AS PROMISED – MORE WINNERS

A few postings back, I promised to provide more of the major Central Coast award winners at the 2012 San Francisco Chronicle wine judging.  I explain the format there (wines are judged in price point groups), which you can review and allows me to simplify this version, starting with the low end prices and go up the scale. I’ll deal with Zinfandel and Syrah/Rhone Blends in this version. A full listing of winners can be seen at winejudging.com. A disclaimer is needed here. While this is a ginormous event and has a quality (and large in number) panel of tasters doing the judging, it is not the final word. The format allows for comparison across price points to determine best of class but that is limited to those who are actually in the running. When it comes to the lesser award winners, the process could lead to some confusion as to relative value.

Also, many producers of highly regarded wines don’t participate in major tastings for a variety of reasons; they only due direct purchase and have a waiting list, they sell direct to consumer only or have very little wine due to limited production. It can also be expensive and a bit of a paperwork exercise to submit multiple samples of each wine, fill out the needed details and pay for shipping. There is also the fear of getting a buzz kill award. Meaning if you win less than a gold medal, they don’t even send a medal and there may be more than two dozen wines in your price group that beat you, so how does that work for you. This phenomenon is true of other awards, such as Wine Spectator/Enthusiast rankings. If you are a highly respected winery and selling in the over $35 price point, receiving an 85 when your competitors are scoring in the low 90s it is considered a kiss of death. Plus, if you make a barrel each of only three vineyard designated wines it can be hard to justify.

Thus, while the major award winners can be relied upon as solid efforts, this tasting is much like other large judging events or various wine newsletters or writers opinions. In the end, you decide the value what you drink and there is a bit of buyer beware involved in using professional opinions. If you trade with a quality wine shop and discuss what you’ve liked in the past, the staff may be as reliable as any source in pointing you in the right direction.

So, as promised here are more of the major awards presented to Central Coast wineries in various red wine categories.

For Zinfandel, De Paola Vineyard took a Best of Class ($25 - 30) with the ’08 “Emilio” from Arroyo Grande Valley and Paso Robles’ Peachy Canyon a Double Gold ($30-35) with its ’09 Vortex offering. Gold was awarded to (by increasing sale price from under $20 to over $50) Paso Creek ’09, Paso Robles (confusingly, this label uses Sonoma for copyright information and has no tasting room but produces 25,000 cases of wine from 350 acres on the east side of Paso) and 4 Vines ’09 “Biker”, Paso Robles – the winery has undergone business changes and the label may not be continued but some excellent deals can be found in Paso grocery stores on the remaining inventory of the brand. Soquel Vineyards (Santa Cruz area) also took a Gold with grapes sourced from Paso Robles’ Blazing Hill Vineyards and estate grapes from Pasos’ Dauo Vineyards ‘09 and Arroyo Grande Valley’s Saucelito Canyon ’09 “1880 Estate” did as well.

The Syrah/Shiraz competition saw a Best of Class ($20-25) go to the Castoro ’09 Paso Robles Reserve, and Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards received a Double Gold ($25-30) for its Santa Ynez Valley ’08 version. Gold medals by increasing price went to J. Lohr ’09 South Ridge, Paso Robles, Eberle’s “Steinbeck” ’09 also from Paso, where Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery also makes wine under its own label. Paso grapes were also a winner for Vines on the Marycrest ’09, Caliza Winery and Nova Vita (Veris Cellars) ’09 efforts along with Zaca Mesa’s ’08 Mesa Reserve from Santa Ynez Valley.

Phantom Rivers Winery took a Gold in the Grenache (20% Tempranillo) group with its Santa Barbara County grown Hi Vineyard ’09. Paso Robles’ Eagle Castle Winery won a Best of Class ($20+) with its Paso Robles ’08 Petite Sirah. The same region produced a Double Gold award for Two Brothers Vineyard’s estate ’09, Paso Robles and Gold for Imagery (a Glen Ellen, Sonoma winery) ’08 made with Paso grapes and for Carruth Cellars ’09 Solaa Farms, Paso Robles from this variety.

Rhone blends were split into under or over $20 groups with two Double Gold winners in the lower price range coming from the Central Coast. Those went to Hearst Ranch for the Paso Robles ’08 Three Sisters Cuvee and Vina Robles ’09 Estate “Red 4”.

Four wineries in the under $20 and seven in the over group were winners of Gold ratings. These included Broken Earth “Quadrant” ’10, Paso Robles, Monterey County’s Hahn Winery ’10, Central Coast, Sycamore Family Estate’s ’09 Arroyo Seco (Monterey) “GSP” and Troublemaker by Austin Hope NV “Blend 3” from Paso.  A 2010 Cinsault from Santa Barbara County’s Alapay Cellars, Pasos’ Anglim Winery’s ’07 “Cerise” (5 grape blend), Ecluse Wines ’09 “Rendition” and Lone Madrone’s ’08 Glenrose/Heaton “Enigma”, both from Paso Robles, were all in the upper group Gold winners. From Santa Barbara County, Fess Parker also was in that group with its ’08 “The Big Easy” blend, as was Zaca Mesa’s ’08 Santa Ynez Valley “Z Cuvee” and Minassian-Young Vineyards ’09 “Cuvee de Paso” with grapes sourced from Paso Robles winery/grower Halter Ranch.

The Central Coast, especially the Paso Robles AVA is also producing a great deal of Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux blends along with Rhone/Cab combinations. The region had good success in this area as well as can be seen on the competition web site. Another very strong showing was seen in the Silver award section of Rhone blends, indicative of what a great region for this style of wine produces. While noting I wouldn’t go that deep into the winners in this blog, I do want to give a shout out to my Kiwi friend Martin (pron: Mah’tn) Croad of Croad Vineyards in Paso for receiving  Silver awards for his over $20 blends, the ’08 estate grown Towhenua Pure and Kavakia Pure bottlings.