Wine Access' search for value

You would think by the size of this issue that we are obsessed with value at Wine Access.

Maybe we are. After all, if you and your pals were to sit in a tasting room for three days and try more than 1,100 wines and then taste the best 400 samples again for another two days, well, you are more likely to be a Type A personality than a Type B.

Tasting wine is a lot of work

Tasting wine all day may sound like a cushy job, but the next time you are out for an evening with friends, keep track of all the wine and food you consume. Make notes and produce a crisp, sharp report on each wine, its pricing and retail distribution information. You get the point — it’s a job. We take it seriously.

To be frank, a lot of what we taste isn’t very pretty. If it isn’t too sweet or too fat, it’s incredibly skinny and sour. If we are really unlucky, it is the worst of both worlds: sweet and sour.

Balance is the most important wine quality

When we started the awards, big, showy wines used to win most of the medals; those days, however, are fading. Now, much of the discussion is about balance. Why so much alcohol? Why so much residual sugar? Why so much of everything? When we finally get a wine that is perfectly balanced and fun to drink, it rockets to the top of everyone’s score sheet.

Winning Canadian wines and killer values

This year, it’s exciting to see how well some Canadian wines did at the International Value Wine Awards. Clearly, modern wine judges appreciate the characteristics found in our cool-climate wines: vitality, acidity and panache.

And don’t miss the list of Killer Values, on pages 26 and 27. This is one of the most important lists we produce each year at Wine Access and, in many ways, is the raison d’être of the International Value Wine Awards issue.

What we want from the IVWA

Six years after the first IVWA, we couldn’t be happier with the results and so, we often hear, are the winners. Our plan, from the beginning, was to create a competition focused on wines $25 and under. Our key judges represent the major markets nationally and not only taste, but comment regularly on wine. We also wanted — and still want — to use the competition to recruit younger palates: sommeliers, retail buyers and writers who then, as a result of judging, gain a better understanding of the broad wine market in which Canadian consumers live.

Last, and most important, we deliver the results to you, our readers, so you can experience a vast array of high-quality wines that won’t break the bank. It all takes time, plenty of planning and incredible organizational skills.

But, despite all the work the awards entail, we can’t wait for next year because, as I mentioned earlier, at Wine Access, we are a bit obsessive about finding value.