![\"IWC\"](\"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_7013-426x500.jpg\")
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Week one of this second tranche of the 2017 International Wine Challenge is over. Except for the crew, that is: they have to stay the weekend doing the immense job of reflighting all the thousands of wines that have made the cut into week two.<\/p>\n
When we get back to the Oval on Tuesday, we’ll be looking to award medals to the successful wines from week one. Removing the non-medal worthy wines helps make this process a bit easier. We’ll be back for a couple of days the week after for trophy judging.<\/p>\n
For the last four days I’ve been one of the team of six co-chairs who have been re-tasting all the rejected wines. It’s a tough task, and it can leave you feeling a bit dispirited. For while the average standard of wine is better now than it was a few decades ago, there are still quite a lot of wines out there that you or I wouldn’t want to drink. I have also been running the faults panel, where I get to verify the wines rejected as faulty so we have good statistics on the prevalence of each fault type. There have been lots of faults.<\/p>\n
The real benefit of a competition like the IWC is that the medals awarded act as reliable buying cues for ordinary people. It you only have \u00a35-6 to spend on a bottle, if it has a medal from a well judged competition like this, it’s a really good sign that you will like the wine. We spend a lot of time deliberating over the award of a medal, and a lot of work goes in to making sure the results of the IWC are fair and robust.<\/p>\n
Right now, though, I need a rest. Being a co-chair is physically exhausting. I’m looking forward to a proper weekend, like normal people with jobs have, where I can lie in and take things easy. I’m also looking forward to giving my palate a rest.<\/p>\n
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