In the land of pisco... Tasting pisco, our Cultural Heritage (1613-2015).
During the week of July 08 to 12 we were convened tasters to participate in the XXI National Pisco Contest in the city of Ica. This time the event was in charge of Ms. Paula Rina Elías Bravo as President, Eng. Oswaldo Hernández Pacheco as Tasting Director and Mr. Reynaldo Valencia Anchante as General Coordinator, the organization was excellent, as were the facilities of the Club Centro Social de Ica, located on the road to Huacachina (Crying woman, in Quechua) a lagoon; tasters from the 5 pisco regions.: 35 experts and 20 beginners. This year we had 255 samples, divided into 132 from Ica, 19 from Moquegua, 22 from Arequipa, 63 from Lima and 19 from Tacna; it should be noted last year there were 271 samples, this time Lima region is the one that sent fewer samples.
Since 2012, the Pisco National Contest is governed by the rules of the OIV International Organisation of Vine and Wine, an organization to which Peru belongs. It is precisely for this reason that nowadays samples are no longer collected at the wineries, the producers themselves who wish to participate send them the Regulatory Council of the Pisco Denomination of Origin to be included in the contest. Once the contest is over, a drawing is held among the winning producers and the wineries are visited to verify that they have complied with the contest rules.
In this contest, as in the last two, a table coordinator is appointed for the tasting tables and expert tasters with the beginners. The latter do not have their scores validated, only the expert tasters are in charge. This measure helps a lot because it allows a correlation between beginners and expert tasters, where a learning process is created, since among them there are Producers, Engineers, Oenologists, Administrators, Master Distillers, Chefs, Sommeliers, Communicators, Lawyers, Veterinarians, etc. which enriches the tasting, allows to exchange opinions and improve the evaluation. Between tastings there is always a break to discuss the last sample. It is important to point out that these are blind tastings, so we are guided by a code and the variety of Pisco we are tasting. At my table we were expert tasters from Tacna, Ica and Lima, the beginners were from Tacna and Lima. In previous contest the expert tasters this, as we have explained, did not help, creating unnecessary differences while now we all learn from each other. Tasting is practical, we are not born as tasters, tasters are made through practice, "the practice makes masters", like an airplane pilot, more hours of flight the better. Moreover, having different tasters at each table gives us fairer results.To avoid recognizing the píscos from their own region, Tasting Producers (Master Distillers), have to sign an affidavit indicating which piscos they have presented, so that the Tasting Director, when drawing lots for the tables, does not allow these tasters to evaluate their own samples. (remember, for the Masters Distillers their piscos are like their sons, they recognize them, that's why in the contest they can't evaluate them).
All travel and living expenses of the expert tasters are assumed by the organizers of the contest.
The results of the competition are published on the website of the Regulatory Council of the Denomination of Origin Pisco, this year as in 2011 we did not have a Great Gold Medal, we hope one in Arequipa 2016. Stay save, drink responsabily.
By Livio Pastorino Wagner
Sommelier, Specialist, and Pisco Taster
Registration: CRDO-PISCO 2020 RCO-034-2011
@elmagozurdo
Cocktail Magazine No. 03
October 13, 2015
Pisco & music
Cocktail magazine (spanish) in issuu
October 2015