Nine takeaways from last week’s Sonoma Harvest Fair commercial wine competition in Santa Rosa:

• The competition drew 964 entries from 126 brands, up slightly from last year. All entries must be made with grapes grown in Sonoma County. A glance at entries by varietal and style provides a snapshot of today’s American wine market. Just 36 Sauvignon Blancs were entered; usually, the Sonoma Harvest Fair draws twice as many Sauvignon Blancs, said competition director Bob Fraser. This seems to confirm that sales of Sauvignon Blanc indeed are on fire. Why enter in the competition a type of wine already selling briskly, producers probably reasoned. They don’t need the boost that a gold medal or other high honor can give a wine. Fewer sparkling wines and dessert wines also were entered, while Zinfandel entries were up nearly a third, perhaps reflecting the varietal’s current struggles in the marketplace, or maybe simply a jump in Zinfandels made in Sonoma County, long recognized for its winning ways with the variety. The wines were judged blind, meaning judges didn’t know who made them until days later, well after their decisions. The competition drew 18 judges spread over six three-person panels. My fellow panelists were Sahar Gharai, owner of La Dolce Wine Lounge in Petaluma, and Greg Richtarek, wine and spirits manager of the Campbell branch of Safeway.
• As at any competition, much attention is focused on the winners of the highest awards, so let’s get to that: Best specialty wine was the dry, lean and
  

  Judge Tony Lawrence, Philadelphia chef and sommelier

  frisky De La Montanya Vineyards & Winery 2020 Russian River Valley “Twisted Jill” Blanc de Blanc ($53). Best white wine was the citric and refined Fritz Underground Winery 2021 Russian River Valley Chardonnay ($35), which upheld the appellation’s reputation for roundhouse Chardonnay underscored with vital acidity. Best red wine was the muscular and adroit Wilson Winery of Dry Creek 2021 Dry Creek Valley Reserve Zinfandel ($38), which substantiated both Dry Creek Valley’s standing for forthright Zinfandels and Wilson’s standing for wines of exceptional density and heat (15.8 percent alcohol here).

• During the concluding sweepstakes round, I felt confident that the Chardonnay up for best of show was our panel’s best of class – the exceptionally layered and long Miro Cellars 2022 Russian River Valley Olivet Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay ($32), which, surprisingly, is the first Chardonnay that longtime Sonoma County winemaker Miro Tcholakov has made for his own label. For the debut, he picked a year and a place that gave him fruit to yield a seductive yet curious Chardonnay, its broad apple and tropical fruit shot through with a thread of the sort of brioche usually associated with sparkling wines. Alas, it wasn’t in the sweepstakes round but nonetheless remains one of the more impressive Chardonnays from the competition.
• Indeed, our Chardonnay class was the most satisfying of the nine classes we judged over two days. Of the 27 entries, 12 won gold or double-gold medals, an extraordinarily high proportion for any class in any competition. (A double-gold medal is given when all judges of a panel concur that an entry deserves gold; golds reflect split votes.) I don’t think our panel was too easy on the wines. I, for one, am not particularly crazy about Chardonnay, but this collection of wines startled me for its generally consistent freshness, balance and clear statement of the grape’s verve and nuance when it is grown in a welcoming site and then handled attentively in the cellar. This category also pointed up that while Chardonnay is most at home in Sonoma County’s cooler appellations – four of the 12 gold winners were from Russian River Valley and two each were from Sonoma Coast and Los Carneros – others emerged from warmer Bennett Valley, Chalk Hill and even Sonoma Valley (the fragrant, spicy and toasty St. Francis Winery 2021 Sonoma Valley Wild Oak Vineyard Chardonnay ($30), available only to members of the winery’s wine club). The most ambitious and unusual entry in the bunch was the sweetly fruity Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery 2022 Sonoma County Chardonnay ($27), customarily blended from around 60 separate plots.
• Our panel lucked out to be assigned the class of Pinot Noirs priced $50 to $54.99, one of the more popular price niches in the American market
  

  Judge Rick Kushman, wine commentator, Capital Public Radio, Sacramento

  these days, especially for Pinot Noir out of Sonoma County. We judged 15, but, curiously, didn’t give a single double-gold medal, though we did award five gold medals, a respectable showing for any class of wines, though perhaps not up to Sonoma County’s usual expectations for Pinot Noir. Stylistically, the entries were all over the place, from light and lean to dense and robust, and our lack of unanimity on any one wine likely reflected more our individual preferences than any major shortcomings in the wine, though several did lack the coherence and focus usually seen in the variety in Sonoma County. Four of the five gold medals we gave went to entries from Russian River Valley, no surprise given the area’s standing for Pinot Noir. The four included our best of class, the transparent, graceful and complex DRNK 2021 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($52). It’s a true statement Pinot Noir, combining energy and elegance in its unfolding suggestions of cherries, raspberries, dried herbs and holiday spices. Also noteworthy was that two of the five gold medals went to one winery, Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards for its robust and earthy 2020 Russian River Valley Ousley Vineyard Pinot Noir ($50, available only to wine-club members) and its sunny and silken 2020 Russian River Valley Vine Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir ($50, available only to wine-club members).

• If we looked forward to that class of Pinot Noirs, we really looked forward to the class of Zinfandels we were assigned – 39 priced $61 or more. Yes, Zinfandel has moved into super-premium territory, at least as rendered in Sonoma County. By and large, these were old-school Zinfandels – big, brawny, and saturated with color, ripe fruit and alcohol. They departed from the customary model for rambunctious California Zinfandel in one telling effect – winemakers have dialed back on their exploitation of new oak barrels, allowing more of the boysenberries and raspberries traditionally associated with the variety to shine. And there were exceptions to the bigger-is-better model, to be sure, with several entries sleekly elegant, tamer in alcohol, expressing a come-hither freshness. Of the 39, a high number – 14 – won gold or double-gold medals. Our best of class was the fruit-forward, peppery and persistent Pezzi King Wines 2021 Rockpile Reserve Rockpile Vineyard Zinfandel ($62), made with the celebrated St. Peter’s Church clone.
• While Russian River Valley is most recognized for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, several other grape varieties also thrive there, including Zinfandel
  

  Judge Sahar Gharai, owner, La Dolce Vita Wine Lounge, Petaluma

  and Syrah. To that point, our best of class from a field of 16 Syrahs was the Balletto Vineyards 2018 Russian River Valley BCD Vineyard Syrah ($36). If only more Syrahs were made with this much oomph, the variety wouldn’t be struggling in the marketplace. It was an easy double-gold given its floral aroma, smoked meat, lush berries, jaunty spice and overall succulence. And while $36 makes it more a Saturday wine than a Wednesday, the BCD is a downright bargain for all the character it delivers.

• Given the popularity of Sauvignon Blanc, we were giddy to be assigned a class – 22 priced $25 and above. Our panel clearly favored Sauvignon Blancs that shouted joyously about the variety when it is brash with fresh fruit and zingy with acidity. Grapefruit, lemon, lime and even jalapeño chile peppers were the order of the day. Our best of class was the Benziger Family Winery 2022 Sonoma Mountain Paradiso de Maria Estate Sauvignon Blanc ($39), lean in build but plucky in refreshing citric flavor and zesty acidity. I also was happy to see that he current release of a reliable old favorite also win a double-gold medal – the pronounced, vibrant and noble Quivira Vineyards 2022 Dry Creek Valley Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc ($30).
• We wrapped up our two days of judging by considering all the competition’s dessert wines – 15 of them representing an unusually broad, diverse
  

  Judge Jeff Slankard, wine and beer director, Baron’s Market, Oceanside

  and solid range of entries. We gave five of them double-gold medals, four of them spontaneous, meaning that they were unanimous choices for gold from the outset, without any debate concerning their merits. Three of them were based on Zinfandel, testimony to the grape’s versatility and impressiveness regardless of style: The silken, elegant, long and Port-style Wilson of Dry Creek 2017 Dry Creek Valley Late-Harvest Phoebe Keys Zinfandel ($42), our best of class; the deep, nutty and luxurious Sunce Winery & Vineyard 2014 Russian River Valley Cattich Vineyard Sweet Zora Zinfandel ($30); and the Mayo Family Winery 2018 Russian River Valley Ricci Vineyard Zinfandel Port ($40 per 375-mililiter bottle), as sweet, juicy and luxurious as a Maraschino cherry.

Wines from the competition are to be poured during the Sonoma Harvest Fair’s “Grand Tasting” on Oct. 14 in Santa Rosa For more information on the event, and for a complete list of award-winning wines, visit the fair’s website.

To find where my book “The Signature Wines of Superior California” can be purchased, please visit my website SignatureWines.us.