32 | Mahurangimatters 13 March 2013
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GREENWOOD
with Ben Dugdale mardale@clear.net.nz Chairman, Matakana Winegrowers Association
Wine shows: hype or help?
Nowadays the availability of wine is enormous. Since 1989, when supermarkets were allowed to sell wines, wineries have enjoyed many pathways to the market. Wineries think supermarkets are fantastic, as they put wine in the context of groceries – in other words, the symbiotic relationship between food and wine can be found at one’s local Countdown or New World. Supermarkets also think wine is great as it’s a product that has a high price per unit, doesn’t go off and is available from so many producers that little negotiation is required in order to purchase supplies. As more and more brands entered the market through the 90s and 2000s it became harder for wineries to compete. One popular way to compete is via the wine show medals. A wine show is where similar wines are judged in groups and each wine is awarded a mark out of 20. Depending on the score, wines will either be awarded medals or suffer the ignominy of a “not achieved”. Wines awarded gold medals are then re-tasted, so the “best of the best” can be awarded the label “Trophy”. Wine companies can then put little stickers on the bottle that tell the potential consumer that the wine won a particular award and/or medal at a particular wine show. A bronze medal means the wine displays good, basic true-to-type wine qualities – with no discernible faults. In other words: a good wine. Silver medals mean the wine is a step up in its inherent quality and offers above-average characters and flavour profile. Gold medals are wines that have an X factor; a purity and typicity (this is wine term that means the degree to which a wine reflects its varietal origins) of the variety, or are considered a “complete package” if they are blends. Some wine companies enter wine competitions with a shotgun approach, entering as many shows as possible with as many wines as possible. The law of averages means they will, at some point, strike a significant medal and they then spend a small fortune promoting it. Other wine companies eschew wine competitions as they feel that the judging process is atypical to the actual environment in which one consumes wine. I’ve been a judge in wine shows for over 12 years and my personal thoughts are that wine shows have their place as they give consumers a “rough guide” to a wine’s basic quality. They are a fantastic training ground for up-and-coming winemakers, who can learn flavour profiles, fault detection and the art of critical analysis alongside the stalwarts of the industry. But they should be a setting-off point into the world of wine, and not the be-all-and-end all.
Sudoku the numbers game 8
GROUNDSPREAD LIMITED LIMESTONE, HARD METAL AND POST PEELINGS
• TRACTORS
MULCHING, CULTIVATION, LOADER WORK, SCOOPWORK
5
9
8 2
6
9
6
1 7
1
4
9
2 3
• DIGGERS DRAINAGE, EARTHWORKS
2
5 8
• Fertilizer SPREADERS
7
2
09 423 8871 • TIPPERS
6
7 7 HARD
2
3
1
4
5 Solution page 42
Fill in this grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.
www.sudokupuzz.com
Quality Assured
Wine