Any Australian winemaker wondering why the results from this year’s Royal Melbourne Wine Show don’t quite tally with those of previous years need to look no further than the issue of climate. Not the climate of the season or the region, but the climate of the room in which the wines were judged. Countless previous Melbourne Shows were judged in the almost sub-arctic conditions of the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds’ Ronald Pavilion, a vast an airy space kept unbearably frigid by the inability of humankind to close several huge ceiling vents perfectly designed and constructed to intercept the chilling winds direct from the South Pole. The wines would be typically judged at temperatures well below that considered acceptable for red wines, which was an undoubted factor behind the perceptive cry of a younger Wolf Blass, who when discussing how to crack gold at Melbourne made his famous claim: ‘No wood, no good’. I have personally observed judges at the Melbourne Show moving little electric bar-heaters along behind them to avoid becoming part of the building’s permafrost. The suggestion I made at the time, that the heaters should be turned onto the wines instead, was not greeted kindly. This year, however, the Melbourne show was judged in the comparatively temperate environment of the temporary Epicure Centre, a temporary blow-up structure with an expected lifespan of two years. While it is clearly not designed to host the show in perpetuity, one hopes that before the judging is (possibly) shifted back to the infamous Ronald Pavilion, that somebody turns up the heat, properly. In the meantime, I look forward to some rather more sensible results from the Melbourne Show.
