You see them all the time. In my attempt to get out more often (to other wine blogs) I came across a recent post on Steve Heimoff’s blog entitled “When David Slays Goliath”, which despite the Biblical citation, is like World Wide Wrestling - may be entertaining to some but certainly not real. The story can be found here. The post discusses a particular wine competition that not surprisingly pits famous and expensive wines against the underdog, cheap wines in blind tastings to see which wines fare better. I always bristle at these so-called ‘showdowns’ because, like with so many sets of data, the results can be, and most often are, twisted completely out of context to serve a single purpose for one party or another. As they say, “follow the money” and you will find the truth.

The event referenced in Mr. Heimoff’s blog post lined up wines that were utter nonsense and its organizer should be sentenced to a lifetime of drinking beer, or something worse: drinking American beer. The tasters (judges) were described as 20 non-wine professionals representing a broad array of nationalities. Although there is no right or wrong when it comes to taste, it’s logical that American tastes probably are different than what would be found in many foreign groups of tasters – let’s face it, it was less than five years ago that Chinese wine drinkers were still mixing First Growth Bordeaux with ice and Coke. All tasters are reported to be well traveled (personally I don’t think traveling has much to do with wine - if French wine sucks for you and you travel to France, I don’t think you will be swayed by French wine in any case), and relatively wine-savvy (what does that even mean?), with open-minded palates (and doubly, what does that even mean??). If I asked a bunch of people, “Hey if I lay out a couple thousand dollars worth of wine for you to taste, do you promise me you’ll keep an open palate?” How really stupid is that?

The wine lineup was crazy and it really was reasonably expensive, I guess to prove that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Here’s what was tasted:

1. $65 New Zealand Chardonnay, 2006 vs. a $240 well known Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 2006 (white Burgundy, which is also made from the Chardonnay grape
2. $100 Pinot Noir again from New Zealand, 2006, vs a $390 Grand Cru Burgundy (also red Burgundy is always made from Pinot Noir) with no vintage specified
3. $95 Fontodi Chianti, 2004 (Tuscany of course) vs. $560 Château Mouton-Rothschild, 2004 (First Growth Bordeaux)
4. $35 Shiraz 2006 (of course Australian) vs. a $148 Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2006 (a Syrah, the same grape as Shiraz, from France’s southern Rhone region)
5. $59 half bottle of Austrian Trockenbeerenauslese, 2004 vs. $388 Château d’Yquem, 2004 (Premier Cru Supérieur Bordeaux)

First, these wines are not only grown in vastly different regions with very different terrior (climate, soil, sunshine, rainfall, etc), but they are also made in very different ways. Some of these don’t even come close to lining up in terms of apples to apples like number 3, which is the most bizarre comparison. They compare Chianti (Sangiovese grape) with a Bordeaux blend (Left Bank Bordeaux, as is Château Mouton-Rothschild, and in order of descending blend percentages typically consists of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and finally a little Petite Verdot thrown in to add color and some structure)? This is so far out of context as to be laughable.

Secondly these wines are way off in terms of drinkability. Often the French intentionally make wine to age because with age, it will develop complexity over time, but only if it is an age worthy wine to begin with. There is no technology (so far) that can replace the effects of bottle age. When you drink a great and perfectly mature wine from anywhere that unfolds its multidimensional bouquet and reveals its multi-layered palate to you, it is an awesome and powerful experience. I can guarantee that the lesser expensive wines mentioned above will never develop this profile. What will happen however is that any wine that is meant to be aged but is opened too early will shred your palate with tannins and/or acidity (mostly tannins with red wine, which is what protects it from oxidation during the bottle aging process). Or maybe it will be completely ‘dumb’ – many wines go through that stage, kind of like having a teenager around before they develop any wisdom, except in the wine context all of the flavors and aromas disappear for a while. Most ‘new world’ wines are made to be enjoyed upon release, which is to say that these will never improve with age and should be consumed within a few years of their arrival on shelves.

Not only is this competition insulting, it is downright misleading. How many people caught the fact that number 5 compared a $59 bottle with a $388 bottle? Okay, how many caught that the $59 bottle was a half bottle, which would actually bring a real price comparison to $120 vs. $388, not $59 vs. $388? See, the smoke and mirrors attempt to compare really inexpensive wine to expensive wine so the half bottle/full bottle trick is outright duplicitous. These type of tactics contribute to the kind of deception that is pounded into the public and is just plain unethical. Bottles of Château d’Yquem are still being consumed and enjoyed from the mid 1800s! Is a bottle of Austrian Trockenbeerenauslese going to last that long? No chance, although this particular bottle may last for ten years or so. Without age there is no complexity, just instant gratification that falls well short of what great wines ultimately offer.

The point I’m trying to make is this: stick with the classics and go out to the edge with other wines to see what’s good and what’s not. If you’re adventurous like me you will find alternatives but I always come back to the great wines because there is simply no replacement for them. Do NOT allow yourself to be influenced by competitions, especially by competitions that give out gold medals and such – these are 'pay to play' events that hoodwink the unsuspecting public and should be outlawed like adjustable mortgage teaser rates should have been outlawed years ago.

Use your palate and forget about the press you read concerning competitions. Also don’t fall for ridiculous claims like Domaine Serene (a very good Oregon Pinot Noir actually) that in its advertisements continually beat the firetruck out of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) in blind tastings. Those claims would not be true if the competing DRC was ready to be consumed and if it’s judges knew wine well enough to know the amazing depth, power, and nuance that can be savored from truly great mature wine. You can do better with your wine buying dollars at any level if you don't buy into wine competition results.

David Boyer