Tour Guide, Beaune, France
| 2 mins read
Guide Hachette is a very well respected guide to choosing, buying and appreciating French wine. It covers 8000 wines, selected from 25,000 in total, by 800 experts across France in blind tastings.
In Burgundy, the blind tastings have been in progress over the last couple of weeks and Tracy Thurling of Burgundy by Request was invited to be one of the jurors. Tracy had already participated in the Feminalise tastings (a competition of female wine growers in France) over the last few years and was interested to compare a different style of tasting.
'The majority of the Guide Hachette judges were male and French, around 40 people in all' she says. 'There are three or four judges on each jury, blind tasting between 12 and 15 wines, each in silence. For example, there was a tasting of eight different white Chassagne Montrachet 1er Crus from the same vintage and seven different red Chassagne Montrachet from the same vintage. The judges comment on colour, aromas and taste and then score the wine out of five. If the wine scores a five, it is considered to be outstanding. The lowest entry in the guide is two.
In addition if a judge feels that one of the wines is really above average, scoring four or five, he or she can award a 'Coup de Coeur'.
The judges then compare scores, usually they are much in agreement but if there is a large discrepancy of opinion, the wines will be tasted again. For the final judgement five judges are picked at random and all the wines chosen for the Coups de Coeur are re-tasted with a simple 'yes' or 'no' as to whether they make the grade. Once on the Guide Hachette list, the results are published each year and also can be viewed on their website. The wines receive an added bonus of displaying the Guide Hachette logos of commendation. It has been a privilege to be part of such a renowned institution', Tracy adds.