Virtual Wine Circle Comp 2011

[crusher]

Thanks to you all (especially Martina and Bob) for your fantastic hard work
My Dad always said "patience is a virtue Son" so no problem at all.
My results are fantastic, here's hoping for a similar outcome this afternoon .
Have a great weekend, Thanks again.

[robwrx]

I too would like to add my thanks to Bob and the judges for all their efforts. Fantastic feedback which is great for knowing what is correct and what needs tweaking. I 'm feeling rather chuffed with my scores, Bobs suggestion of taping £10 notes to the bottles worked a treat

Rob

[Cellar_Rat]

second thirded and forthed. Thank you for organising this. Great stuff.

[lockwood1956]

Back home!

what a great weekend, the VWC was fun to do, and we had some preety good wines present, as well as beers this time, and it seems we have a couple of very talented beer makers in our midst.

An ESB bitter was handed around to everyone present in the judging room (after it had scored a gold) and was liked by everyone who tasted it.
A lager (which also took a gold) was described by the Judge (one of the most senior Judges Nationally) as the best Lager he had tasted anywhere, and this was the first time in his 40 year judging career he had awarded full marks, and could find no hint of anything to offer as advice to improve it, for there was no improvement possible, and wanted me to tell the beermaker this. It also was shared around, to universal acclaim.

Recipes and method please boys (crusher and kampervan ) oh and would you mind awfully bringing a drop to wine circle next month?

There were quite a few golds this time around, and it was heartening for me to find so many good wines. Thank you all for entering, I hope the feedback you received will help you in your wine and beer making. Please feel free to ask questions about the feedback (I have all the marking sheets) if there is anything you need help with.

[waggoner]

Bob.. I entered 3 wines into the VWC competition, but i've only had 1 result/feedback back,,that was for bottle A.
Would you have the results for bottles B & C with you??
That one i got a bronze for,,really over the moon with that and dying to find out how the others got on.

Many thanks..

[AquaCom]

Bob....
Are you likely to keep the sheets until Grapefest? What would be really "cool" would be for me (and others) to bring the same wines up and discuss the scores/comments in the flesh so to speak. Also see if an extra 4 months ageing changes the score of course.
Just a thought 8-)
Really chuffed with my scores (plus I have to mention my GOLD on the public forum!!) so thanks a million to you, the judges and everyone else involved in the VWC. Marvellous!

[lockwood1956]

Bob.. I entered 3 wines into the VWC competition, but i've only had 1 result/feedback back,,that was for bottle A.
Would you have the results for bottles B & C with you??
That one i got a bronze for,,really over the moon with that and dying to find out how the others got on.

Many thanks..

A highly commended for B judge noted that the acidity needed to perhaps be raised a tad as the sweetnes/acid balance wasnt quite 100%

and a Silver for C (I judged this one )
very clear, great colour, fruit forward bouqet, slightly high acidity, but accepted as it has gooseberry in the mix, but it stopped the wine scoring top marks , but a very flavourful wine, and well made (but you may want to tone the acidity down a smidgeon, or...... make it into a medium wine, the acidity will be balanced by the sugar)

regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

A question for you guys....


would you rather have the tasting sheets mailed out to you after future comps? or do you like the way we do it now?

the way we do it now is time consuming, but it means the results are very quick (when email technology is working correctly) we did have to stop at 11.30pm on the friday night and send the remainder of the results on saturday morning (judging finished around 11:00pm)

regards
Bob

[lockwood1956]

Bob....
Are you likely to keep the sheets until Grapefest?

I wont be keeping the paper mountain till then no....


however, you can keep the emails which give you the points totals for each section, print them out and bring them with you

regards
Bob

[waggoner]

A highly commended for B judge noted that the acidity needed to perhaps be raised a tad as the sweetnes/acid balance wasnt quite 100%

and a Silver for C (I judged this one )
very clear, great colour, fruit forward bouqet, slightly high acidity, but accepted as it has gooseberry in the mix, but it stopped the wine scoring top marks , but a very flavourful wine, and well made (but you may want to tone the acidity down a smidgeon, or...... make it into a medium wine, the acidity will be balanced by the sugar)

regards
Bob

Wow..thats brilliant.. Really pleased with that....thank you.

Being the first competition i've ever entered and only been wine making since last September,,really please with the results.

Having top judges such as yourself judge the wine is great,,Having family and friends telling you what they think is one thing,,sometimes you wonder if they feel obliged to say something good about it so as to not hurt your feelings..but to have feedback like that is something else.. Feels you with confendence to go and try to make even better wine!!

Thanks.
Mark.

[crusher]

I was overwhelmed by the judges (Brian Gent) comments for my ESB Bitter.
Total points 20
Award Gold

"A superb Bitter. Well constructed with excellent balance of Hops and Malt. First time in over 30 yrs that I have given a beer full marks. This one will be saved for the festivities later on. Well done, It was a priveledge to judge this beer."

What a fantastic accolade from a national judge. This is the great thing about VWC. THE FEEDBACK
Bob, did you seriously think that I would turn up at the circle with out this beer and miss the chance to show off ?

Regarding tasting sheets. Which ever way is best for you and Martina.
It is great to get the results almost as they happen but it must be a hard job.
In my opinion still Email them (saves postage) but at a time that suits you.

[medpretzel]

"A superb Bitter. Well constructed with excellent balance of Hops and Malt. First time in over 30 yrs that I have given a beer full marks. This one will be saved for the festivities later on. Well done, It was a priveledge to judge this beer."

What a fantastic accolade from a national judge. This is the great thing about VWC. THE FEEDBACK
Bob, did you seriously think that I would turn up at the circle with out this beer and miss the chance to show off ?

Regarding tasting sheets. Which ever way is best for you and Martina.
It is great to get the results almost as they happen but it must be a hard job.
In my opinion still Email them (saves postage) but at a time that suits you.

Fantastic job, Malcom! Mr. Gent was really totally floored by 2 beers, yours and Ian's (Kampervan). The judges were very tough on the entries in general, and if you won a bronze or above, it really is a fantastic wine/beer.

I'm pleased that the feedback is so warmly welcomed. That's what's VWC is about. Unfortunately, we didn't have more entries, but it seemed to work out well friday evening. A special thanks to Crusher/Malcom for waiting patiently til Saturday morning. I appreciate the patience.

The tasting sheets can easily be done, but given that it's a one-woman show (entering in the results), it's a little slow sometimes, especially when the tasting sheets start to flood in. There were only 2 mistakes that were sent out, but I am pretty positive that I corrected that.

Congrats to all who entered in. I'm very pleased with our virtual wine circle entrants, because after all, without them, this couldn't be possible.

Roll on, VWC!

[SiSandrine]

Bob, Martina and all the judges - thanks a lot again - really good fun waiting for those results coming through.
I can't find results for bottle D - I have all the others. Would you be able to resend or remind - I was sure I saw it on Friday night but not in my yahoo mail.
Quite pleased with Silver and 2 bronzes for my experimental wines. Thanks for the (confirmed) opinion on the other. I intend to put a post on the forum to suggest changes to it.

Many Thanks

[Richard S]

I had the pleasure of judging some of the wine entries, well done all. I don't think I awarded anything lower than a bronze, I even gave Bob a richly deserved gold. I also managed to grab a taste of those beers, they were superb, great job guys!!

[kampervan]

not bad for a real novice lager maker, winter does have one benifit (low temps). was really pleased with results and funilly match what i thought. is a great experience. please continue and please ask for help when needed.

ian