Progress at the Barbican
Posted by Ray O'Connor | Filed under IWC
Since moving in on March 11th the team at the Barbican have transformed the place in to a wine wonderland. 14 wine enthusiasts have been working harder than ever before and breaking their backs to off load all of this year’s entries to the International Wine Challenge. Each wine is doubled checked against our database to ensure it is given the right category (i.e all the Cabernet’s together) and placed in it’s respective spot on the floor.
With the help of every sort of music from Motown to Samba the team plough through the work tirelessly every day. Meanwhile, in another warmer, far more comfortable room at the Barbican another team undertake the task of flighting all the wines in to the most suitable flight lines to give every wine the best possible chance of expressing its individuality.
Less than two weeks to go before we kick off. I hope anyone tasting the en primeurs down in Bordeaux manages to save some teeth and gums for the ocean of flights awaiting them here.Looking forward to reciving Oz Clarke and Victor de la Serna here as well as they take up the task alongside Tim, Derek, Sam and Charles as Co-Chairmen for 2010. Watch out for video interviews with the judges during the judging weeks, April 12th- 23rd.
Tags: Barbican, International Wine Challenge, Oz Clarke, wine
Oz Clarke joins the IWC as Co-Chairman for 2010
Posted by Ray O'Connor | Filed under IWC
As the pallets of wine roll in to the Barbican, the team have already covered a good portion of the floor with bottles as we warm up for the judging on April 12th. Now we can add to the excitement by announcing that Oz Clarke will be joining us as a guest C0-Chairman this year. He will join Derek, Sam, Tim, Charles and our international guest Chair Victor de la Serna from Spain.
Oz told the IWC: “I feel as though I am moving back into the bosom of the family. Long ago we all set out to change the world of wine and make it a better place. Every year the IWC continues the quest, and I’m delighted they’ve asked me back to shoulder some of the burden. I’ve just been to my dentist to prepare my teeth for the task.”
Watch the interview on the right with Oz Clarke at the IWC Awards Dinner last September where he picked up Personality of the Year with James May.
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bathmate...