After one year of a virtual selection, 5StarWines & Wine Without Walls, the blind wine tasting organized by Veronafiere, will return to Verona in-person. Rules of the blind tasting remain as rigorous, as do the newly implemented protocols to maintain safety due to the pandemic.
As always, the selection is led by an international team of highly qualified wine professionals. Henry Davar, Thomas Curtius MW, Francesco Marchio, Brandon Tebbe MS, Richard Kershaw MW, Isao Miyajima, JC Viens, Jinglin Zhang, Sue Tolson, Vincenzo Donatiello, Paul Caputo, Irving So, Hayley Black and Niklas Bergqvist will guide the selection as the Panel Chairmen of the fifth edition of 5StarWines & Wine Without Walls, and will be present in Verona, Italy to taste and score the registered wines from June 16th to June 18th, 2021.
This edition is going to be special for everyone taking part in the tasting both because the exceptional safety protocols put in place will allow them to return to travelling and tasting wine together. As always, this selection brings together the diverse profiles and international palates of the judges, who are aided in promoting their selection by a range of cutting-edge communication tools that facilitate the announcement of the results. However, this year there is an added value to the event: the social factor.
No more screens, no more poor connections: the judges will be able to travel to Verona and be together. Nothing is quite back to normal: the tasting will be taking place in 2 rooms with a maximum capacity of 60 people in each, and every judge will have his/her own table arranged in a semicircle to make up Panels of 5 judges. This is very different from prior years, where each panel would be at the same table. But, it is a welcome step towards bringing judges and wines back together in the same place once more.
One year ago, who would imagine we would be able to receive judges from the U.S. together with judges from all over the world! On the basis of the legislation currently in force, judges will be able to reach Italy without the obligation of quarantine, staying for a maximum of 120 hours. It is going to be different, presenting once more a challenge for all involved. However, it will be worth the hard work to to give us a glimmer of life how we remember it and to continue bringing about 5Star Wines and Wine without Walls and promoting the Selection once more.
New features include the revamped registration platform, where producers will be able to check the results autonomously and have access to their personal page to view outcomes and download prompts to promote the scores.
About: 5StarWines – the Book is the annual wine selection organized by Veronafiere, held in the lead-up to the biggest Italian wine fair in the world. The event is now in its fifth edition. 5StarWines – the Book is a blind tasting aimed at shedding light on wineries investing in the improvement of their products. During the event, a highly qualified panel of wine professionals will taste and score—using a 100-point scale—participating wines. In this edition, over 2000 bottles took part in the competition and 847 were selected for inclusion in 5StarWines – the Book. The Guide is a useful tool both on the promotional and commercial side. It introduces international buyers and wine lovers to new wine products of great value. It guarantees wine quality and it maintains and certifies their value at an international level.
