The system of scoring wines at the Russian Wines Competition©

Within the framework of the Russian Wines Competition© wines will be scored on a 100-point scale with the use of specialized VinAgora International Wine Competition Evaluation Software (Hungary) approved by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (O.I.V.) for the purpose of holding international wine competitions.

A qualified jury is supposed to assess 180 Russian wines. Wines will be assessed in four categories: «Sparkling wines produced by the tank method»; «Sparkling wines produced by the traditional method»; «Still white wines»; «Still red wines».

In each tasting category there will be the wine-winner having the highest score which will receive the title of «The Best Russian Wine of 2018 according to the Russian Wines Competition©».

Wines are evaluated by a committee of jurors headed by a panel chair. A new panel chair out of Masters of Wine is appointed every day. The panel chair's score carries the same weight in calculating the final score as other members' scores, but he/she has some special rights, like initiating a medal voting, requesting a new bottle, etc. The final score of the wine is a trimmed average of all the judges' points, where the highest score and the lowest score are excluded if it is off from the raw average by more than 5 points.

In accordance with the obtained scores wines will be awarded medals. The medal range runs as follows:

• Gold medal: 94-100 points;
• Silver medal: 88-93 points;
• Bronze medal: 83-87 points.

No more than 30 per cent of all the wines participating in the competition have a chance to get medals: gold, silver or bronze. The rule applies to 30 per cent of wines having the highest score, regardless of the category.

In case 30% of wines are assessed within the range of gold medals silver and bronze medals are not awarded. The same principle applies to awarding silver and bronze medals. If 30% of the best wines are assessed within the range of gold and silver medals bronze medals are not awarded.

All medalists will be sent diplomas, and may also be given the right to use a special sticker attached to bottles.

Information on the wines (with the number of points scored) participating in the competition will be published on vineandwine.vin

LEONID FADEEV, Weinakademiker, DipWSET, WorldSom Magister Sommelier.