I’ve just realized that I haven’t written anything about Wine100 Challenge on my blog. As the consultant of this great challenge, I feel that I am at some point not fulfilling my dutyhttp://www/uc/myshow/blog/misc/gif/E___6721EN00SIGG.gif!  As this article might interest some non-Chinese speakers, I have decided to write it down in English before translating it into Chinese (if I find time). I’ve actually never written in English on this blog, or on any blog actually...

First of all, I would like to say many thanks to China’s “number one wine-educator” - Fongyee Walker, as she was the one to introduce me to the organizers of Wine100!

Wine100 has been a valuable experience, both professionally and personally. I’ve learned a lot from it and I was able to express myself freely in many ways. It was also a great pleasure to meet real wine lovers and experts at once in one place and being able to have in-depth chats with most of them!

My job as a consultant was mainly to make sure that every wine submitted by importers had an equal opportunity to reveal its best and that it would get a fair and professional judgment. My work before the competition was therefore:

l  To set down the tasting rules, so that nothing would influence the fairness and objectivity of the judges’ ratings.

l  To decide the rating standards, in order that each judge uses the same scoring scale (Andrew Caillard MW gave me very good advices on this point, thank you!)

l  To divide the wines in categories so that those with similarities would be tasted together. This was actually quite tricky sometimes, especially when you get strange blends with five or more varieties which aren’t often mixed together! I guess that some of the judges will remember this white wine made up of 30% Colombard, 25% Grenache, 20% Vermentino, 10% Chenin Blanc, 5% Marsanne, 5% Mauzac and 5% Sauvignon-Blanc…http://www/uc/myshow/blog/misc/gif/E___6690EN00SIGG.gif

l  To decide in which order the wines would be tasted, and by which panel.

l  To make sure that each judge had enough experience to be invited.

l  To decide which glassware to use. By the way, for those that might interest, we used Spiegelau Authentis White Wine Small, great for tasting all kinds of wines, arguably better than ISO glass for many wines! More info here.

l  Etc…

I first went to Shanghai something like 10 days prior to the competition, at the time the hotel was receiving the bottles sent by the importers. This first visit to the hotel was to make sure that the wines would rest in an adequately cool environment before the challenge. I also wanted to make sure that the tasting room would not have any strange smell emanating from an old carpet and that the lighting would not be reminiscent of these “romantic”, “western-style” restaurants we find everywhere in China, i-e with nearly no light at all. I got actually really impressed by the quality of the tasting room: no weird smell, and a huge bay-window making up a whole side of the room, thus a great lighting, plus a bonus view on cute red bricks houses surrounded by greenness! The second room on the other side, with no windows at all, was just perfect to prepare the wines without being seen by the judges.

I flew back to Nanning the same day, and went back again to Shanghai two days before the competition, on May 1^st. With the help of the hotel staff and the team of Wine100, we split the wines according to the sequences previously set in order to ensure the smooth running of the three-days challenge.

The judges were divided into three panels of 5 judges each (6 the second day as we gave the opportunity to future wine experts to join us as associate judges), each panel headed by a Master of Wine (Jane Skilton, Andrew Caillard and Ned Goodwin). Besides the MWs, there was also Taku Sugaya from Japan (who got married the week after!) and the always smiling Edwin Soon from Singapore. I actually had great time with both of them around the snooker at the end of each day http://www/uc/myshow/blog/misc/gif/E___6713EN00SIGG.gif. The Chinese judges team was made up of Fongyee Walker, Edward Ragg, Jean-Marc Nolant (I know, they don’t sound like Chinese, however, their heart is! Haha!), Frankie Zhao, Lu Yang, Denis Lin, Sophie Liu, Stephen Li, Wendy Qi and Roger Hou.

The judges tasted over 400 wines the first two days, and re-tasted the gold and potential gold medal wines on the third morning. By the third day afternoon, we got a list of medaled-wines made up of 34 gold medals, 61 silver medals and 147 bronze medals. Check the full list here.

On the third day afternoon, there was a big wine tasting during which importers could bring and share their wines with selected wine lovers. I am still surprised by the number of wine-lovers who came to this tasting considering that the hotel, even though very comfortable, was a bit far from the town center. I was a bit reluctant to organize such a wine tasting after the competition, but I have to admit that it was a huge success!

Besides the challenge and the exhibition, another event attracted dozens of Chinese wine geeks: the three master-classes conducted by the MWs on May 4^th and 5^th evenings. It is a pity I didn’t have time to attend Jane Skilton MW master-class about New-Zealand wines, but the people who went all told me that they learned a lot from it and that they really had great wines! I am certain they did considering that Jane has been teaching wine for years, notably at the “New-Zealand School of Wines and Spirits” which she established in 2003 in Auckland. Andrew Caillard MW, Wine100 judges’ chairman, ran a course titled “Sharing the Australian Sunshine” (共享阳光澳大利亚 in Chinese). Attendees tasted wines from Tasmania, Hunter Valley, Clare Valley, Yarra Valley, Margaret River, Coonawarra, Barossa... all classified as “exceptional” or “outstanding” according to the Langton’s Classification. The third seminar was hold by Ned Goodwin MW who took us on an in-depth tour of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and its great Grenache wines! We got Domaine des Senechaux, Domaine Pierre Andre, Domaine de la Vieille Julienne (my favourite of the tasting), Vieux Telegraphe, Beaucastel, Chateau Gigognan, and a bretty Guigal Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

The Lion Rock Films crew led by Warwick Ross came to say hello during the competition and took some shootings of the judges tasting. After that, we had a great diner with Warwick and his beautiful daughter at M on the Bund. We also had great evenings with Ned, Jean-Marc, Taku and Edwin! It was great fun!

Those were such enthusiastic days that I could go on for a few more pages, but I guess it’s already too long (especially if I want to translate it in Chinese!)… http://www/uc/myshow/blog/misc/gif/E___6721EN00SIGG.gif

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