultant of the Russian Wines Competition©.
The winemaking consultant Frank Duseigneur’s contest responsibilities involve:
• checking wines for faults;
• if necessary, clarifying wine issues and counselling the tasting jury on the quality of samples;
• providing explanation (on the tasting jury’s demand) for the nature of the revealed wine faults.
During the competition the wine consultant tastes wines along with the tasting jury, though he is not supposed to give scores. The final decision on each tasting sample is taken by the tasting jury.
Only the wines having federal special marking, manufacturer’s brand label and back label specifying the producer and ethanol content in the alcoholic product will be approved to take part in the competition.
As a result of preliminary tastings a list of 180 wines-participants of the first independent international wine competition, the Russian Wines Competition©, will be made.
The decision to enter participants on the list is taken by me singlehandedly, as the organizer of the competition, on the basis of the data on every tasted wine made by a particular producer. The tasted wines of every producer are assessed on a 5-point scale and fall into three tables:
1. Wines which got 4 points and above (good wines and top quality wines);
2. Wines which got 3 and 3.5 points (acceptable wines);
3. Wines which got less than 3 points (faulty wines and low quality wines).
Further, based on the quota for a particular producer, a cross section is made and wines for the competition are selected proportionally from each table. The given approach is applied to objectively represent in the competition both, a producer in particular and Russian winemaking as a whole. Quotas for producers in the competition are set, accounting for the range of wines they produce.
To ensure the objectivity of judging the list of wines-participants will be disclosed together with the results of the competition.
However, the list of producers whose wines have entered the competition will be published before the competition is held.
Sponsors of the competition: Cote Rocheuse JSC; Chateau de Talus.
The competition is supported by Weinakademie Osterreich and World Sommelier Academy of Bordeaux (WorldSom).
Venue: Kempinski Grand Hotel Gelendzhik Black Sea.
LEONID FADEEV, Weinakademiker, DipWSET, WorldSom Magister Sommelier.