Neighboring panel at last week’s Sonoma Harvest Fair wine competition, from left, wine educator Deborah Parker Wong, sommelier Chris Sawyer, and wine writer and commentator Rick Kushman.

About midway through our first day of judging at the Sonoma Harvest Fair commercial wine competition last week, fellow panelist Mark Elcombe, “homeplace manager” for Sonoma-Cutrer winery of Healdsburg, mused that competitions maybe should come up with a clearer term than “double-gold” for top wines in a flight.

He is correct, though the three of us – Jennifer Kelly, executive vice president, sales and marketing, for  Luxury Wine Partners of Petaluma, was the other member of our panel – couldn’t come up with a more fitting term, although “platinum” briefly was up for consideration.

Whenever “double-gold” enters the wine conversation, a definition is obligatory, and here it is: During a competition, “double-gold” is the designation judges use when they unanimously concur that an entry warrants a gold medal. In contrast, a gold medal can be awarded even when a panel is split on whether a wine deserves gold, such as when two judges feel it worthy but the third thinks it warrants just a silver medal.

To me, the most impressive wines in a flight are those that receive a “spontaneous” double-gold. That is, judges agree unanimously at the outset, without any discussion and arm twisting, that a wine is gold worthy.

Typically, very few wines in a competition are anointed with a spontaneous double-gold medal. Our

The first batch of a class of 82 Zinfandels delivered to our panel.

panel, for example, was assigned 82 Zinfandels priced between $40 and $49.99, a challenging though exciting class, largely because Sonoma Harvest Fair rules say all entries are to be made from grapes grown in Sonoma County, long one of California’s more acclaimed regions for Zinfandels of clarity and authority.

Out of all those Zinfandels, however, only one was a spontaneous double-gold wine, the Wilson of Dry Creek 2020 Chalk Hill Conte Zinfandel ($44), about as classic a take on the variety as anyone would want – rich with fresh blackberry and raspberry fruit, a solid structure, a spray of peppery spice, and persistence in the finish. It possesses the balance and vitality that make it suitable for pairing with a robust meal today or for laying down for another five to 10 years. In our final round, it was up for best-of-class against four other double-gold Zinfandels, all determined by consensus after debate. The Wilson won handily, and ultimately qualified for the sweepstakes round.

Another example: On the second day of the competition, our panel was assigned the class of Pinot Noirs priced $55 and above – 54 of them. Sonoma County is home to several American Viticultural Areas celebrated for yielding exceptional Pinot Noir, including Russian River Valley, Petaluma Gap and Sonoma Coast, so it should have been an especially intriguing series of flights, and it was.

We awarded 15 double-gold medals, of which three were spontaneous: the expansive and fleshy Furthermore Wines 2018 Sonoma Coast Estate Nevina’s Vineyard Pinot Noir ($75); the lightly colored but lilting Furthermore Wines 2018 Russian River Valley Estate Graton Ridge Pinot Noir ($55); and the exceptionally layered and sleek Sanglier Cellars 2019 Bennett Valley Emilia’s Cuvee Pinot Noir ($60).

One of the other Pinot Noirs to win double-gold, though by consensus rather than by spontaneity, was the DeLoach Vineyards 2019 Russian River Valley Maboroshi Vineyard Pinot Noir ($70). When we retasted all double-gold Pinot Noirs to pick best-of-class, the Deloach was our clear favorite on the strength of its rich and upbeat cherry/berry flavor, punctuating black-pepper spice, graceful elegance and enduring finish, all characteristics that ultimately led to its election by all the judges in the sweepstakes round as the Sonoma Harvest Fair’s best red wine for 2022.

Footnotes:

At Sonoma Harvest Fair, as at some other competitions, judges are given a “silver bullet” they can use once to lift to gold a wine that their colleagues feel deserves only bronze or silver. In practice, silver bullets rarely are used, but in the very first round I used mine to assure that an uncommonly captivating rosé got a gold medal. It turned out to be the La Chertosa Old World Wines 2021 Sonoma Valley Eye of the Swan Reserve Aleatico Rosé ($22). Aleatico is grown mostly in Italy, especially in Tuscany, where it yields wines from dry reds and pinks to sweet dessert wines. So little Aleatico is grown in California that state agriculture officials don’t track plantings. The Le Chertosa Aleatico departs from customary California rosés in several respects, starting with its light coppery sheen. Its floral aroma triggers suggestions of Gewurztraminer and Muscat, though the wine is more dry than sweet. I simply liked its refreshing if fleeting fruit, delicate layering, wiry structure and assured departure from the norm. Judges, incidentally, don’t learn the identities of wines until well after the competition. Le Chertosa may not be a high-profile brand beyond Sonoma County, but it has a long and proud heritage, being the label of Sam Sebastiani, whose father August Sebastiani introduced the first “Eye of the Swan” rosé in 1975 at his family’s Sebastiani Vineyards.

Of the 14 rosé wines we judged, our best-of-class was the rich and animated Alexander Valley Vineyards 2021 Sonoma County Dry Rosé of Sangiovese ($20), which this summer also was declared the best pink wine – out of 114 candidates – at the California State Fair.

Chardonnay hardly ever wins best-white-wine in a competition, and it didn’t again at last week’s Sonoma Harvest Fair. Several reasons account for this, from widely different opinions about what a profound Chardonnay should say to a tendency among judges to welcome interesting newcomers to the party. However, in last week’s final balloting I did find myself voting for a Chardonnay in the white-wine showdown. It had all sorts of things going on not often found in a single Chardonnay – ripe but fresh tropical, citric and apple fruit, ample but not overpowering oak, a balanced build, notes of spice and an overall elegance. It turned out to be the Ferrari-Carano 2021 Sonoma County Chardonnay ($26). In the final voting, however, it was topped for best-white honors by the forward and limey Francis Coppola Diamond Collection 2021 Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($16), whose zestiness suggested that the popular New Zealand interpretation of the variety was the model.

Complete results for the competition can be found at the website http://harvestfair.org/. Winning wines are to be poured at the fair’s Grand Tasting on Oct. 15. Additional information about the tasting also can be found at the website.