Being on a jury is a responsibility. We in the jury have been given the task to give as honest, technically correct and impartial assessment of the wine as possible. We are there because of our expertise in wine. As a sommelier, oenologist, etc.

To assure that every wine is judged independently, the whole assessment procedure is completely blind. We in the jury should not know before, during or even after what wine we have judged.

When it’s wrong

But what happens if something is wrong? Even if the wine itself is as perfect as it can be, an individual bottle can be ruined. Oxygen may have entered and the wine has oxidised. It may have developed TCA or TBA,  commonly known as “cork defect” or a number of other defects that affect the individual bottle but are not typical of the wine as such. Some of them are not technically assignable to the wine maker, but could be for example caused by a wrong storage or even because of logistic reasons.

As Jury we have a high responsibility in regard to the vine-growers and Winemakers.

We are obliged to give them a fair and professional and correct evaluation of their wines.

Therefore, when an incorrect bottle appears, we can request a second sample , a new bottle, of the exact same wine. And so far, every second  bottles have proved to be worth the trouble.

It’s about credibility

I can, without hesitation, say, that we do our best to give the submitted wines the correct judgement . Therefore, when you see a bottle with a BWT medal, you see a wine of good quality, sometimes even excellent dito.

Maria Scharffenberg,
Sommelier and Teacher
Europäische Sommelier Schule