Russian Wines Competition 2020 changes the jury
The Russian Wines Competition 2020 jury has changed due to the world’s pandemic situation.
We are very grateful to our foreign colleagues – Masters of Wine and Weinakademikers, who supported the Russian Wines Competition 2020 and agreed to join the jury. These are real wine professionals. However, the ongoing pandemic situation dictates new conditions. Given the difficulties of international travel and other considerations, it was decided to change the jury to enable the Russian Wines Competition 2020 to take place. The jury will now consist of five wine experts from Russia, who all have the title of Weinakademiker awarded by the Austrian Wine Academy as well as the prestigious international DipWSET qualification from the world’s largest wine school, the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (UK).
Wines will be evaluated using the 100-point system, with the specialized electronic program VinAgora International Wine Competition Evaluation Software - Wine Compass (Hungary), supervised remotely by the developers.
This is a new step for the Russian Wines Competition and a new experience. This year, wines from Russian producers will be evaluated by experts who have excellent knowledge of the Russian and international markets. I would like to point out that we carried out a thorough and comprehensive preselection of wines for the competition, where the vast majority of wines were selected before the entry into force of the Federal Law “On viticulture and winemaking in the Russian Federation”. The main goal is to cover the maximum number of wines from Russian producers which are presented to consumers on store shelves. Therefore, the preselection involved wines from Russian producers, regardless of the place of origin of the grapes. Another innovation of the Russian Wines Competition 2020 is that the scores of the wines which were tasted at the preselection, but not included on the competition’s list, will be published.
An interactive programme will take place in parallel with the competition. Wine industry speakers will discuss current industry topics live on the Vine and Wine YouTube channel. These will include representatives of educational institutions that train personnel for the industry, suppliers of winemaking equipment and components, sommeliers, wine experts, winemakers, scientists as well as representatives of the wine business and wine tourism.
The independent international competition Russian Wines Competition will be held in Russia for the second time from 19 to 21 September 2020.
The sponsor is Cote Rocheuse JSC. At the moment, a modern gravity-flow winery is close to successful completion, based on a unique project. Its production facilities have already been put into operation.
LEONID FADEEV, Stage 2 MW Student, WSET/IWSC “The Future 50 Awards” winner, Weinakademiker, DipWSET, WorldSom Magister Sommelier