Once you start dealing in philosophy rather than facts, the answers are a little hard to get a handle on.
Where, oh where, have all the wineries gone? I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the competition results from the recent Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge, and I don’t see any real significant faces among the winners. Just looking at the initial numbers, it’s apparent that North Coast wineries are not really interested in seeing who’s better, since, out of 800+ wineries, only 199 entered with only 841 wines. That’s actually less than what enters the Sonoma County Harvest Fair Wine Competition, which doesn’t include Napa, Mendocino, Lake or Solano counties.
Getting a medal didn’t seem to be a problem, since 170 (20 percent) received gold or better, 302 received silver (36 percent) and 191 (22 percent) received bronze. Hence, about 75 percent got medals. (Numbers are approximate, but very close).
The awards were based on AVA designations, hence a Napa winery (W.H. Smith), using Sonoma Coast fruit, won the Best of Sonoma County and the Best of Show with its 2010 Maritime Vineyard Pinot Noir ($54). Meanwhile, Don Sebastiani and Sons, of Sonoma County, won the Best of Napa County with its B Side 2010 red blend ($25). No surprise that Husch Vineyards’ 2013 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer won Best of Mendocino County and that Clay Shannon of Shannon Ridge (Lake County) won with its 2011 Dalliance, a red blend. Best of Show white went to Charles Creek Vineyard with a 2010 Russian River Chardonnay.
I ask again, where are all the big names? Did they not enter, or not win? Only the Shadow may know (and me, since I ran the judging panels—but I’ll never tell). Total entries by county show that 490 (58 percent) were from Sonoma County, 172 (20 percent) from Napa County, 82 (9.7 percent) from Mendocino County and 38 (4.5 percent) from Lake County. Are all the others afraid to go head-to-head with Sonoma County? In the overall North Coast wine picture, the whole showing was pretty dismal.
All right, let’s give some credit to some of the ones that did enter and won some gold. For Cabernet Sauvignon >$40, winners were Charles Creek Vineyard, Colagrossi Wines, Gallo Signature Series, Michael Pozzan, Spiriterra, Goldschmidt, Wattle Creek, St. Anne’s Crossing Wines and Two Jakes of Diamonds from Lake County. Only a single gold was awarded in the Chardonnay >$40, to Merriam Vineyards in Healdsburg. In the Pinot Noir >$40 category, the Sonoma County appellation was represented by Colagrossi Wines, Ernest Vineyards, Russian River Vineyards, Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards and Wonderment Wines. There was also Masut from Mendocino and zero from Napa.
For Sauvignon Blanc >$20, Sonoma County had Truett Hurst Winery and Trione Vineyards and Winery, and Napa had Black Stallion Winery. All a pretty poor showing from what should be some excellent wines. Last, I’ll mention Zinfandel >$20, which, as it should be, got eight golds from Sonoma County and none from any other appellation. They’re proudly St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, Rosenblum Cellars, Francis Ford Coppola Director’s Cut, Little Vineyards Family Winery, Portalupi, Seaton Family Vineyards, St. Anne’s Crossing and Trentadue.
So what have we learned from what was, hopefully, going to be a showdown by wineries from God’s Gift to the Grape, the North Coast of California? In no particular order, I learned wineries don’t like to enter new competitions (this is only the second year for this one) and can’t be prodded by one of the biggest names in the industry to enter. The big and famous wineries apparently don’t need any more publicity, so why enter? Perhaps they feel that, if you’re perceived to be on top, why volunteer to get shot down? You’ll notice I said “perceived,” since, in this ego-driven industry, everybody is their own king and castle. Or maybe they don’t trust or have faith in the organizers doing a fair job. Or maybe the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and the Sonoma County Harvest Fair are enough judgings. Napa wineries aren’t big on entering the Chronicle competition, either.
Please pass the envelope. Maybe the real answer is that, once you’ve attained a certain status, you no longer need competitions to stroke the ego or for whatever public releations gold medals can do for you. I guess once you start dealing in philosophy rather than facts, the answers are a little hard to get a handle on. By the time you read this, the public awards tasting, held at the CIA in St. Helena, will be a done deal. With only 172 Napa wines entered, how many Napa County folk will show and how many Sonoma County wine lovers will venture over the hill for a taste? The price tag ($125) sounds a little steep to try a lot of wines many haven’t heard of. (That’s why the lesser-known wineries are there). If you went, I hope you had a wonderful time and didn’t forget to taste the one and only gold medal >$40 Merriam Winery Chardonnay.
