Three days. 850 Wines = Vancouver Magazine International Wine Awards

Champagne flutes (at Whistler's Cornucopia) - Tim Pawsey photo

This last week saw one of the highlights of our tasting year: judging for the Annual Vancouver Magazine International Wine Awards. Three panels worked their way through 850 wines over three days to come up with the top 100 Best Values and, ultimately, one in each of the tasting categories for a top tier ‘all-star’ team of the 10 best wines—as well as the wine of the year.

We can’t tell you what the outcome is, right now. But we can tell you that under the smooth hand of chief judge DJ Kearney and backroom systems wizard Julian Scholefield, this was one of best-run and least contentious of any VanMag wine awards to date.

Over the years, thanks to David Scholefield (former chief judge, now departed to the ‘other side’ with Trialto), the ascension to the throne of DJ, and the increased involvement of people like guru Sid Cross, and Masters of Wine Barbara Philip and Rhys Pender, this contest has emerged as a definitive taste-off—one of the best, where, interestingly—and not to be overlooked—a genuine consensus determines the outcome.

We can assure you that you will find the results compelling and, perhaps more importantly, the magazine (when it comes out) an extremely useful buying guide.

If you haven’t seen it, last year’s summary and guide to the process is here.

Look for more details on line December 1.

By Tim Pawsey|2018-01-21T15:05:43-08:00October 31st, 2010|Top Drops|0 Comments

About the Author: Tim Pawsey

Tim has been covering the food and wine revolution for about 20 kilos. Count 15 kg alone thanks to the blossoming cuisine and wine culture of British Columbia, Canada. Tim’s hallmark is seeking out and recommending value wines from BC and around the world that offer quality at every level. He also scopes out noteworthy restaurants that live up to their promises—and often over deliver. Readers depend on the Hired Belly for his “Belly’s Best” and “Belly’s Budget Best” picks to help them find the right wine for the occasion. For several decades Tim wrote columns in the Vancouver Courier and North Shore News. He contributes to several other publications, including BCLS Taste magazine, Quench, Vitis and many others. Tim is a frequent judge for wine competitions and was a founding judge of The BC Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Wine. He is frequently invited to judge at The BC Wine Awards, and others. Tim has traveled to taste in many of the world’s leading wine regions, most recently in Burgundy, Argentina and Chile.