Is the Concours about to pivot?

The Concours Mondial calls itself “the united nations of fine wine.” With entries from Asia doubling this year, how long before the complexion of judges changes? At the moment there is Tan Ying Hsien, a chirpy MW from Singapore and a giant Chinese. The glamorous Japanese taster I chatted to turned out to be Belgian. But surely the days of chattering Italian bloggers, French passionators and smooth Spaniards are numbered if the demographic of entries pivots away from Europe.

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This year American judges were very noticeable. From a couple of Wine Enthusiasts who live on 42nd Street in New York City to a writer from the Bay Area of San Francisco. A Long Island sommelier and another from Miami. There were only two judges from SA, yours truly and James Pietersen who sells the stuff at Wine Cellar. There are still no black judges, which is a true tragedy and an anomaly given the complexion of the sommelier scene in SA. Don’t they drink wine in Nigeria?

It’s not only the Concours which is updating panels. It seems that Sue van Wyk CWM has left the Michelangelo International Wine Awards after what seems like a century and many a Concours taster is expected in Stellenbosch again this August. There is Jean Smullen from Ireland, Thomas Rydberg from Denmark, the chap from Brasil while Yair Kornblum Koren, an Israeli wine journalist and friend of Platter wine label guide editor Philip van Zyl is keen to judge too.

At the start of the Concours, the reason for the show was announced to be a guide for consumers. At the moment, there are far too many winemakers and viticulturalists clogging up the panels when what producers need are more wine buyers, sommeliers and tastemakers. For their aim is to sell their wines. As one American sommelier noted “today 20 bloggers count for more than Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator.” Yet this year there was no sign of Ryan Opaz Anderson or Mike Bennie from Down Under. Perhaps they were both busy.