Two exhausting weeks

I've just finished the second of my three weeks helping out at the International Wine Challenge held at the Barbican in London.

Week one for me was all about "bagging and tagging". That is picking the wines to make up the flights the judges were to taste, putting them in a bag with a label tag so they couldn't identify them when blind tasting.

Week two was the start of the judging with five solid days of setting out the wines for the judges to taste, clearing them away, getting replacement bottles from the warehouse, glass washing and a myriad of other things that need doing to ensure the world's biggest wine competition runs smoothly.

The task all us wine students enjoy is "checking" which entails taking the wine out of the bag after it has been tasted and confirming it was the wine it was supposed to be according to the checking sheet. This is the chance to taste the wines and is an extraordinary opportunity to try out as many wines as you can taste as long as it doesn't get in the way of the smooth but fast paced operation of the event.

Week three for me is the second week of judging when the medals and trophy winners are decided. I'm looking forward to it despite the long hours and physical nature of the work as it's a further opportunity to be exposed to quality wines and a great cross section of judges from across the wine industry.

For a judge's eye of the event read what Jamie Goode has to say.