San Francisco International Wine Competition 2014 PAGE 2
We began promptly at 9 in the morning
Saturday...
And as this year's tasting coincided with The World Cup Soccer, we were a bit
surprised when Dr. Hepp showed up at the table in an unusual wine-tasting
costume.
And we were reminded again to "keep your eyes open for
Gold Medal wines."
Duuuuude!
My panel found some shockingly good wines and we gave a lot of
Gold Medals.
Other wines were merely shocking!
Kate certainly has an eye for good wine.
Meanwhile, Andy had some dental issues this morning...
It was certainly an extraordinary panel!
And they'd gather before breakfast to practice a few tunes for their upcoming
performance Saturday Night!
Judging by the Rorschach Test on his smock, it's clear Jim was having some
issues with tasting some of the wines.
The Pensive Professor
Mara-viglioso!
Snake Eyes? No...Drake-Eyes!
Tom Sawyer's wine-tasting brother, Chris.
Her panel was known as The Pitts Crew.
"This is a bloody good wine, worthy of a nice, juicy medal!"
"I'm all googly-eyes over this wine!"
Bill "Eyes Wide Shut" Bloxsom-Carter
Greg ALWAYS has his eyes on Pinot Noir!
"See no weevils, hear no weevils, speak no weevils."
They even changed their label knowing Fred was working for
their wholesaler!
"I can really sink my tooth into this wine...and that's the tooth, the
whole tooth and nothing but the tooth!"
Virginie
We speak wine!
Signora Due Mari
He's Oh-So-Dignified and Refined!
No wonder the airline cancelled his flight back home!
Steve Izzo, Fo' Shizzle!
Father and Son?
Tim Tushgrabber
Old Andy Blue Eyes with a couple of voluntears
volunt-eyes.
The name tag reads "Michael Feil," so apparently he's a master of
disguise!
Most folks seeing the toothsome smile would have pegged this as a photo of Ziggy.
Some will say this is a nice photo of Perdue.
Others will tell you "Per-don't"!!!
Sir Vin
Oh My Gawd, I so can't see the kids wearing these glasses!
Eye Caramba!
The Rab-Eye
Oooohhhh My Gawd!
|
Thanks to all the good sports who were willing to
put on the glasses, etc. and pose for such silly photos.
While we take our wine-tasting and judging seriously, the judges at this
magnificent event also enjoy the camaraderie of the weekend and in
having fun. |
We had our lunch break on Saturday and I brought a bottle of
wine to share with my colleagues on the panel...
...and, of course, this was a shock and delight for Rowald Hepp, manager of the
famous German wine estate, Schloss Vollrads.
We enjoyed a few sips of the 2011 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett...nicely
fruity and crisply acidic to balance the sugar...and, of course, low in alcohol.
And, or course, no matter what he's tasting, this fellow
always has Riesling on his mind!
Thanks to our "Team Captain," Jim Trezise!!!
A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR PANEL VOLUNTEERS:
Mike Sleczkowski, Joe Kaak, Mahala Bundy and Mari Paul
And we gathered a bunch of Tattooed participants to pose for a
snapshot...
All Riesling Fans!
Luckily Jim didn't show us all his Riesling Tattoos...
We had one more flight of wines, an "elimination round," where we
picked our favorite Riesling so as to have but a couple of wines in the Sunday
Sweepstakes tasting.
My "Magic Bag," always full of surprises, had a couple of bottles of
chilled beer to share with my tasting panel colleagues and the grand crew of
volunteers who took such good care of us.
Sunday morning we gathered at the appointed hour, waiting to
start the Sweepstakes tasting.
Jim Trezise was very pleased to see even a few more Riesling tattoos on some of
the judges.
A battle-scarred Tim McDonald explained how the Sweepstakes judging works while
we waited for the first flight of wines to be poured.
Andy had taken his place at the head of the room and was ready to lead the
judges in selecting the "Best of Show" wines.
Two Gold Medalists!
Michael and Steve
Mike "Easier Said Than" Dunne
Dan and Heidi
Kimberly and Traci
Carl Grubbs and Christine Trice
Drake and Ron
And the first "round" was ready...
The judges are asked to raise a hand to vote for a particular wine...and you can
vote for as many wines as you like.
Sometimes there's a bit of unanimity for a wine and sometimes the votes are
divided.
Mr. Wizard has long been volunteering at this event...
We needed to vacate the room to allow the volunteers to remove
the old stemware and replace it with a new flight...
Meanwhile, out in the hallway, I found Chazz Palminteri checking out Lily
Tomlin.
Then it was time for a group photo of the judges...
The great Leon
Borensztein.
Mr. Borensztein won a Guggenheim fellowship a few decades ago!
Better late than never...
(Thanks to Chloe Turan for the lovely snapshot!)
As we waited for the next flight, I found Charles sending Ron text messages...
Others were taking 'selfies':
Two bright smiles
Tim, Chandler and Dottie
And then the call came to assess the next round of wines...
After we voted on those, some of the fellas kicked up their
heels...
Keep it under your hat!
And the call came for the final round of reds and some dessert
wines.
And after all the votes were cast and the ballots tallied, the
judges stood up to applaud the volunteers, who once again, made the event run
smoothly.
Chandler, Dottie and Chloe.
And Nicolette.
And we broke for lunch and there was a chilled bottle, ready for our little
Nikko Hotel "picnic."
FOR
THE RESULTS OF THE JUDGING, CLICK HERE
TO
SEE LAST YEAR'S PHOTOS, CLICK HERE
TO
SEE SOME PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS OF THE EVENT, CLICK HERE...
THESE ARE REALLY GOOD!
BACK
TO THE 2002 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2013 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2012 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2011 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2010 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2009 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2008 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2007 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2006 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2005 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2004 COMPETITION
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TO THE 2003 COMPETITION
