Affirmation and Surprise at Wine Competitions

Highlights from a recent surge of commercial wine competitions:

California State Fair

Sauvignon Blanc is one of the few bright spots in the American wine market, with sales and plantings up compared with all other grapes and wines not named Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay.

Credit Sauvignon Blanc’s versatility, spunk and availability in a wide range of price categories.

On the first day of the 2024 California State Fair commercial wine competition at Cal Expo in Sacramento about two weeks ago, the first category to be spread before our three-person panel consisted of 23 Sauvignon Blancs, all but one from 2023.

It was an impressive class, validating Sauvignon Blanc’s popularity by the friskiness, zingy fruit, nippy acidity and persistence of so many entries. We gave three double-gold medals, meaning all three judges concurred that the wines deserved gold. The wines were tasted blind, so we didn’t learn their identities or prices until after the competition.

Gratifyingly, if not surprisingly, the three were made by producers that long ago established their credentials for consistently producing Sauvignon Blancs of fidelity and moxie.

They were the layered and balanced Chacewater 2023 Lake County Engine House Sauvignon Blanc ($26), a substantial take that stood out in large part for its enduring suggestion of grapefruit; the streamlined and focused Dry Creek Valley Vineyard 2023 Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($25), another exceptionally vigorous yet refined take on the varietal; and the Matanzas Creek 2022 Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($18), the oldest entry in the class, yet forward in aroma and spirited in flavor. In later rounds of the competition, the Dry Creek Vineyard went on to be declared the best Sauvignon Blanc in this year’s State Fair roundup.

During our panel’s two days of deliberations, the wines that generated the most excitement, or at least the most discussion, were the Amador Cellars 2019 Shenandoah Valley Estate Aglianico ($48) and the Vienza at Europa Village 2020 Temecula Valley Estate Reserve Nebbiolo ($84).

Both were among 27 wines scattered through the class “other red varietals,” meaning there weren’t enough entries of any one kind to justify a class of their own, so few such wines are made in California. Other varietals in the class included Montepulciano, Nero d’Avola, Teroldego, Charbono and Tannat, an indication of just how varied and reaching the California wine scene is.

We gave both the Amador Cellars Aglianico and the Vienza Nebbiolo double-gold medals, the Aglianico for its dark payload of saturating fruit, well-integrated oak, feisty spice and elegant equilibrium, the Nebbiolo for its ballistic delivery, sunny raspberry fruit, complicating earthiness and overall intrigue and fun.

The Nebbiolo went on to be named the best red wine of all appellations in the South Coast region, qualifying it for the sweepstakes round on the third and final day of the competition. There, of the 20 or so judges casting ballots, I was the only one to vote for the Nebbiolo. I’m still trying to figure that out.

I expected two other wines to reach the finals with a decent shot at winning the competition’s highest honors. One was the Lucid Winery 2022 California “Pollination” French Colombard ($28). Another panel had awarded it a double-gold medal, qualifying it for best-of-region consideration, which is when I tasted it.

French Colombard  is an old grape variety instrumental in providing the foundation for the white generic jug wines that initially brought attention to California’s potential to produce fine wine. Today, French Colombard isn’t cultivated extensively, and rarely is exploited for a varietal wine.

Kevin Luther of Sacramento’s Lucid Winery found some surviving French Colombard at Lodi and took advantage of it to create an interpretation both voluminous and uplifting, its expansive fruit clear and nuanced, its ample body lightened by tart acidity. Ultimately, however, it didn’t get the votes needed to qualify for consideration as best-of-show white wine.

The other wine did make it to sweepstakes consideration as one of 10 wines up for best-of-show red wine. It was the Butterfly Fields 2021 California Pinot Noir ($12), which delivers extraordinary attack, richness, silkiness and complexity for a wine to bear both the broad “California” appellation and that modest price.

It’s a refreshing and persistent Pinot Noir loaded with strawberries and spice. I first encountered it when it was in a semi-final round for best red wine with a “California” appellation, which it won. In the final voting for best-of-show red wine, however, it finished in a tie with two other contenders, each receiving 13 votes to the 16 racked up by the ultimate winner, the robust and long San Simeon 2020 Paso Robles Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ($70). Butterfly Fields, incidentally, is a brand of Plata Wine Partners of Napa.

The most unusual story to come out of the California State Fair competition was the winner of best-of-show white wine, the New Clairvaux Vineyard 2023 Tehama County St. James Block Moschofilero ($20). While pale in color, the Moschofilero was all force and animation in aroma and flavor. It is a dry white wine, but about as packed and potent as a dessert wine, with  fragrance, fruit and spice suggestive of Muscat or Gewurztraminer, and a long and caressing finish. Dishes from grilled oysters to grilled chicken come to mind.

This is the second straight year for New Clairvaux to have one of its wines anointed as best-of-show white. Last year it was the New Clairvaux 2022 Assyrtiko. Both wines come from the same remote and small vineyard, both grapes share Greek heritage, both were made by Aimee Sunseri, and both varieties were planted little more than a decade ago at New Clairvaux at the urging of Sacramento grocer Darrell Corti, who sensed that they had the bones to withstand the heat and aridity of Tehama County to deliver wines of character, originality, verve and value.

New Clairvaux was on a roll at this year’s California State Fair competition, also producing the competition’s best-of-show pink wine with the New Clairvaux 2023 Tehama County Poor Soul’s Block Barbera Rosé ($22).

The other best-of-show wines at the California State Fair were the Rancho de Philo Cucamonga Valley Estate Triple Cream Sherry ($60), a wine made entirely with the first grape to be cultivated extensively in California, the Mission (top dessert wine), and the Korbel Champagne Cellars California Methode Champenoise Extra Dry ($14), a blend of Chenin Blanc, French Colombard, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (top sparkling wine).

(The 2024 California State Fair runs July 12 to July 28 at Cal Expo in Sacramento.)

 

 

Amador County Fair

This year’s Amador County Fair commercial wine competition was distinguished by one of the more extraordinary conclusions for any wine competition: All 14 judges involved in deciding the best-of-show wine agreed unanimously that it should be the Helwig Winery 2023 Shenandoah Valley Musque Clone Sauvignon Blanc (price not yet listed on winery’s website).

The “Musque Clone” is acclaimed for bringing a more intensely floral character to wines from which it is made. The Helwig has that, along with an edgy citric foundation representative of more traditional takes on Sauvignon Blanc. And the wine’s spice and acidity – punctuating and enlivening!

Other principal winners to emerge from Pokerville Hall on the grounds of the Amador County Fair in Plymouth were the respectful and balanced Amador Cellars 2021 Amador County Barbera (around $35), the best-of-show red wine; the invigorating and strapping Jeff Runquist 2023 Amador County Massoni Ranch Rosé of Sangiovese ($24), the best-of-show pink wine; and the Shenandoah Vineyards Amador County Black Muscat ($15 per 375-mililiter bottle), the best-of-show dessert wine, a perennial winner on the competition circuit for its floral, luscious and commanding take on the rare grape Muscat Hamburg.

Sangiovese is a black Italian grape that over the past few decades has gained a following among growers, vintners and consumers in Amador County. Fourteen Sangioveses were entered in this year’s county-fair competition, with the results validating the high standing of three producers that have long worked diligently with the grape.

We gave double-gold medals to the lean and alert Vino Noceto 2020 Shenandoah Valley Sangiovese, which stood out largely for its fine-boned layering and suggestions of violets, anise, cherries and mint (around $28); the focused and resonating Vino Noceto 2020 Shenandoah Valley “Dos Oakies” Sangiovese (around $44); the muscular and sweetly fruity Cooper Vineyards 2020 Sangio Bello (around $46); and the Avio Vineyards 2020 Amador County Estate Sangiovese, ultimately elected our best-of-class for its brilliant color, blooming aroma, persistent finish and layered flavors, running from baked cherries to black pepper ($34).

Other wines to especially impress our panel included the Tenerel Cellars 2023 Shenandoah Valley Inspire Inclusion White Blend ($32), an imaginative and seamless mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino, Roussanne and Viognier. The wine’s pronounced floral aroma, suggestions of tropical fruits, dry delivery and combination of richness and acute acidity make it a perfect summer sipper. It was our best-of-class from a field of eight blended white wines.

Then there were the inky, stiff and complex Deaver Vineyards 2019 Shenandoah Valley Estate Petite Sirah, which in its heft and assured stride calls for a thick slab of ribeye steak or filet mignon, just off the grill ($32); and the Crystal Basin Cellars 2020 El Dorado Petite Sirah, an exceptionally luxurious take on the variety yet with just 13.5 percent alcohol, our best-of-class from a field of 15 Petite Sirahs (around $34).

(The 2024 Amador County Fair runs July 25 to July 28 at Plymouth.)

 

Sierra Foothills Wine Competition (Calaveras County Fair)

The 43^rd Calaveras County Fair commercial wine competition, convened at Frogtown on the southern edge of Angels Camp this past weekend, reaffirmed the reliability of some prominent wineries in the Mother Lode, most notably Lewis Grace and Jeff Runquist, while also providing several surprises.

For one, our three-person panel was assigned at the outset “other white varietals.” Five of the six entries were Verdelho, a classic Portuguese white-wine grape not extensively cultivated in California, though that could be changing, perhaps because of the angular, zesty, refreshing wine it yields, perhaps because of the need for growers to adapt to climate change with grapes that do well in warmer climates.

At any rate, that many Verdelhos in a relatively small competition was a surprise. Even more surprising, we awarded two of them double-gold medals, the brilliantly colored, svelte, zesty, minerally and refreshing Lewis Grace 2023 Alta Mesa Verdelho (around $26), and the powerful, peachy and persistent Jeff Runquist Wines 2023 Amador County Estate Verdelho ($27), ultimately our best-of-class. (Alta Mesa is an appellation nestled within the large Lodi American Viticultural Area; the Sierra Foothills Wine Competition allows competing wineries to exploit grapes from outside the Sierra Foothills, though the wineries themselves are to be within the region.)

Verdelho wasn’t the only surprising white wine. We also gave a double-gold medal to the Drytown Cellars 2023 El Dorado Riesling ($21), a faithful and sumptuous take on the variety, which isn’t supposed to show well in the hot Sierra Foothills, but El Dorado clearly has the elevations and the pockets to accommodate the grape’s fickle nature.

Pinot Grigio, another green grape not closely associated with the Mother Lode, provided perhaps the biggest surprise of the day when it was declared the best-of-show white wine in a highly competitive field that also included Verdelho, Chardonnay, Verdejo and Riesling. The winner was the slim, agile and pointed School Street 2023 Sierra Foothills Pinot Grigio ($17), a spot-on interpretation that showcases the precision winemaking of Matthew Hatcher. The wine is a blend of fruit from Indian Rock Vineyard in Calaveras County and Cooper Vineyards in Amador County, fermented solely in stainless-steel tanks.

While the foothills are identified most closely with the red wines Zinfandel, Primitivo and Barbera, Grenache continues to rise in polish and popularity. All three that we judged won gold – the liberally timbered Lewis Grace 2022 El Dorado Estate Grenache ($35); the high-toned and elegant La Mesa Vineyards 2020 Shenandoah Valley Grenache Noir ($32); and the multi-faceted Cooper Vineyards 2020 Shenandoah Valley Grenache ($29), so vibrant with pomegranate and cherry and so enduring in its finish it was a clear consensus gold.

La Mesa, incidentally, is a relatively young player on the Amador County wine scene, yet looks to be rising fast in esteem. At Calaveras, for one, it turned in a fairly steady showing, its other medals including double-gold for both its 2020 Shenandoah Valley Barbera ($39) and its 2021 Shenandoah Valley Mourvedre ($39).

The day’s strongest performances, however, were registered by the old reliables Jeff Runquist Wines and Lewis Grace Winery. Runquist won double-gold medals for its 2022 Verdelho ($27), its 2022 Massoni Ranch “Z” Zinfandel ($30), and its 2022 Amador County Aparicio Vineyards Carignane ($32), and gold for its 2022 Dick Cooper Vineyards Barbera ($32), and its 2022 Charbono (around $30).

Lewis Grace won double-gold for its rich, bacony and balanced Trevor Grace 2022 Sierra Foothills Syrah, the competition’s best-of-show red wine ($37), its expansive and electric Trevor Grace El Dorado 2022 Touriga ($35),  and its 2023 Alta Mesa Verdelho (around $26), and gold for its 2023 Viognier (around $27), its 2022 Grenache ($35), its 2021 Petite Sirah ($37), its 2021 Zinfandel ($35), and its 2023 Grenache Rosé (around $25), the competition’s best-of-show pink wine.

Other high honors went to the Starfield Vineyard Brut (around $42), the best-of-show sparkling wine; the Black Sheep Winery 2021 Calaveras Zinfandel (around $24), the winner of the competition’s “Zinfandel Challenge” (because of the prominence of Zinfandel in the Mother Lode, the competition annually singles out one entry for highlighted honors, this year chosen from an initial field of 24 Zinfandels); and the Inner Sanctum 2015 Vintage Port ($29), best-of-show dessert wine.

(The 2024 Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee runs May 16 to May 19 at Frogtown of Angels Camp.)