Let the judging begin

The search for the world’s best wines underway, with results coming in October

The 11th annual InterVin International Wine Awards took place this week at White Oaks Resort and Spa in Niagara wine country. Eighteen judges tasted through 1,000 samples from 14 countries, looking to assess quality and character.

The results will be revealed in October, with a list of winning wines, top wineries and best value bottles published in a special edition of Vines Magazine and online at intervin.ca. As head judge of the competition, it’s always hectic event — organizing the wines and tabulating the results to ensure the top scoring wines reach the finals round.

It’s also an incredibly fun week as some of the country’s top talents come together to contribute their expertise to identify wines that truly stand out.

As one of the few people in the room who knows the identities of the wines, I don’t taste or have any voice in assigning gold, silver, bronze or medal ratings to the various entries. Those scores come from different panels, working as a team to taste and individually rank each sample before coming together to submit a group consensus. They take their roles seriously and truly seek to identify wines that they’d absolutely recommend to their family and friends.

While we wait to share the results, I thought I’d share strong recommendations for two of my go-to affordable red wines. Since launching this column in 2000, I don’t think a year has gone by without me singing the praises of Boekenhoutskloof ’s Porcupine Ridge Syrah, a large volume brand from one of the best places on the earth for growing the Syrah grape.

The 2017 vintage continues its winning ways, making it a tremendous value prospect given is less than $20 price.

The Tatone Montepulciano d’Abruzzo also has an enviable track record. It’s a ripe and robust red with impressive character that’s worthy of any red wine lover’s attention.

Christopher Waters is the co-founder and editor of Vines, a national consumer wine magazine.