Winemaker Newsroom

Wine Judging 101

Ahh, to be a wine judge . . .  it’s a romantic notion. Whenever I tell people about the OC Fair Home Wine Competition and our volunteer wine judges, I can almost see the thought bubbles forming above their heads saying, “I’d love to be a wine judge.” I’m sure they imagine sitting around sampling endless quantities of wine giving their thumbs up or down. Judging in a wine competition is way different than that.  A good and successful judge is well trained with a completely different mindset than the average wine drinker.

As wine drinkers, we already judge wine but not in a way that a good competition judge would. We like or dislike a wine to fit our personal preference or pre-conceived notions of what we think a particular wine should taste like. And, we’ll judge that wine to be good or bad (thumbs up or down) based on that.  But how many times have you ever thought about why you liked or didn’t like it?

It sounds counterintuitive but a wine judge does not judge wine, at least not in the sense of good or bad.  It’s not about personal preference. A wine judge critiques how a wine is made. A judge determines if there’s anything technically wrong with it. Most importantly, a wine judge looks at a wine to see that it has all the particular qualities and characteristics of the varietal being judged. Like or dislike is not part of the equation.

I like to use meatloaf as an example of how to think about this. Just about all of us have had meatloaf.  We all have certain expectations of how it’s supposed to taste. We probably have a particular style of meatloaf we like. Do you like it sweet with BBQ sauce, brown sugar, or ketchup? Maybe you like it savory with herbs or mushrooms. Do you like sauteed vegetables in it? Do you like your meatloaf with or without a gravy sauce?  What about the meat itself?  Do you prefer ground beef?  Maybe you like a combination of beef and veal or maybe some pork? Maybe you’d rather have it a little leaner with ground turkey instead.

All these are variations of meatloaf. They all have elements of a meatloaf. If you lined them up, they’d probably all look similar and you would recognize them all as being meatloaves. If you tasted them all, you’d likely find some made in a style you prefer and call them good. Some might be made in a style you don’t prefer. But you can’t judge those you don’t prefer to be bad. There’s nothing wrong with any them.

If the meat was undercooked or spoiled, then that would be a bad or undesirable meatloaf. If it was overcooked and so dry that you couldn’t eat it, that too would be undesirable. No one wants one that has so much salt, spice or brown sugar that it would overwhelm your taste buds. If the seasonings were out of balance, that would be undesirable. If it didn’t have enough egg, bread crumbs or another binder to hold it together, then it would crumble when you cut into it and that would be undesirable too.  Those undesirable qualities are not true to what a correctly prepared meatloaf should have.

It’s the same idea with wine. Using Pinot Noir as an example, we all likely prefer it to be a certain way.  We’ll taste one and say we like it or not based on what we think a Pinot Noir should taste like. Maybe you like one with more body or mouthfeel. Maybe you like a more fruit-forward style with lots of strawberry upfront. Maybe you like it to be earthy or have a “barnyard” nose. Does this make the other styles bad?  No. There’s nothing wrong with the other styles. You just don’t prefer them.

Now if the wine was bitter from being in contact with the grape skins and seeds for too long then that would be undesirable. A Pinot Noir that didn’t finish fermenting would have excess residual sugar, an undesirable quality. Too much tannic bitterness from excessive oak is undesirable. A thin, watery wine or one that doesn’t taste like a Pinot Noir at all is an undesirable quality. In winemaking we call these faults. I’m sure we’ve all seen wines that are cloudy or hazy. We’ve probably tasted wines which were oxidized and starting to turn brown from exposure to air or improper storage. We’re familiar with “corked” wines which have that wet cardboard smell. Those too are all wine faults.

So, a competition wine judge looks for faults in a wine, or more correctly, lack of faults in a wine which indicates a well-crafted wine. As a judge at the Home Wine Competition, I always want to see (and taste) those excellent wines as I appreciate the work and attention to detail it takes to create them.

Competition judging is a thoughtful process that requires stamina and mental discipline, not the first thing you might think of when you hear the words “wine judge”.  It’s our job to evaluate and give honest feedback for every wine we judge. To me it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in the wine society.

The Winemakers Group is gearing up for this year’s OC Fair Home Wine Competition coming up on Saturday, June 8. We are always looking for new judges. We provide training and you’ll work with experienced judges on competition day. If you’re interested, feel free to reach out to our Director of Judges, John Lane, our Competition Chairman, Kevin Donnelly, or myself and we’ll be happy to talk with you about wine judging.

Cheers,

Ed Reyes, ed@ocws.org; Kevin Donnelly, kevindonnelly@ocws.org; John Lane, john@ocws.org