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Behind the gold stickers: Interview with Andrew Jefford, Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair
Renowned wine writer, Andrew Jefford, has been judging at the Decanter World Wine Awards since 2004. He’s seen wine trends come and go, but manages to keep an open mind when presented with a set of new wines to judge. I caught up with him for half an hour backstage during the 2021 DWWA judging week to talk about a whole bevy of topics, including who benefits from wine competitions, how he started out in the world of wine, celebrity wines, wine influencers and what it really means to have a DWWA label stuck on a bottle.
What is Fine Wine?
What exactly is fine wine, anyway? After consulting the Googles, there isn’t actually a straightforward answer. Even Masters of Wine and fine wine specialists seem to say that the term is subjective. However, after some pondering, it seems to be mostly to do with ageing. Fine wines are designed to be aged, from the decision about the grape variety and the timing of the picking to the type of vessel the wine is to be aged in.