I had never paid much attention to wine competitions. When wines win medals and prizes, who are they competing against? But this doesn't seem to stop their producers from marketing the wines as the best in the world and so on. As for sommelier and tasting competitions, I was never really interested until a few years ago when a Barcelona wine merchant called Quim Vila of Vila Viniteca organised a wine tasting competition for pairs. You didn't need to taste in silence and write your stuff like in an exam, something that bores me, but you could taste and discuss...