Commended or condemned?
Last week our newest wine, Pasotismo Blanco, was awarded ‘Commended’ at the International Wine Challenge. I was gutted. I still am, but I’ve tried to become a bit more sanguine about it as the days have passed. It’s not easy though. I love that wine, and it’s a big part of our winemaking philosophy for the future so I took it particularly hard. On the face of it winning anything is good news but I have always seen the ‘Commended’ category as the wine equivalent of the good attendance award. A last roll of the dice by the competition organisers to get me to part with more cash (the much-desired sticky labels run at around 5p each but you can get a 40% discount if you spend over £11’750).
[SIDE NOTE - The IWC handing out over 6000 awards this year, no matter how credible the tasting process, this is a serious business putting down some serious numbers. My old boss used to say that the people who got rich during the gold rush weren’t the diggers, but the people selling shovels. Wine competitions are very much in that mould].
I hope this doesn’t sound too much like I’m a disgruntled loser (the last paragraph is very conciliatory) and I’m not criticising the competition. I entered, the wine got a fair crack and we came up short. That’s life. But I am convinced that Pasotismo Blanco is a great wine. Maybe not gold, but surely worth something with a metallic finish?!
I’m not a passive by-stander here. I’m obviously going to love all my wines but bear with me, I think a light, 11% white isn’t going to show its best in a room of bombastic, aromatics. Without sounding too much like a winewanker, there are nuances in Pasotismo Blanco that need time and focus. (Oh, that sounded awful but I’m going to stick with it. Anyone disagreeing with this can beat me with the nuance stick now!)
From what I understand the IWC is one of the best competitions for tasting standards but I’ve done competitions before, they are long and laborious so I’m always sceptical that a wine gets a fair hearing. I am trying to trust the process but we’ve had glowing reports for that wine that far outstrip a commended. Maybe this just serves to prove that taste is subjective. Or maybe a wine has to work very hard to stand out from the crowd in a competition (I.e. be big, bold and aromatic). Out of the 20 white wines from Spain to get gold medals, only two weren’t Sherries. And in the silvers there is a page and a half of sherry to get through before you get to any still whites, and they are completely dominated by the incredibly distinct Albariños. These are wines that would make you sit up and take notice regardless of what you’ve tried before. I’m not sure Pasotismo Blanco would. But that’s not what it’s there for. It needs the right context…
I hope you’ve taken most of this with a pinch of salt. I’m frustrated that the wine didn’t do better and purposely sticking my elbows out to be a bit provocative (not exactly hard hitting stuff but I make wine for a living, I’m not writing for the National Enquirer). But it belies an uncomfortable truth that I’m wrestling with. How much do I trust myself? I am fully invested in Pasotismo Blanco so have I got it wrong? I work hard to maintain a decent level of subjectivity. I try wines regularly to hone my palate and make sure I’m not lost in my own bubble. I look for faults, imbalances and anything I don’t like in our wines and try to rectify it in future vintages. I know we are not the finished article. But we got commended, somewhere between 80 and 84 points. And I don’t agree with that. So am I wrong? I don’t know. I guess I’ll never know but I’ve got to believe in what we’re doing and use anything, positive or negative, to keep pushing the quality and keep chasing the dream. If nothing else I think I should go and open a bottle and remind myself why I love this wine so much.