Following the
hugely successful inaugural 2012 Broken Hill International Wine show, a new
energetic organising committee are set to take the International wine show to a
whole new level.
Last night, the
Broken Hill Chamber of Wine and Food Commerce, in conjunction once again with
the Far West Alternative Wine Growers Collective launched the 2013 Broken Hill
International Wine Show.
The launch was
hosted by new Chairman of the Chamber organising committee, Xin Xin Lee and held
in the hall of the recently renovated and renamed Yellowtail-Constellation
Chambers of Food and Wine.
Mr Lee replaced
the original Chairman of the event, Johan Trambly-Churchill last March when
reports came to light suggesting Trambly-Churchill had on-sold thousands of
bottles of excess wines submitted to the wine show. Funds from the on-selling had allegedly paid
for a renovation to Trambly-Churchill’s ensuite and underground wine cellar,
though these rumours were never substantiated.
Seeking to
distance himself from the controversy of 2012, Mr Lee made a series of exciting
announcements regarding the upcoming wine show. Highlights included:
-
The
number of wines submitted for judging had trebled (to 3545 entries), as had the
number of wine classes (100 up from 35).
-
A small
team of 5 unknown, but exciting wine judges, wine writers and bloggers would be
tasting and judging the entries over a three day ‘wine lockdown’ period. Mr Lee defended the unknown tasting panel and
shortened period for judging the wines (three days down from 5), noting that
the team of judges were the emerging ‘crème de la crème’ of the twitterverse
and all functioning alcoholics, so would be more than able to handle the
intense wine tasting load.
-
A
slightly tweaked Galena Tasting Panel Method™’ would be used to make the final
call on split decisions and to decide the 135 trophies that will be handed out
during the show, though details were not forthcoming on the night.
As the
centrepiece of the launch, Mr Lee announced that the Broken Hill wine show will
be the first in the world to showcase a virtual tasting of ancient wines that
have long since been unavailable to consumers and wine critics alike. The
revolutionary wine tasting concept, labelled the ‘Magical Wine Mystery Tour’
was the brainchild of Santa Monica native Dr Trey Garcia.
Dr Garcia, who
has a triple degree in viticulture, mysticism and marketing from UCLA has spent
almost 10 years studying ancient wines as well as séance and extra-sensory perception
strengthening methods.
Given the shock
and amazement felt in the press gallery following the announcement, RedtoBrown Wine
News was lucky enough to speak to Dr Garcia after the presentation and asked
him how he came to develop virtual wine tastings using mystical methods.
"Early on in my
journey through mysticism I was able to connect easily with relatives and pets
I had as a kid. With this natural power of mysticism and crossing over, I
turned my attention to my other love – wine.”
The Ancient Wine
séance will include virtual tastings of Athenian wine consumed after the Battle
of Marathon, infamous Roman Falernian from the 121BC vintage, a bottle of the
first vintage of Champagne made by Dom Perignon in 1670, several pre-phylloxera
Burgundy and Bordeaux’s from the 19th Century as well as a bottle of
the first commercially available red wine produced in Australia (an 1819
vintage sourced from grapes grown adjacent to Sydney Cove).
Trey Garcia
explained the process of the ‘Magical Wine Tasting Mystery Tour’ to RedtoBrown:
‘It starts with the tasters ‘crossing over’ together to the period in history
the wine comes from. Using my powers of extra sensory perception, I will be
pouring the wine into the glasses of the tasters and we will join together in a
séance, savouring several historic wines from several parallel realities. I am
qualified globally in the responsible serving of alcohol so unfortunately the
tasting sizes will only be 50ml”.
 |
An artist's impression of the 121Bc Falernian
to be tasted virtually at the Broken Hill International Wine Show |
RedtoBrown News
was unable to verify that the virtual tasting was legitimate, despite our
repeated attempts to be given a test run. Dr Garcia did note that
well-respected Decanter wine writer, Andrew Jefford had experienced two test
runs of the ‘Magical Wine Mystery Tour’ last week, and could verify its
authenticity.
When RedtoBrown
News contacted Mr Jefford via email, he provided glowing praise for Dr Garcia’s
work.
“Words do not do that tasting justice” Jefford noted in his email
response. “Twice I was transported to taste the finest, most authentic (and
largely cork-sealed) wine from ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, medieval and
pre-industrial revolution Europe. I even tasted low PH, (but no added acid)
–era Australian wine. As predicted well before the tasting, the Australian wine
was like rot-gut, but it was authentic, sincere, cork-sealed: an authentic total wine
experience. The Magical Wine Mystery
Tour was other worldly and only poetry can truly capture its brilliance. Allow
me” (Mr Jefford proceeded to craft a poem for RedtoBrown):
"Earth in my fingers/the
love stork chirping/
like silk on my
skin/wine from heaven/
In heaven
eternally”.
The Broken Hill
International Wine Show follows the successful Sydney Wine Show and Rootstock
Natural Wine Show, though has intentionally been brought forward to trump the
Karratha Asia Pacific Wine Show and the newly announced Ipswich International Burgundy
Challenge.
RedtoBrown News will
notify readers of the 100 trophy winners in upcoming posts.
