Julie albin,dipwset
That’s a wrap for this year’s wine judging! It was an amazing opportunity to see old friends, meet new ones, and taste wines from around the world.
And a personal shoutout to those from emerging regions who entered their wines this year - excited to taste more of these in the years to come!
What a wonderful return to the international wine-judging circuit since before the pandemic. It was an honor to be in London serving as a judge for the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge. Congrats to all of the participants and medal winners!
Shortly before the world was asked to stay at home, the 2020 wine convention season had gotten off to an enthralling start. After facilitating a week of educator training in Miami, I flew over across our northerly border for the Vancouver International Wine Festival - one of the largest and longest running wine events in the world. While working the event, I had the ultimate pleasure of hosting a trade seminar featuring over a dozen principles from some of France’s most renowned labels. Let’s just say work never tasted so good at 9 AM.
From there we were off to Vinexpo NYC where I spent the two-day event hosting WSET tasting seminars, fireside chats, and even got to trick my boss into some blind tastings on stage. Unfortunately, he guessed nearly all of them right. I’ll have to work on some bigger curve balls for next time (hopefully next year).
Until then, the teachings are conducted virtually while tastings remain solo. So let’s see what the future holds for us in the coming months and years.
