Notes from Dan Berger’s International Wine Competition at Santa Rosa last week:

Sonoma County winemaker Carol Shelton’s standing as one of California’s more reliable hands with Zinfandel was enhanced as her voluptuous, complex and spicy Wild Thing 2020 Mendocino County Old Vine Zinfandel ($20) was elected the competition’s top red wine in a highly competitive sweepstakes round. Despite its muscularity, this is one fresh and buoyant Zinfandel, bright with raspberry and blackberry fruit and peppery spice.

Voting was even more competitive in the white-wine sweepstakes, with the Husch Vineyards & Winery 2021 Anderson Valley Dry Gewurztraminer ($18) narrowly edging the Marchelle Wines 2021 Russian River Valley Old Vine Colombard ($28) for top honors. Neither Gewurztraminer nor Colombard has a high profile in California vineyards these days, but the clarity and animation of these two show that the state can be as hospitable to old-time grape varieties as well as such staples in the marketplace as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay. The Husch Gewurztraminer was all rose oil, spice and citric zest, while the Marchelle Colombard was driven by an alluring lemony aroma, sunny citric fruit and more mouth-filling substance than commonly associated with the variety.

Judges also were split almost evenly in voting for the competition’s best sparkling wine, with the apricot-scented, off-dry and surprisingly complex Trecini Winery Veneto Extra Dry Prosecco ($40) narrowly topping the Pennyroyal Farm 2019 Anderson Valley Blanc de Noir ($49), a bubbly whose delivery, structure and flavors – ranging from apple and apricot to yeasty batard – evoked images of celebrating with it at a New Year’s Eve dinner of roasted salmon generous with butter and herbs.

Among the classes judged by our panel – my fellow panelists were Sonoma County winemaker David Vergari and Sonoma County grape grower Barry Lawrence – was “medium-dry domestic” Rieslings. Of the six we had, four got gold medals, including a “triple-gold” entry that we also chose as our best of class, the lavender scented, sweet, lively and long Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards 2020 Finger Lakes Riesling ($14). As if the Hazlitt wasn’t evidence enough that Finger Lakes is home to the finest interpretations of Riesling being made in the United States, we awarded one other entry a “triple-gold” medal, the unusually forward and persistent Fox Run Vineyards 2021 Seneca Semi-Dry Riesling ($15). (A “triple-gold” medal is awarded when all judges on a panel agree that a wine warrants gold.)

Of the 35 Chardonnays our panel judged, not a single one got a “triple-gold” medal, though we did award five gold medals on split votes, and from that small field agreed relatively easily on our best of class, which turned out to be the Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards 2021 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($25), an unusual take on the variety for its striking balance of authority and vigor, at once expansive with tropical, apple and citric fruit but tripping refreshingly across the palate for its peppy acidity.

Of the 22 Pinot Noirs our panel judged, an unusually high proportion – nine – won gold medals. Six of them were wines made with grapes grown in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley, as closely identified with exquisite Pinot Noir as Finger Lakes is with authoritative Riesling. Our best of class was the rich, earthy and sweetly fruity Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards 2019 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($36).

I don’t drink a lot of Barolo. Impatience has something to do with that. They commonly are massive wines, with formidable ramparts of tannin that only grudgingly let down their guard, allowing tastebuds to get to their rich and deep fruit. Cost also factors into my reluctance to splurge on Barolo. During last week’s sweepstakes round, however, a Barolo of exceptional fragrance, balance, longevity and accessibility was in contention for best red wine. It was solidly structured, to be sure, but its lush, ripe red-fruit flavor, spice and oak flowed freely through its tannins. It will benefit by another three to five years of aging, but can be rewarding right now if paired with braised beef accompanied by baked polenta with Gorgonzola or porcini mushrooms or both. Afterwards, when the identities of wines were revealed, it turned out to be the Azienda Agricola Boasso 2018 Del Commune di Serralunga D’Alba Barolo, which customarily sells for around $35, not for everyday drinking, perhaps, but a bargain for a substantial meal during the year-end holidays.