It was a blind tasting the place wine worlds blurred slightly than collided; the place ‘Outdated World’ and ‘New World’ felt out of date towards nuance, texture, magnificence and stability.

Following 4 hours of judging 32 wines – eight pairs of whites and eight pairs of reds – by a panel of 21 Masters of Wine, Grasp Sommeliers and different UK wine specialists, the margin of distinction between Europe and the Remainder of the World (ROW) within the Judgement of London got here down to simply 0.65%.

Scroll right down to see the pairings of European and Remainder of the World wines

Judges and organisers of the Judgement of London tasting on the London Wine Honest on 20 Might 2024. Credit score: AnthonyUpton.com

A degree enjoying discipline

Europe triumphed, its 16 wines incomes a complete of two,621.5 factors (a mean of seven.8 out of 10 for every), towards ROW’s 2,604.5 factors (7.75/10).

Nevertheless, prime white and general top-scoring wine went to a New Zealand Riesling: Pegasus Bay’s 2011 Bel Canto from Waipara in North Canterbury. The runner-up white was one other ROW Riesling: Grosset’s 2012 Polish Hill from Clare Valley in South Australia.

Rhône and Bordeaux took the plaudits within the reds, with Domaine J-L Chave’s 2012 Hermitage the highest scorer, forward of 2009 Château Mouton Rothschild.

Held on the London Wine Honest (LWF) on 20 Might, the Judgement of London was a tribute to the late Steven Spurrier, Decanter’s marketing consultant editor and columnist for 27 years, and instigator of the 1976 Judgment of Paris.

Whereas that tasting 48 years in the past noticed ‘New World’ California Chardonnays and Cabernets overcome extra well-known ‘Outdated World’ Burgundy and Bordeaux, this take aimed to mirror the fashionable tremendous wine panorama.

Conceived by LWH director Hannah Tovey, who met Spurrier when she began her wine profession at Decanter, the Judgment of London introduced collectively a broader spectrum of wines from throughout Europe and past.

Ronan Sayburn MW, Decanter World Wine Awards co-Chair and CEO of the Court docket of Grasp Sommeliers, and Sarah Abbott MW, founder and director of the Swirl Wine Group, chosen the wines for the tasting, 80% of them despatched in instantly from the producers.

Every pair comprised a European wine and a ROW counterpart matched by model – largely by grape selection or mix however a number of pairs by texture. Producers had the selection of which classic to ship in, as long as it was between 2005 and 2020.

Sarah Abbott MW, Hannah Tovey and Ronan Sayburn MS, organisers of the Judgement of London.

Assessing the inherent qualities

Forward of the tasting Abbott inspired the judges to not concentrate on ‘whether or not wine A was higher than wine B’ – or to ‘pull out the occasion tips’ of making an attempt to guess the identification of a wine, however to ‘get into its soul’ and assess it purely on its inherent qualities.

Sayburn agreed, and in his deal with to the judges he emphasised that ‘discovering a winner or loser was not the aim of this tasting’.

Somewhat, it was to point out how producers within the ‘so-called New World’ are actually making wines higher tailored to their very own climates, clones and communities, slightly than simply making an attempt to emulate conventional European kinds. And with that has come higher magnificence, stability, size, depth and distinction.

‘Again in 1976 it was the underdog – California – versus the institution – France,’ Sayburn mentioned.

‘The underdog gained, however issues have modified quite a bit. Now there isn’t a New World and Outdated World distinction; terminology like that’s being rightly dropped as there’s a rather more degree enjoying discipline on the earth of wine. The traces are undoubtedly blurred.’

Abbott mentioned Spurrier was not canonical or conservative in his wine tastes; certainly he delighted in discovering magnificence and variety all over the place he went, so this contemporary tribute to his authentic 1976 occasion was becoming one.

Judgement of London wines: My take

Whereas the highest two reds and whites, and the general prime scorer, have been revealed on the LWF on 22 Might, all of the judges had their private favourites – some very a lot at odds with the final consensus when the judging completed and all of us had a debrief.

I used to be thrilled to see Pegasus Bay in prime spot, and actually gave the identical rating to the Grosset Riesling, Cervaro della Sala and Tahbilk Viognier. Within the reds, I additionally gave my prime mark to the triumphant J-L Chave Hermitage, however the Promontory and Qvevri Saperavi have been my private runners up over the Mouton Rothschild.

Some pairs I scored identically, such because the Felton Street and Louis Jadot Chardonnays and the Livio Felluga and Au Bon Climat white blends, however generally I most popular the ROW whites and the European reds.

It was an interesting train, and a humbling expertise in lots of circumstances; blind tasting at all times is. I used to be satisfied the Tahbilk Viognier was an aged Hunter Valley Semillon and was vice versa on the origins of the sweetly fruited 2017 Dujac Bonnes-Mares and agency, lean 2019 Storm Pinot.

So out with the Outdated – and New – World and different such dated ideas, and in with terroir, magnificence, magnificence and pleasure. Nice wine actually does come from all corners of the world.

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