Personally I get a little cynical about these awards – e.g. the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge Awards – they are just so big that I am not sure what they really mean for an individual wine. In the days of Allez Vins! we were mightily pleased when one of our wines won a Gold or even a Wine of the Year award (it happened to be a Madiran AC, Domaine Berthoumieu, Cuvee Charles de Batz which did so well. However, tastes in wine are very individual – and without being churlish, the same wine was merely commended in the following year’s results – so where is the consistency in that! Besides, what you consider to be absolutely stunning, I may find to be abyssmal – it is all a matter of taste, mood, environment etc.
However, my antennae did perk up to find that one independent wine merchant managed to scoop 4 awards in the International Wine Challenge 2008 – so they must be doing something right.
So congratulations to Flying Corkscrewfor winning:-
- Small Independent Wine Merchant 2008 (whole of UK)
- Australian Specialist,
- Argentinean Specialist
- South African Specialist
Based in Hertfordshire and with an online shop www.flyingcorkscrew.co.uk
We love wine. In fact, we only sell wines that we drink ourselves. Our time is spent travelling the world and meeting the people who grow it. And we love talking about it: the grapes, the weather, the soil, the growing methods and, most of all, the taste. As well as wines from around the globe, we’ve also got a huge list of international beers and spirits for you to try.
www.flyingcorkscrew.co.uk
The Flying Corkscrew, Leighton Buzzard Road, Water End, Hertfordshire HP1 3BD
You ask where is the consistency between a medal one year and only “commended” the next year. Surely this could be down to vintage variation or, if the same vintage, some change in bottle in the space of 12 months?