We are now in the midst of the wine competition season, so on any given wine-shopping spree you are likely to come across numerous wines that are being touted as medal winners.
You may wonder what to make of it all, but I believe you can reasonably conclude that most every gold-medal wine will have some exceptional qualities, and that a medal of any kind is an assurance that the wine at least offers a modicum of drinking pleasure.
But it would be naive to conclude that all wine competitions were created equal. Wine judges have varying levels of skill and experience, and that may impact the votes they cast.
Which brings me to the Critics Challenge International Wine Competition, where I am Director and co-Chief Judge along with Wine Review Online columnist Mary Ewing-Mulligan, a Master of Wine, brilliant taster, and diligent gatekeeper.
The Critics Challenge is a unique wine competition, bringing together as it does an array of accomplished wine journalists to evaluate each submission.
What makes this competition unique and special is the aspect of accountability. In most other wine competitions, judges are grouped into tasting panels and the awards are a consensus of the group. Nothing wrong with that, and two of the three wine competitions I oversee (San Diego International Wine Competition and the Monterey International Wine Competition) utilize the panel structure.
Critics Challenge, however, lists the name of the awarding judge, along with an excerpt from the judge’s tasting notes, in the official results posted on the Critics Challenge website.
It is this accountability that clearly sets the Critics Challenge apart, and gives you, the consumer, an added edge when considering which wines to purchase from the overwhelming number of selections available in today’s marketplace.
This year’s Critics Challenge will be conducted over the Memorial Day weekend. It is the fifth Critics Challenge thus far, and the field of judges has just been announced. Visit CriticsChallenge.com in late May for all of this year’s winners and the judges’ comments.
2008 Crtics Challenge Judges
Michael Apstein, columnist Wine Review Online and frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gerald Boyd, columnist Wine Review Online and frequent contributor to multiple national wine publications, and former Editor of The Wine Spectator.
Stephen Brook, regular contributor to Decanter Magazine and The Times of London, and author of numerous wine books, including “Bordeaux: People, Power and Politics.”
Patrick Comiskey, regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and Senior Editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine.
Michael Franz, Editor Wine Review Online, a regular contributor to France Magazine, and former wine columnist for The Washington Post.
Paul Lukacs, Wine Editor Saveur Magazine, wine columnist for The Washington Times, columnist for Wine Review Online, and author of two award-winning books, “The Great Wines of America” and “American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine.”
Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne for Dummies, and co-author with wife Mary Ewing-Mulligan of Wine for Dummies and numerous other wine books, as well as a columnist for Wine Review Online and Nation’s Restaurant News.
Elin McCoy, wine columnist for Bloomberg News, author of an award-winning book on wine critic Robert Parker, “The Emperor of Wine”, columnist for Wine Review Online, and former wine editor of Food & Wine Magazine.
Linda Murphy, West Coast contributor for Decanter Magazine and California wine reviewer for JancisRobinson.com, columnist for Wine Review Online, and contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle wine section, for which she served as Editor for a number of years.
Rebecca Murphy, Director and Founder of the Dallas Morning News Wine Competition and wine columnist for the Dallas Morning News.
Nick Passmore, wine columnist for Business Week and numerous national wine and lifestyle publications.
Jamal Rayyis, Editor of Food & Wine Magazine’s annual Wine Buying Guide.
Leslie Sbrocco, award-winning author, Emmy Award-winning television personality, and columnist for Wine Review Online.
Marguerite Thomas, regular contributor to The Los Angeles Times International Syndicate, Travel Editor of The Wine News and a columnist for Wine Review Online.
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