South Africa’s wine judges

South Africa’s wine judges

In South Africa, there are now a number of different wine competitions designed to praise high-achievers in the wine industry. The hosts of these competitions, whether it is Veritas, the Top 100, or John Platter Guide, all need to have the wines sampled, graded and then ranked. This tasting and grading is done by South Africa’s wine judges, who all need to have a great deal of experience in the wine industry, and are well-educated in the field of wine tasting. Without these judges, no wine competition could award their prizes fairly, and the competitions themselves would be less highly regarded.

A number of these wine judges are former Sommelier, who are professional wine experts, often employed by restaurants and other wine suppliers in order to recommend different wines to clients. They are usually highly trained and experienced, and this gives them the qualities which are needed in a judge, of good qualifications, a broad knowledge of the industry (in this case wine), and a background in the field. Wine judges can also be wine growers, wine producers, or those who have been wine distillers and makers in other countries. In fact, a number of South African wine judges come from outside the country, and it is common practice in all wine competitions to have overseas judges come in and judge the wines. As this gives the wine competition an aura of impartiality and fairness, it should come as no surprise that some judges are from other countries.

What may surprise the outsider in the field of judging South African wines is the number of names who continually crop-up. Although there have been significant changes in the judging of wine over the last two or three decades, the majority of wine judges have come from a background in wine-tasting or wine selling. The Wine Judging Academy, as well as other educational programs, have created courses designed to teach people how to effectively judge wines, and participate in wine-judging competitions. Many wine judges are also Masters of Wine, which is the highest level of qualification which wine producers and sellers can reach. Therefore, it should be clear that South African Wine judges are at the very top of their profession in the wine industry.

When judges are invited into a competition, such as the Top 100 South African Wines competition, they are expected to do a number of things which will help them to assess each wine. Firstly, they will usually be expected to judge the wine in a ‘blind’ testing situation. This is where the tasters sample wines without knowing their name or place of origin. They may be asked to sample the same wine in different situations, for example freshly poured versus decanted, or chilled versus room temperature. This gives them an all-round feel for the wine’s character. Judges will then be asked to assess the wines, still without knowing where each wine is from. Only when they have scored the wines, and given them a ranking, may they know the names of each wine, and sometimes not even then (being expected to wait on the results like the rest of the participants).