The Relevance of Wine Competitions w/ Doug Frost, MW, MS

What is the relevance of having 100s of gold medal wines and the competitions that hand them out? According to Doug Frost, MW, MS, it references back to the 19th century, when people were trying to describe what was happening in their wine regions. Doug describes the history, value, drawbacks, and key success factors of wine competitions. He delves into their changing influence in the era of the wine critic and the modern era of the sommelier. He contrasts this with the Wine Pinnacle Awards, now in its second incarnation in Singapore. Detailed Show Notes: Doug’s background Master of Wine and Master Sommelier for more than 25 yearsRestaurant background, has worked in retail, distribution, and now owns a winery (Echolands Winery)Wine competition historyStarted in the 19th century - attempts to describe what’s happening in a winegrowing region, e.g., 1855 Classification of BordeauxThe 1950s-1960s - started to grow, especially in regions outside of Bordeaux and Burgundy, which had classifications to prove wines were high qualityE.g., 1976 - “Judgment of Paris” tasting where CA wines beat French winesThe 1980s-1990s - competitions grew to find out the best of the areas w/o classifications, mainly “new world” such as the US and AustraliaCompetition examplesSonoma County Fair - focused on SonomaDecanter World Wine Awards - covers the world, dependent on wineries submitting wines, ranks the best of the wines submittedValue of competitions - tells you about wines you haven’t heard about yetDrawbacks of competitionsWineries w/ proven track records often don’t submit - more downside than upsideThey usually charge for submissionsKeys to a successful competitionThe quality of judges is keyKnow the purpose of the competition (e.g., examining a specific region, grape variety, etc.)Control the style of wines w/in categories, and make sure a particular style does not dominate every flight - e.g., Jefferson Cup controls the # of wines from a regionCompetitions vs. wine critics/magazinesCompetitions - no expectation that top brands submitTop magazines - top brands must show upCompetitions are still relevant in Australia; in the US, competitions gave way to individual critics, which may now be giving way to others (e.g., crowdsourced scores)Still in the era of the sommelierSomms talk to each other (vs. retailers)Somms influence each other (Pinnacle tries to embody the same idea)Somms actually sell wine (vs. critics)Wine Pinnacle AwardsCo-created by Jeannie Cho Lee MWInternational in scope - dozens of judges from all over the world, each region has equal weightingJudges mostly MSs, MWs, and senior wine writersEach judge was asked to nominate stand-out wines from a specific region and vintage that stood out in their tastings over the past few years (e.g., best Bordeaux from 2010)Target audience - collectors and more experienced consumersTrying to not bring up the same wineries every year by highlighting different vintages, including overlooked onesHosts an award ceremony each year where tickets are sold, does not charge for submissions Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.