Have you ever chosen a bottle of wine because it was a bronze, silver or gold medalist? The answer is probably yes and if so, were you pleased with your choice? Did you think it tasted better because it was a gold medalist when comparing it to the bronze medalist? The chances are that in all honesty probably not because you need to be comparing apples and apples. But what are these wine medal competitions and what do they really mean?
Well, there are so many different wines on the market that in order to stand out and to assist people to choose a good bottle of wine with confidence, wine estates are always happy to enter the competitions to be able to say that they have won a medal. Normally, when a wine has won a medal, you know that the wine has been tried and tasted by some of the worlds’ most distinguished palates. Which in turn makes you more confident when choosing, however don’t let the medal cloud your judgement and don’t forget that wines without medals still taste good and come from quality estates.
Nonetheless, a medal really does mean a lot for wine and it’s vineyard. The guidelines that a judge has to follow tend to be very strict and knowing what a good wine consists of is a tough job. The wine tasters talented palates work in teams to help ensure that the rankings are fair and honest., Medals traditionally given are gold, silver and bronze. Gold signifies that the wine is flourishing and is something to be tried; one not to be missed, silver can mean that it is one to watch and Bronze tends to be the budding wines and those that have the most potential to flourish in the next coming years.
So essentially, these medals mean a lot to the vineyards and they help budding producers to be seen and heard of, otherwise we tend to always go for what we know and love already.
If you want to taste some of Provence’s Medal winning wines, then why not get in touch with Brice de Monplanet from PlanetProvence? With his French wine culture and experience he would be more than happy to book a private guided wine tour to share with you some of the hidden secrets of Provence. Tof find out more please go see Planet Provence