By the end of September 2004, I felt that my training had gone well, and so in early October 2004 I flew to Athens, confident that I had a reasonable chance. Nina, Romané, who was five years old then, Jean and Tony were all with me, as were Uncle Bob and his wife Maureen.
Thankfully, we did not have a heavy programme before the competition. The Greek Sommelier Association took a much more relaxed approach, for which all the candidates were grateful. We were flown to the beautiful island of Santorini, where the first part of the semi-final was going to take place. Once in Santorini, some activities were organised for everyone, but the candidates could simply rest at the hotel, enjoying the swimming pool or doing whatever they wished.
After two days of familiarisation, the competition started with the written blind tasting and the questionnaire as the first part of the semi-final. As usual, it was impossible to know for sure how we did, as we were not given the answers to the questions. However, I had a good feeling about it.
The following day we flew to Athens for the second part of the semi-final, which took place the day after. The first task of the second part of the semi-final was an oral blind tasting performed one by one in front of a jury. I felt I had done well for the tasting and so I was ready for the last part of the semi-final, the service task.
I entered the room and saw eight or nine people seated around a large table. The Master of Ceremonies told me that these people had chosen a Greek white wine. He pointed out a wine fridge and asked if I could decant the white wine into a carafe and serve it to them. I was not given any more indication than that. I asked him to repeat the instructions one more time and was told exactly the same thing. I put wine glasses on the table and prepared my gueridon (trolley) for the decanting. I went to the fridge; all the bottles were the same, so I took one and went to show it to the host. Once the host was happy with the bottle, I took it back to the gueridon and opened it. I asked the host if I could taste the wine to check if it was in excellent condition and at the right temperature before decanting it. The host consented, so I took a very small sample in a tasting glass. I smelt it, and to my horror the wine smelt corked. I was stunned, as the cork I had just taken from the bottle was a plastic one. In theory, it is possible to have a corked wine under a plastic cork closure, as the wine could have been infected before bottling with a similar compound that gives the smell of cork taint. However, it is very rare.
I did not attempt to give any wine to the host to taste, but instead I told him I was not happy with the wine as it was out of condition and offered to open another bottle. The host did not want another bottle, but instead asked me what the problem was. I told him the wine was faulty and asked again for him to let me open another bottle. However, the host insisted on wanting to know what, very precisely, the problem was. I told him the wine smelled dirty and unpleasant and that it was defective, and again asked him to let me open and serve another bottle. I could not bring myself to say the word ‘corked’, even though I knew it was corked, because the wine had been closed with a plastic closure; I thought if I said the wine was corked they might think I was mad. Had it been a real cork, I would have pointed out that the wine was corked straightaway.
Anyway, against my will, the host asked me to decant and serve the faulty bottle. Once decanted, I gave him a small sample to taste and, after tasting it, he said: ‘But the wine is corked!’
To which I replied: ‘Yes sir, you are right, and it is why I insisted on not wanting to serve it to you!’
Then the host asked me if it was possible to have a corked wine under a plastic cork closure. I explained that although it was very rare, it was possible, as the wine can become contaminated by similar cork taint compounds, and there have been a few cases of the taint coming from wooden barrels, or even other wood in the winery, such as the roof beams.
The host seemed satisfied with my answer and asked me to pour the wine for the guests anyway.
I left the room very demoralised. I thought I should have been firmer and said the word ‘corked’, not just that the wine was out of condition, faulty or defective. As this was the last task, I had completed the semi-final and so I could go to my room. When I saw Nina, I was practically suicidal. I told her that it was like Canada all over again. I had flunked it and I was a complete idiot.
Nina thought for a few seconds and then very calmly asked me to tell her precisely what had happened. I went through it all in as much detail as I could. At the end Nina said: ‘You repeatedly told the judges that you did not want to serve the bottle because it was faulty and several times you offered to open another bottle, so I cannot see where the problem is. You might lose a few marks because you did not pronounce the word “corked” but no more than that.’
