Over 30 wineries and 217 separate bottles of wine; five judges and 1000 wine glasses; two days of intense concentration and informed debate.
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The Ballarat Wine Show judging is underway at Morshead Park for 2021, with an increased focus on regional wines and the growth of varietals.
The Courier caught up with the judges as they paused for a break on the first day of the competition, to bust some myths, learn the details of why gold medallists win gold, and discover how the judges' palates make it through to the end.
Steven Paul of Geelong's Oakdene vineyard is the chair of judges for the show. He's judged Ballarat in the past and has years of experience including judging the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards.
His colleagues facing a phalanx of red, whites, roses, sparkling wines, ports, muscats, aged wines and others are associate judges Ben Howell of Taltarni and Alistair Park of Galli Estate, Natasha Webster of Empire of Dirt and Andrew Koerner of Blue Pyrenees.
While the actual scoring is a combination of personal choice and collective discussion, the final decision is made by consensus.
So how do the wine judges face the consideration of so many different wines - the profusion of flavours, aromas, mouth-feels and other qualities which make drinking wine such a pleasure? How do they keep it fresh, as it were?
Steven Paul says one way to make sure their palates are coping is to avoid spending too long on a single variety.
"That's the hardest thing of this, managing fatigue. So we might do rose, then shiraz, then sauvignon, other white; then back to shiraz, then to chardonnay," he says.
"We think the best way is to alternate, because you stay fresher: you go from tannic wines to acidic wines and back again, giving your palate some respite."
"We are all from the industry, so we do have a bit of stamina in tasting wines," says Andrew Koerner.
You do get to the point where you've just got to walk away and breathe and have a drink of water
- Natasha Webster, Empire of Dirt
Even so, the effort of concentrating on the qualities of each wine is a harder task than might be imagined. Natasha Webster says another key to getting through is regular breaks.
"You do get that tannin build-up, and you do get to the point where you've just got to walk away and breathe and have a drink of water or a piece of cheese or something; just clear it out of your palate before you come back and start again," she says.
"There's just no point in powering through. Everybody's got different strengths they bring to the table, things they maybe pick up better in some wines than other people, because they make more of a certain style. You can rely on some people's palates for picking up some qualities."
One of the things which has made the contemporary judge's life more challenging is the vast improvement in the quality of wines presented, even in the past decade.
Whereas once there was always a percentage of wines made by - let's be kind - enthusiastic but skill-limited amateurs, the selection in 2021 is very sophisticated and harder to separate.
"You can't fault people's passion," Natasha Webster says drily.
"There was a discussion yesterday we brought up: in the past quite often in regional shows there would be quite a few faults that you can pick up very quickly," Andrew Koerner says.
"Which would mean, in a large class, you don't really have to focus on those ones or even taste them because they are not going to score; we already see a fault. Now the winemaking is so good there are very few faults."
"There's been nothing in the first few classes (of wine) here you would consider as faulty; there always used to be a couple in there," Steven Paul adds.
"And they were actually welcome, which sounds strange, but it meant you could focus on the better wines. Now we are seeing a lot more wines that may even be silver or bronze medal, that have no faults, but also not much of note about them."
So how much have regional wines improved in Victoria then?
"The answer is: a lot," says Ben Howell emphatically.
"The top end is still the top, but the bottom end has come up a lot. I mean, we used to be able to chop out half the class."
One of those major shifts in recent years is varietal and stylistic changes in the wines. With younger winemakers such as Owen Latta of Eastern Peake at Clunes testing the market with drier climate and southern European styles as the climate changes, are the judges seeing a more general move to differentiation?
"Definitely the place is getting warmer everywhere for a start," Steven Paul says.
"The climate is definitely changing. But I think the regions now, because there's so much competition I started to look for their heroes: 'what varieties are best suited to this region and what are we known for?'
"They are probably channeling that path a little bit more, and at the same time, looking for other varieties that may be suited in the region, but also growing what they think the market needs."
"Consumers now, they're always asking for the newest thing, whereas 10 years ago it used to be hard to try and get them into something they weren't familiar with," Ben Howell says.
"And the market is younger now."
"Places like wine bars have helped, where you can just go and get a glass of this and maybe a glass of that, rather than committing to a whole bottle... people are a little bit more experimental now, they will say, 'I've never heard of it but I'll give it a go, because if I hate it I've only got one glass," Natasha Webster says.
"I think people are having better conversations about wine rather than assuming 'We're going to dinner we're going to have one of these then we're going to have one of those.'
"There's a lot more looking at the food you've got or the crowd of people that you've got and what they're interested in trying. I've found personally just as a lot more people willing to experiment they've heard of someone who said these are okay let me give it a go well, you know, the last person on the bar and so what do you recommend as opposed to just walking I only drink and drink New Zealand's have long Yeah, I think they're white in public and a lot more educated on sort
"Foods have changed dramatically too," Steven Paul adds.
"That's brought in more wine options. Wine has become commonplace on most people's tables. That's all changed.
"But I still think they are trying to improve what they're doing, and the best way to improve is to either experiment or go down the path of what suits the region. Forget about what you think the market wants because if it's not suitable in the growing region there's no point making it."
Chair of the Wine show Alistair Freeman says considering how hard the wineries were hit by the pandemic, to have received over 200 entries from local wineries is heartening.
The Ballarat Wine Show will hold its presentation dinner in November. The author will be hosting the dinner.
A LITTLE HISTORY
Winemaking was first attempted at almost the outset of the Victorian colonisation, in the 1850s, and it was largely the efforts of French, Swiss, Italian and other European immigrants who saw the industry established.
While the first vineyards were put in around the sites of major population, by the mid-1850s things were expanding rapidly, with Monsieur Trouette and his wife Marie Blampied fighting for the right to put in grapes at Great Western, followed by the Bests and Thomsons.
Victorian vignerons were fuelled with the hope of supplanting a shortage of European wine caused by a devastating outbreak of phylloxera, an aphid brought to England and then to the continent by botanists transferring US grapes in the 1860s.
It was not to be. Phylloxera came to Australia in 1877, and caused similar levels of destruction. It took almost 100 years for the Victorian wine to recover.
Around Ballarat the cooler climate frustrated the growers for many decades, and it was in the regions around the city where wines prospered, until the popularity of varieties such as pinot noir and chardonnay grew in the 1970s.
Ballarat's first wine show was held in 1989. Instigated by the late Ray Mackay, member of the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society and founder of Field Air, Mackay was keen participant in Ballarat's wine and food scene. He joined in the mid 1990s and is honoured with a named trophy for the Champion Wine of the Show .
The first industry person to chair the wine show was Rod Stott, who started a vineyard at Sulky and established Dulcinea Wines. Rod was instrumental in bringing Best's Viv Thomson to the show, closing a circle begun in the 1850s.