The Auswine Forum

As most of us know, or should know, consistency in assessing wine is not easily achieved especially if you are presented with multiple samples of the same wine mixed in with a bunch of other wines. Wine judges are not immune from this type of problem as has been described in a recent article in the Journal of Wine Economics by Dr. Robert Hodgson. One of the findings was

A survey of approximately 65 judging panels between 2005 and 2008 yielded just 30 panels that achieved anything close to similar results, with the data pointing to "judge inconsistency, lack of concordance--or both" as reasons for the variation. The phenomenon was so pronounced, in fact, that one panel of judges rejected two samples of identical wine, only to award the same wine a double gold in a third tasting.

More here and the article is here.

Mike

There has been some local study correlating the results for the same wines across different Australian wine shows. I doubt it will ever be published as it shows a very low correlation for the same wine to win a medal (let alone the same medal) in multiple shows.

After blind tasting wines for over 35 years, I still have difficulty agreeing with other members of the panel in the club I'm in. I'm not surprised at the article but is there a better way of judging wine? (I'm still looking for it!)
Kim