ANATOMY OF A WINE JUDGING

 

BY A. BRIAN CAIN, THE MICHIGAN VINTNER   

 

 

Tasters Guild, an international wine society dedicated to education and appreciation, holds its annual wine judging at the Grand Rapids Community College Applied Technology Center. Wineries from all over the world send over 2000 samples for their best wines to be tasted and judged by the Tasters Guild wine judges. Joe Borrello, local marketing consultant, is Tasters Guild’s managing director and chairman of the judging. Joe Schagrin, of Ft. Lauderdale, is the President of Tasters Guild and serves as Chief Judge.

 

Three days before the judging begins, Dr. Bruce Scranton’s back room crew catalogs, assigns numbers, and groups the wines in flights of the same grape variety, similar dryness, similar region, and similar price. The actual judging begins on Wednesday and concludes Saturday afternoon.

 

Each flight goes before a panel of three judges and one audit. The audit is typically a wine enthusiast, student, or other non-professional wine lover. Only the three judges scores are recorded. Each wine is scored on color and clarity, aroma and bouquet, body and flavor, balance, acidity, tannin and aftertaste. On a 20-point scale, anything scoring less than 14 points receives no medal. A wine scoring between 14 and 15.9 receives a bronze medal, between 16 and 17.9 a silver, and anything over 18 points, a gold. With three judges, the majority rules, but, any judge can ask for another panel to re-taste and re-judge it if there is not consensus on which medal should be given. If all three judges score a wine 18-20 points (gold medal) the wine is automatically given to another panel to re-taste and re-score it. If all three of those judges also score it gold, then the wine receives the coveted ”double gold“ medal. During the course of the judging, numerous wines are given to more than on panel for no other reason other than to be certain that any given panel is not too tired or too ”palate fatigued“ to critically and accurately evaluate wines. Keep in mind that with over 2000 wines to judge with roughly a third of them judged twice, each judge must taste and score over 100 wines per day!

 

Every year, there is at least one category of wine that creates a buzz among the judges. Even though the judges taste ”blind“, they do know the grape variety, sugar content and approximate price of each wine they judge. This year, the single appellation 2001 California Cabernets lived up to the pre-judging hype that the industry had created. The big surprise came from the generic low cost California Cabernets and Merlots that rarely receive much more than a bronze or occasional silver medal. This year we gave out numerous silvers and a couple of gold medals for wines at the lower end of the price spectrum. Even the now famous ”two buck Chuck“, a proprietary wine sold at Trader Joe’s for $1.99, received gold medals for both the Charles Shaw Merlot and Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon!

 

There is such a glut of fine wine grapes worldwide but especially in California, that even premium Napa and Sonoma appellation grapes are ending up in low cost generic blends. It is a great time to be a wine consumer!

 

Here are a few of the wines that I scored gold.

 

UNDER $8

 

Barefoot California Cabernet Sauvignon, black currant herbal nose, fills the mouth with fruit; long, tannic finish

 

Carmenet 2001 California Cabernet Sauvignon, potent fruit and complex composty, cedary smells; soft tannins with blackberries in the finish

 

Jacobs Creek 2003 Australian Grenache/Shiraz, classic vivid raw fruit power of this varietal combo; plenty of structure and texture; compelling drinkability

 

Kangaroo Ridge 2002 SE Australia Shiraz, complex and brooding; this juicy black fruit filled wine has real aging potential; under $8?!

 

Kangaroo Ridge 2002 SE Australia Merlot, sweet port-like caramel and cassis nose; long ripe fruity mouth-feel with subtle earthy nuances

 

Barefoot California Merlot, pure clean fruit with surprisingly rich structure and persistent red fruit presence

 

Turning Leaf 2002 California Zinfandel, gorgeous, exotic black berry smells; concentrated and fat with a pronounced fruity finish

 

$8 - $11

 

Monthaven 2002 Central Coast Chardonnay, rich luxuriant crème brulee and citrus fruit aroma; full body with creamy oak highlighted with peach, pear and quince nuances

 

Duck Pond 2000 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, brandied cherries in the nose with concentrated black fruit flavor and huge rich velvety tannin

 

$11-$15

 

Pedroncelli 2001 Dry Creek ”Mother Clone“ Zinfandel, dark red with wild berry nose; juicy and loaded with fruit finishing huge and ripe

 

Barefoot Reserve 2001 Dry Creek Zinfandel, quintessential Zinfandel; lots of red fruit; so easy and juicy the long tannic finish is almost a surprise

 

Bertani 2002 Soave Classico, Italy, big rich complex fruit smells layered over minerals and striking sense of this Northeastern Italian terroir

 

Turning Leaf 2001 Central Coast Merlot, clean, classy Bordeaux style with pure simple red fruit essence; rich, round, full of fruit, soft and satisfying

 

King Estate 2002 Oregon Pinot Gris, fine, precise, Germanic fruit purity; dry and fresh

 

$15 - $20

 

Meridian* 2002 Reserve Santa Barbara Syrah, pitch black with perfect varietal aroma; mid-palate is all blackberries balanced by soft velvety texture; a keeper

 

Chateau Grand Traverse 2000 Reserve Old Mission Peninsula Chardonnay, Grand Cru White Burgundy finesse; plenty of oak with plenty of sweet creamy lemony fruit to support it

 

Over $20

 

Gallo 1999 ”Frei Ranch“ Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon, tons of rich Cabernet fruit framed by smoke and earth; Grand Cru pedigree with fine balance; great longevity

 

J. Lohr 1999 ”Hilltop Vineyard“ Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon, beautiful red robe; hints of mint and earth pinned to huge mouth-filling black fruit and fine tannin

 

Needless to say, there were dozens of other wines costing more than $20 of startling quality. It doesn’t take a genius to pick out a good bottle of wine in that price range!

 

*Meridian Vineyards is Tasters Guild Gold Medal Champion for 2004 for having earned nine gold medals and one double gold medal.

 

Enjoy in Good Health!

© 2007 Tasters Guild Orlando