KNOW THY MEDALS ©

            When I received a recent copy of The SOMM Journal it included the results (Gold or higher award) of this year's San Francisco International Wine Competition (www.sfwinecomp.com), I searched for winners from the Central Coast. I like to be aware of how the region fares against other areas of California and in this case the world. But the more I dug into the details the more I scratched my head.

Those of you who make regular visits to tasting rooms have seen bottles on shelves with medals and ribbons displayed. Wine club members are constantly reminded that such and such a bottling was an award winning wine. Or it received a score in this or that prestigious trade publication.

What you may not know is that to get this recognition the winery has to decide which ones have real marketing value. Then fill out often complicated paperwork to submit the wines, which also requires multiple bottles of the wine that need shipped within a time window. All at the expense of the winery. This can easily run into a lot of wine and related expense considering wine judging is coming close to being a spectator sport in terms of games played.

Submission to these events is a risk reward proposition and you have to pick your poison. With that in mind, let me run some facts by you. In the above referenced tasting, Anthony Dias Blue who is the Executive Director of the publication mentioned and a highly respected wine writer for many years, offered the following in his preface to the results.

The number of wines submitted was a record 4,902 offerings from 26 countries and 29 states, judged by 50 palates. Cabernet continued to dominate with 544 tasted, nearly a case per judge. The tasting uses a 100 point scale and uses the typical award of a Double Gold when all those on the panel (of course the judges are broken into smaller tasting groups) rate it the highest in the group being judged.

There were 254 of those awarded along with 538 Gold, 1,742 Silver and 1,568 Bronze. Thus, only 800 (16%) of those submitted didn't medal. This begins to look like those Participation trophies given to a 12 and under soccer team. And devalues the real merit of the awards. But all the consumer sees is that the wine was given this prestigious medal. If only 16% didn't get anything but another 16% received Gold or Double Gold, how good an indicator is the ranking?

Well, one might assume the submissions were all exceptional offerings to a top flight judging. Could happen that most were superior products. So let's look at a couple of examples. And also consider that it is possible that some rare category, say Best Sangiovese Blend, had few wines entered.  The judges all agree that one wine is the best of the lot but score the wine as an 86. Is this really a wine that merits a Double Gold? In this case, because they also award the best of varietal/type, the winner was a home boy, August Ridge 2010 Jovial Reserve, Paso Robles. This is a winery I enjoy and with which I am familiar. So good on them for a tasty and unique offering. I would guess that this category could include some Super Tuscan style entries and be more competitive than I suggested. But that is unclear in the way results are presented.

A couple of others include the Best Syrah + Best in Show Red. Also a Paso Robles wine, sort of, from Jeff Runquist, a 2013 Syrah. Jeff is a very accomplished (28 Gold & 80 Silver medals in 2012) winemaker with a serious resume (see jeffrunquistwines.com) and a winery in Plymouth, Amador County in the Sierra Foothills. He has a unique network of growers and uses those contacts to bring in grapes of 20 varietals and 9 AVA designations. His Syrah and Cabernet connections are from growers he knew from his days making reds in Paso as winemaker for Jerry Lohr. So, yes Paso is the AVA for the label but they take quite a ride for Jeff to use the grapes. Interesting that with all the wineries making Paso grown Syrah in this area, Jeff "crushes" them. Sorry, couldn't resist. Still, kudos to him.

And, to continue to blow the local horn, the Best of Type includes (also Double Gold) Balleyana 2013 Firepeak Chardonnay from Edna Valley, Cass Winery Viognier 2014 Paso Robles, Santa Barbara White Rhone Blend "Marcella's" from Fess Parker 2014. Also an Albarino 2013 from Wedding Oak in Edna Valley, Sangiovese 2013 by Gary Eberle, grapes from Wine-Bush/Hidden Valley in Paso and Best Nebbiolo out of Santa Ynez winery Old Creek Ranch, Estelle Vineyard 2009. The list goes on, check the referenced web site, but 39 top medals (15%) went to Central Coast wines and most were in the $28 to $36 range with several under $20.

One of the strangest categories was sparkling wines. The Best Brut & Best Sparkling was Champagne Collet 2004 Millesime Brut, France $96. But there was a Gold given to a $600 Blanc de Blanc NV from Armand de Brignac, France, which was alphabetically listed just above Barefoot Refresh NV Perfectly Pink, CA at $8. This I find difficult to understand and may indicate a flaw in what it takes, or should, to medal. And most of the really big money wines from cult labels avoid these tastings as they add no cachet but could be a bad miss. So, Know Thy Medals or Caveat Emptor.