Marie O’Dea, president of the agricultural society that delivers the Wine Show of WA, shares her thoughts on wine shows and nepotism as raised in an anonymous letter received by WBM newsletter The Week That Was.
Australian agriculture and the wine industry is rich with family businesses and wine shows are organised by people with connections to their community and/or the business of wine.
Wine shows grew out of the agricultural show society system that rewards excellence but the judges will always provide subjective opinions within objective criteria.
The judging of wine, sheep, cows, cake or cheese is influenced by fashion, opinion leaders, conditions on the day and even commercial imperatives.
I am the president of the agricultural society that delivers the Wine Show of WA and a horse show and was coordinator of the show for a few years in its 47 year history.
I do not produce wine, have a vineyard or own a horse.
Like others before me, being part of the excitement of the show and what it has done for the development of the wine industry in the Great Southern of WA is the reward.
To win awards at wine shows, first you need to enter your wines.
Why a producer enters particular wines is their decision and for smaller businesses it is often part of seeking a ‘second opinion’ in a line-up of wines.
The purpose of wine shows does vary from region to region and in WA the Perth Royal Show and Wine Show of WA are the only two of note run by an agricultural society.
All pay attention to the ASVO and best practice recommendations either deliberately or because of committees and chairs of judges influencing the direction of a show.
From my observations and experience of organising a show open to entries across the state, there are a few things you need to recognise about the show system and your own capacity to judge.
You will need to be prepared to do the hard yards of volunteering at a show to ‘prove yourself’ as a team player and really understand what hard work it can be to assemble a show.
To aspire to be a wine judge this means working as a steward first, somewhere.
At our show you always learn something from others about wines and do have the opportunity to mix socially with the judges.
Not all employers have the capacity (or interest) to release staff from work to attend wine shows so you may need to prepare yourself for using annual leave or to take unpaid leave to participate and develop experience.
Selecting judges to be part of your show is not an easy task and the planning is done with a three-year horizon so that there is some continuity and balancing the different elements of experience is no easy task.
Winemakers, sommeliers, writers and retailers all have a part to play – getting the balance right year to year is a challenge.
Three years as an associate, judge, panel chair or chair was our guide but continuity is not always possible.
The wildcard entry for Wine Show of WA has been an international judge and the budget for interstate travel is a limitation plus the travel time to WA.
Nepotism is not something I have observed.
Bold new directions in winemaking will be embraced, but at the end of the day the product in the bottle with a medal sticker must be bought and paid for by a consumer.
Wines are entered into shows by businesses, not hobbyists.
An aside…
A shout-out to AWRI, whose façade I looked out to for a few years in the early 1980s.
I think of the advances made by those who worked there and shudder when faced with a natural or orange wine.
It is similar to how I feel when faced with the juice of almonds/oats/soy and it is described as milk.
The Australian wine industry will soon come to regret how we trashed a great institution because some idiot or three were employed not for their expertise and love of science or wine, but some other criteria that has no relevance to nurturing scientific endeavour across decades but might fit with political fancies that have a two to three year attention span.