Is a gold medal still a reliable sign of good wine?

Does anyone really care about wine competitions and medals any more or are they going the way of the dodo?
A.E., Rose Bay, NSW

A: Wine shows are still relevant and some customers still choose wines because of a medal sticker affixed to the bottle, although I suspect they have less clout than they used to. The Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for the best young red wine at the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards is still powerful, but the days when winning it was estimated to be worth $1 million to the exhibitor are probably gone. And a million bucks isn’t what it used to be.

You might have noticed that it’s mostly the cheap wines that have medal stickers today. Expensive wines sell themselves and don’t need a gold badge. I think the consumer probably assumes an expensive wine is good, and its being of gold-medal quality is expected to some extent. But a $15 bottle with a gold medal attracts the eye.

There are so many competitions now that it’s hard to know which medals have importance. Their impact is diminished by their proliferation. Humans being competitive creatures though, wineries that exhibit are still interested in the results, and the fact that new competitions are still springing up suggests that they’re still valued.

However, wine has become so much more complex than it was back in 1987 when I first judged in a wine show. Winemakers use such a wide variety of techniques to make wine compared with those days that assessing quality is a much more complicated task. And the judges need to know something about the intention of the winemaker to decide how successfully he or she has achieved their objectives. That’s not possible in a completely blind tasting.

A parade of trophies across the label doesn’t guarantee you’ll enjoy the wine. Wine preference will always be subjective, and “try before you buy” is still the best way to go.

Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au

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