Sue Ray Uncorked

IWSC, 17 Dunsfold Park, Stovolds Hill, Cranleigh, Surrey, GU6 8TB

 

This was my second opportunity to be an Associate Judge for the day and this time I was in for a real treat!

 

I left home just after 7am, had breakfast at Waterloo Station and caught the 8am train.  I had plenty of time as my train arrived in Guildford around 8.40am.

 

There was a large group of us waiting for the minibus today; we managed to fill up the bus plus a taxi!  Everyone arrived early and we were at the IWSC by 9.30am.

 

It was a beautiful clear sunny morning and a pleasure to get out of London for the day!

 

When I arrived, Chris Simister, the Competition Assistant, introduced me to our judging team.

 

Head Judge, Dave Hughes, is South African.  He was originally a distiller, but also a winemaker, writer and of course IWSC Judge.

 

The rest of our team were Brink Liebenberg, Winifred Bowman, Ilse du Toit, Georg Innerhofer and Stephen Beal.

 

Brink Liebenberg: Brink has a long history of spirits production in South Africa and works for Distell.

 

Winifred Bowman: Winnie proudly announced that she is the grand-daughter of Dave Hughes!  She is qualified as a Doctor and is a Cape Wine Master and Judge.  She judges for fun and lives in Cape Town.

 

Ilse du Toit: Ilse works in the production side of the spirits industry in South Africa. 

 

Georg Innerhofer: Georg is Austrian and became involved in the distilling industry through his father who used to produce fruit brandy.  Georg is a distiller and Judge.

 

Stephen Beal: Steve is from San Francisco and was until recently the Senior Master of Whisky for Diageo North America.  He retired in February.  He told me that he used to be known as “Dr No” in the industry when presented with new creations such as an Irish Honey Whiskey made with Spanish honey!

 

As a group, we worked our way through 65 samples of grape brandy which ranged from mouthwash to incredibly good! 

 

Flights 1 – 7 were from Canada and Bolivia.  We had some Marc from Canada, from Pinot Noir and Cabernet, and some flavoured Marc.  One of these was sweet and spicy and the other flavoured with Maple Syrup!  This was a hefty 52% abv.  A couple of Canadian Icewines followed, at no less than 58% abv, and finally a Bolivian grape brandy.  (I had no idea Bolivia had a distilling industry!)  This group achieved some Bronze and Silver medals.

 

Flights 8 – 10 were from Greece and France.  A few Bronze medals in this group and just the one Silver.

 

Flight 11 was French VSOP brandies.  Quality was starting to show and there were a number of Silver medal winners here.

 

Flights 12 and 13 were French XO brandies, with and without cask finishing.  Two of these achieved Silver Outstanding and there was only one sample in this flight that didn’t win a medal.

 

Flights 14 to 16 were from Germany and ranged from no indication of age up to a 16 year old.  I had not tasted German brandies before but was impressed with this group which achieved 2 Silver medals.  Dave mentioned that in 2013, Germany received the trophy for the best brandy in the IWSC competition.  It was for an 8 year old Asbach brandy.  Apparently this caused tremendous ruckus in the industry as the brandy was not available for general distribution and was actually made from wine which had not been produced in Germany!

 

Flights 17 to 23 were a mixed bag.  We had samples from California, South Korea and Australia.  Winnie had tasted Korean brandy before and said it was “memorable”.  (Not sure for the right reasons!)  The California brandy in this group was an extremely light style and the panel took a guess that this may have been made by Mr Gallo.  Steve told us that Californian brandy is generally very neutral in style and made from the Mission grape.  In the US, it is more likely to be drunk as a long drink.  A mixed bag of medals for this group, ranging from Silver Outstanding down to nothing!