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There are some tasters who claim that some wines "speak" to
them. Here's Tim McDonald, marketing guru at a little family winery
called "Gallo," who's testing this theory.
***
Perhaps there was some disagreement in awarding a medal to this wine, Tim voting
for a gold medal, while another judge may have said "no award," adding
"you can stick it in your ear."
***
Rebecca Chapa looks to Bacchus (that would be Andy Blue) for divine
enlightenment as to a medal for this wine.
Ms. Chapstick is currently the official "Ambassador" for the
Niebaum-Coppola Estate in Napa.
Leslie Sbrocco is working on the Real Life Wine Guide to go with her book "Wine for Women: A Guide to Buying, Pairing, and Sharing Wine."
Leslie should know that some wine "geeks" need to get a "real
life."
Janet Dyer, an enological Jezebel, says she prefers a "blind-tasting
format," which accounts for her eyes being closed.
Janet is wine magician, sawing customers in half, pulling rabbits out of a chapeau
and pulling corks out of wine bottles. Her sales company is called
"Magic Wine & Spirits."
Steve Izzo sticks 'iz noze in a glazz of wine...He'z the wine guy at San
Francisco's famed One Market Restaurant.
The philosopher Meredith May of Patterson's Beverage Journal, who was saying
"Men are like wine. Some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age."
Ron Washam of the Pacific Dining Car restaurant in Los Angeles.
His establishment pre-dates Napa Valley's Wine Train by seven or eight
decades. Ron is never derailed in his search for great wines.
George Skorka says "Nem mind arany, ami fnylik*," which has
something to do with gold medal-winning wines. A wise man, George also
says "Borban az igazsg**."
King George spends his day working for the Regal Wine Company in Los Angeles.
* All that glitters is not gold.
** In Vino Veritas.
East Coaster Charles Mara waved an Allier & Limousin oak pencil around
saying "This wine has more wood to it than you can shake a stick at!"
His Mara Wine Group produces some fasten-your-seatbelt red wines in California's
North Coast.
Epicure Scott Clemens, who, like the baseball pitcher of some fame, is nicknamed
"The Rocket." That's because he tastes at mach one speed
and with great accuracy.
One of his tasting panel mentioned something about it being a "pain in the
asteroid to keep up with Scotty. Beam me up!"
Jeffrey Porter, of Andronico's Market, has a passion for every
wine. Jeff is the wine steward for the ten Andronico's stores
in Northern California.
We were tasting on Father's Day and Brian Baker's son stopped by to check on
dear old dad and see if he was doing a good job.
Baker works for Baron Jess de Jackson of the Jackson Wine Estates.
Tim Teichgraeber, Esquire. When he's not practicing law, Tim's tasting
wine and writing about it for the for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. He
speaks fluent "Minnesotan," noting "This is a heckuva wine, yah
sure, ya betcha." He must have the language figured out, since people
from Iowa have no clue what Tim's saying.
Drake McCarthy of McCarthy Wine Consultants.
He must have found a gold medal winner, since most judges don't appear so
jovially happy.
Christopher Sawyer works with Wine X magazine, so he's even more difficult to
comprehend that Mister Minnesota (above). "This wine's da bomb, but
that one is fo shizzle, too. Yeah, this stuff really rocks,
man!" He's allergic to the words "oenophile," "Wine
Spectator" and "hand-crafted."
One of his colleagues noted "Chris is mighty fly with the juice."
Kimberly Charles finally got the Kobrand tattoo off her wrist and today
generates a lot of PR for her clients when she's not tasting wine. KC is a
prominent member of the Society of Wine Edumacators.
Andy, our fearless leader.
You have to have a hyphenated name to be on Anthony Dias-Blue's panel.
Michael Hill-Smith is from Australia.
We noticed he swirls the wine in his glasses in a counter-clockwise fashion.
"You get more fragrances this way," explained the Wonder from Down
Under.
Tim Old-McDonald is also on Dias-Blue's panel.
The nose knows! Panel H.
Patrick Comiskey of Panel H.
The third "muscateer" of Panel H.
The crew of Marcie Wollesen, Beth Niles and Nancy VanGelder kept things running
smoothly all weekend!
A big "Merci Beaucoup" to these three!
MEANWHILE...
The amazing volunteers are working like crazy to bring each panel a new flight
of samples.
Keeping tabs of the tasting results from each judge is no
simple task, either!
Each day we break for lunch...and I noticed they'd often
service a Chinese-styled lunch on one of the tasting days.
So, well before the judging, I'd set about coming up with some fortune cookies
which were just a bit different from the normal ones.
We did not have "The Universe is your guiding light" or "If you
know yourself, you know others" fortunes.
Drake McCarthy.
Someone announced that the "Wilfred Wong" Fortune cookies are now
selling for $20 on E-Bay!
There was an instant rush to look for these.
Too bad Willy was off in France trying his French out on Zee Fransch.
He went "undercover," sporting shades and a beret.
Jacques Chirac, who was not fooled by the disguise, immediately started
calling him "Monsieur Weel-fred Wrong."
Wilfred, after getting Chirac's autograph, asked Monsieur President if he
could introduce him to Mister Wong's favorite French man "of all
time," Inspector Clouseau."
We expect Wilfred will NOT be visiting France, again, any time soon.
This was truly frightening...Rebecca appears to be
impersonating Michael Jackson.
Yikes!
|
THE SAN FRANCISCO
INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION FORTUNES FOR 2005 |
1.
Into every life a little
Chardonnay must fall.
2.
Confucius (or Wilfred
Wong) say Some wines taste like made by clown, since taste is
funny.
3.
The average winemaker
doesnt think he makes average wines.
4.
The difference between a
Bordeaux
blend and a Meritage is the difference
between night and evening.
5.
If wine is bottled
poetry, it sure as hell wasnt Shakespeare who made that shit we
tasted this morning!
6.
Asking a winemaker what
he or she thinks about wine critics is like asking a lamp post what it
thinks about dogs.
7.
The difference between
god and a winemaker is that a god doesnt think shes a winemaker.
8.
When debating about the
medal worthiness of a wine, if youre arguing with an idiot, be sure
theyre not at loggerheads with one, also.
9.
Andy Blue says This
aint
Fort
Knox
, but for Pete's sake (and your own),
find something thats a gold medal!
10.
Thank
God (Carol Seibert) for organizing this circus.
But do watch your step. The
elephants got loose this morning.
|
By Sunday at noon, all the wines have been tasted and the scores
tabulated...finally the judges are invited to sit down for the "Final
Final." We taste the best of the Double Gold Medal Winners and pick
the top wines for a particular category and the best red and best white wine of
the tasting.
Leading the proceedings, as always...
Andy Blue.
The judges vote for their favorites...
This fellow tabulates the scores, crunches the numbers and figures out which
wines reign supreme.
Paul Bourbin is Mister Wizard at the SF International Wine Competition.
Paul is not only a fan of vintage wines, but vintage radios. He also
dabbles with orchids and carnivorous plants, watering the latter with Cabernet
Sauvignon.
The results were tabulated and the judges voted...and the "Best of
Show" wines are unveiled.
Carol Seibert, who somehow organizes this amazing event...
And Carol's partner-in-wine, Chandler Moore.
Purple Palate Award Winners Rebecca Chapa & Kimberly Charles.
This is truly scary.
I think these tasters were awarded a special bottle of wine...
Spit Happens.
What a great weekend and an amazing event.
For more info, the results, etc.,
click below.
http://www.sfwinecomp.com/
Thanks to all
the great volunteers who make this event happen!
Thanks to the wineries who enter their wines.
Thanks to my fellow tasters who don't seem to mind my photographic intrusion
into their tasting sessions.
Thanks to Carol, Chandler and Andy for inviting me to participate.
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