After the 4 judges went through the first flight using the WOW scoring, they quickly agreed that the process felt cumbersome and slow compared to other judgings.
With little resistance, they convinced the WOW officials to let them do it their way… evaluating the wine as a whole integrated entity (letting their senses tell them when there was a need for dissection). Fear not, “The well made wines will get their due,” they assured.
The old WOW system called for a separate scoring of 4 characteristics: appearance, aroma, taste and aftertaste … to be totaled for a final wine score.
What I noticed was that the judges taste buds and thought processes were so integrated that they assimilated their perceptions not only of those four characteristics, but of a whole host of other factors… including new world vs old world style, Rhone vs Loire style, soil imparted characters, future aging potential (with reds) and many other things including some second guessing about what the winemaker intended.
With a brief sip, a swig and a swirl they knew whether to give the wine a score between 1 & 15 warranting no medal, 16-17 recommending it for Silver or 18-20 nominating it for a Gold. When a minimum of two judges gave it a Silver or Gold, the wine got the award. When a vote was split by one judge giving it a silver and another recommending gold, they critiqued. ”I was on the fence to going up (or down)… so convince me.”
That’s when my ears perked up as they re-tasted and discussed what the wine had going for it… or against it. I too re-tasted to discern exactly what they were talking about. … sometimes surprising myself with an “Oh yeah.. I see what he means”… or “I just don't get it.”
Speaking of getting it… I had a wonderful opportunity to get it... that is more education for my taste buds.. yet again today. I attend a wait staff wine training at Helena Darling’s Madrona Kitchen and Wine Tavern. The training was conducted by winemaker Chanda Miller (currently found at the Harry and David Wine Shop). Chanda has such an intelligent – yet very user-friendly way of explaining some things I just didn’t understand this weekend.
I had an in depth opportunity to taste and identify many individual flavors with her sensory training as well as an opportunity to smell and taste flaws such as wines with “Bret” (bacterium Brettanomyces) wines that are “Corked” (the wine-spoiling chemical compound TCA -Trichloroanisole) and wines that have “VA” (volatile acids) adding a pleasant “earthy” flavor in small doses or a sharp vinegary smell and taste in higher doses.
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