Canberra International Riesling Challenge Results
The Canberra International Riesling Challenge is now in its 21st Year.
It would have been its 23rd year C-19 not had different ideas.
This is a very exciting competition and as chief judge (for 3 years so far) it is a winderful competition to get a snapshot of the Riesling variety from around the world.
This year there were over 400 entries. No where near enough from New Zealand though - perhaps for 2023.
I met Wolf Blass in 2019, the picture you see of us two was directly after the results were announced Otcober 14th, 2022. Wolf was the first chair of judges for the competition 21 years ago. He is a wine maker and wine personality I am sure many readers will be familiar with. Born in 1934 Wolf Blass still plays and active role in the competitons promotion.
At the awards ceremny on Friday October Wolf annonced a $350K donation to establish a fund to keep the completition going.
The origin of the grape vine, Vitis Vinifera, is in the Caucasus mountains in Georgia, at the junction of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. How the wines came to Persia (Iran and Iraq) and then to the Mediterranean is carefully recorded by Hugh Johnson. He notes that Riesling could have been cultivated from a wild vine by the Romans. It could have been selected for its ability to ripen in cold climates, when the Romans spread their empire to other places, including regions of Germany.
The first documentary evidence appears in 1435 and links Kloster Eberbach - a monastery in the Rhinegau - with the making of Riesling wines. This is supported by Stuart Piggott who comments that the earliest reliable records are from an invoice written by the estate manager of Count von Katezenellenbogen for Riesling grapes to be planted in his vineyard at Russelsheim on the Main near Rhinegau in 1435. Austrians claim to have had Riesling since 1308 at Ritzling, near Joching, in Wachau. Unfortunately there is little documentation to support this. From Germany Riesling spread to the surrounding grape growing countries, which included Italy, Austria and Hungary. More recently, Riesling reached the new world wine countries, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
The 21st Canberra International Riesling Challenge (CIRC) to be held 10-15 October 2022 will introduce a new awards system commencing with the 2022 Challenge.
Originally intended for introduction in 2021 the CIRC has used the COVID imposed delay to further refine the new awards system.
Instead of the traditional medal system used by most wine shows, the CIRC will use a system based on the 100 point scale against which the wines are judged during the Challenge.
The Canberra International Riesling Challenge will use the following descriptors:
Elite - 95+ points
Excellent - 93-94 points
Premium - 90-92 points
Recommended - 85-89 points
“The medal system where a wine can be awarded a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal is misunderstood by the public” said Ken Helm AM, Deputy Chair of the Challenge.
“The wine show medal system refers to a quality standard so there can be many Gold, Silver or Bronze medals awarded at a show. This grading system was in use for many decades in the wine industry prior to its use by the Olympic movement to describe first, second and third placings. For example, a Tasmanian sparkling wine won a Gold medal in Paris in 1848.
“Unfortunately use of this terminology from a sporting context can have negative connotations when used in the wine judging context. Some people think that a Bronze medal result is somehow an inferior wine, when in fact bronze in the wine show system means a well-made wine of good quality.
“For most of us 85% is a pretty smart score, and so is a wine score of 85/100.
“We believe that the new descriptors more clearly represent the quality of the wine and are more easily understood. The judging results and the awards will be made known via bottle labels showing the score on the 100 point scale.
“The Canberra International Riesling Challenge has always been a leader in developing Australian wine show practices, and this is another example of the Challenge leading the way” says deputy board chair Ken Helm.
