Agua Dulce first medals for me- for the hell of it

I love my 2010 wines, but it's positively indecent. Therefore, I wanted to see whether anyone else felt the same way (or hated them) to gain some perspective. The first competition that I could enter was Tranche 1 of the 2014 International Wine Challenge in London, which is like the bastard little brother of the International Wine and Spirits Competition, with many of the same judges. I did not like the way the Cab was tasting at the time (now I'm beginning to feel it's better than the others), so I entered only the Zin and Syrah. Lo and behold, the results came out today, and both won medals- the Zin a silver (there was no gold in the category) and the Syrah a bronze. Tranche 2 just opened for entries, so I'll see about entering the Cab. Interestingly enough, no US wines won gold, perhaps due to the sensibilities of the British taste in terms of stylistic preferences, perhaps because the best US wines may not have been entered into Tranche 1. Also interesting is that the Zin won a higher medal than they Syrah. I have often told people it was the better wine, but was poo-pooed by those who liked the Syrah more. Now I get my revenge!

Congrats, Craig! It's always nice to get some external validation now and again, innit?

Mark Lipton

Validation is OK, but I'd rather get laid. Sadly, no offers forthcoming. What good are medals?

Validation is OK, but I'd rather get laid. Sadly, no offers forthcoming. What good are medals?

I hear that they're great for sales in Asia (that, according to several Aussie wineries). Maybe it's time for a presence in Tokyo?

Mark Lipton

I can see it now- my $30 Zin would go for the Yen equivalent of $150, due to the infinite tier system there. The middle managment of Honda would buy it to impress his underlings, even though he was more comfortable with booze or sake, then go home to his impoverished family. At least, that's how I imagine Japan, and who can afford to live there? Actually, we did export GAN EDEN to Japan, and to Denmark. Tried a few other places, but it didn't take off.

Validation is OK, but I'd rather get laid. Sadly, no offers forthcoming.

A truly inspired line that I will co-opt, always acknowledging the source.

Validation is OK, but I'd rather get laid.

Oh, very well. Let's go.

Tempting, very tempting... but I'm sure geography saves the day.

Here's what I received upon questioning. So fully half of the wines won medals of gold (top 3%), Silver (top 20%) or Bronze (top 50%), and then more if you count "commended". Of course, one must question whether most were only submitting wines they thought could win medals, or whether they were submitting everything in a shotgun approach. It could be the top (percentages above) of the best, or just an overall top (percentages above) of wines produced- of course, in the opinions of these judges, who presumably have criteria for their choices:

Thank you for your email. This year over 2,100 wines were entered into Tranche 1. 62 wines received a Gold medal, 352 received a Silver medal, 649 received a Bronze medal and 607 received a Commended.