Today was not the hardest day of thie 5th Wines of Chile Awards in terms of concentration and tooth damage but it did involve the most difficult choices for our team of nine British judges.
I’m here in wonderfully hot and sunny Santiago following in my master’s footsteps (Jancis was on the panel of judges in the first ever such event in Dec 2003).
The panel comprises mainly but not exclusively wine writers and includes three MWs. Between us, in changing groups of three, we have tasted our way through about 450 wines, divided into various classes according to variety, vintage and price. There has been surprisingly little conflict within the judging groups, despite some strong opinions and personalities, and enough time to discuss and re-taste wines where opinions and scores diverged.
Yesterday was the most physically demanding, mainly because there were more red wines, quite a few of them – though perhaps fewer than I expected – concentrated and oaky. But today was the most agonising, selecting the trophy winners from among the gold medal winners.
As a write (Wednesday night), we do not know the identities of the wines, and I would be shot if I divulged anything at all at this point. The trophies and gold medal winners will be announced at the awards dinner in Santiago tomorrow night [Julia’s birthday, as it happens – JR], and on this site as soon as they are available.