The wine judging season is upon us, so get ready for all the publicity that goes with winning something. (Warning: there are more gold medals being given each year. Silvers are nice, and a bronze is similar to kissing your sister.) You’ve all read my ranting about wine competitions—what they can mean, what they do mean and if there’s a difference. Probably the biggest single factor is the quality of the judges.
It’s getting more and more difficult to assemble a whole room full of sound judges for several reasons. First, there are only so many competitions one can attend and, with the number of competitions increasing almost exponentially around the country each year, good judges need to pick and choose the ones they’ll do. Then there’s the cost involved with transportation, lodging and associated costs, although most competitions don’t pay any stipend other than expenses. In the North Bay, we’re blessed with a great many good judges, but when a competition increases the scope of its entry area (like going from only the North Coast to all of California, then all the West Coast, then the nation and then international), judges who are familiar with wines from those areas need to be brought in. Few judges are good in all wines. We here in the North Bay generally don’t know Norton (a Missouri wine) from Pinotage (from South Africa), so how would we judge them? This is why you need to get judges from all over—and why the costs are increasing significantly.
There’s also the direct cost to each winery that enters, which can be sizeable. Four to six bottles of each entry must be shipped to the judging location, plus an entry fee of $75 to $90 per wine. If you enter several competitions, these costs add up to some significant figures, thus the need to pick and choose the competitions you think will do you the most good. And don’t forget you do need to win.
With that bit of preamble, I’ll look at the recent San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, which is now the largest in the country, with 5,053 wines entered this year. As one of the many judges, I was fortunate enough to be on the Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, high-end Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah/Shiraz panels. Those of you who know me realize that these are my favorite varieties. You’ll also notice I didn’t have to judge Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (it helps to have friends in high places!).
My biggest disappointment was the Shiraz/Syrah classes. I’m fully aware this is a relatively new varietal for us, but you’d think that after about 15 years, we’d have worked our way through the learning curve. First, we needed to learn how to grow it—trellis, rootstock, irrigation, fertilization and so forth. Syrah being a very vigorous grower, trellising and spacing are important, as are yields (per vine or per acre). But it’s not totally figured out yet. There’s also winemaker input and judgment as to how to ferment and age the wine. Then the really hard part is marketing and teaching the public what this varietal should be.
There are many examples of great Shiraz wine, especially from Australia (for the big, bold ones) and the lighter-style Rhone wines. Bang! There’s a big problem: There’s virtually no way to determine which you’ll get from the label. I’ve been preaching for years—albeit to deaf ears—that lighter-style ones should be named “Syrah,” and the “Shiraz” label should be used for the bigger, bolder style. Consumer confusion is difficult if not impossible to overcome. If someone buys a bottle and it turns out to be the wrong style (which turns off many drinkers), he or she will revert back to the old standbys of Cabernet and Chardonnay because, if nothing else, they’re consistent.
In the Shiraz/Syrah classes, which were broken down by retail value, the $40+ class had zero—yes I said zero—golds and only two silvers. Not a very good showing…or have the judges failed to learn what good Shiraz really is? In the $30 to $40 class, there were seven golds (three from Sonoma County); the $25 to $30 class had 10 golds; the $20 to $25 class had only three golds (zero from Sonoma County); the $15 to $20 class had only two golds (zero from Sonoma County); and for below $15 there were seven golds (none from Sonoma County). These very low numbers for Sonoma County wines, compared to all of the other major varietals, basically says we have a lot to learn before we make a Penfold’s Grange (an Australian Shiraz; Wine Spectator named its 1990 vintage the best red wine in the world). There’s absolutely no consistency yet, and thus, wine drinkers are afraid to spend good money when the wine probably won’t be any good. I just hope we learn to make it before completely destroying its image.
Although Sonoma County didn’t show up in the Best of Class category, it did far better in all other categories. As to be expected, it was low in Chardonnay, with 19 out of 81 golds—and even that 81 is low, considering the total number entered (more than 500, but we’re not privy to the exact number). In Pinot Noir, where Sonoma County thinks it’s God, the devil must have been smiling, because it only got 28 out of 103 gold medals, with the biggest numbers in the $35 and $50 classes. Sonoma County’s real strength lies in what’s always been God’s gift to the area, namely Zinfandel. It garnered 39 golds out of of 92 total but, most important, in the $25 and up classes, it won 91 percent (31/34)—pretty impressive, even though we all know that God put Sonoma County on earth to grow great Zinfandel. Even more impressive, the Ken Wilson collection of wineries alone won 17 golds. Great work Ken and Diane!
Last, in Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa rightfully came through with 37 golds and Sonoma with 32 out of 136 total. Napa actually won 14 golds to Sonoma’s one in the greater than $60 category. Wines are judged by price category to first make the classes more manageable, but also, many feel higher-priced wines should be held to a higher standard. You may recall that I’ve said many times that price is not a reflection of quality but of availability. The harder it is to get, the higher the price. I think that’s called something like, “Whatever the traffic will bear.”
Oh well, off to your homework, please. And you might want to try a few of the winners to see if you agree with the judges. You can find them at www.winejudging.com.
Rich Thomas is professor emeritus, Director of Viticulture, at Santa Rosa Junior College. He is also a vineyard consultant in the North Coast. You can reach him at rthomas@northbaybiz.com.
