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The winners' circle

The wine tasters at the Florida State Fair found a lot to like in the field of 1,200 entries, including some choice selections from the most unlikely locales.

By Chris Sherman
Published March 8, 2006

[Times photos: Daniel Wallace]

Volunteer Kay Kempf, left, selects a bottle of wine to pour for judging at the International Wine Competition at the Florida State Fair. The competition's lineup ranged from entries bottled by top vineyards to offerings from amateurs.

	Judge Tom Payette of Virginia records scores during the wine tasting at the fair. The event drew entries from 28 states and eight countries.

Slowly, in small sips, with focus - and a lot of help. That's how judges at the Florida State Fair made their way through untold cases of wines entered in Florida's fast-growing wine and juice competition.

Twenty-one experts, retailers, professors and connoisseurs, from Bordeaux fanciers to champions of young vineyards in North Carolina, sat down in front of fairgoers and divided the labors.

In panels of three they took on wines of each varietal and type, all poured blind so they did not know brand or origin. Judges rated color, clarity, aroma and taste, awarding up to a total of 20 points.

"On our little panel we did, oh, 20 merlots in two flights," said Dan Baldwin, director of Chateau Elan winery north of Atlanta. Then they went on to cabernet sauvignon, dessert wines or hybrid grapes. Through a morning and afternoon session, each panel tried 80 to 90 wines.

Baldwin's strategy was to take only small sips of each wine and swallow, rather than spit them out. "I'm not a big fan of spitting, I feel you don't get the total experience. (With small sips) I might have tasted 80 or 90 wines by the end of the day but I only had about three glasses of wine.

Shawn Sarkisian, who owns Park Square Cellars in FishHawk Ranch in Hillsborough County, also kept his tasting quick and mechanical, good advice for any large tasting. "You cannot swallow much or spend too much time. If you have a good wine, you know it as soon as you smell it and taste.''

The crop of wines entered varies each year. Though well-known California wineries favor big contests in San Francisco and Los Angeles, many top labels do enter Florida's competition, to add to their medal count or to gain recognition for new brands.

Like many fairs outside California, the Florida judging encourages local wineries and those from other states with young industries.

Purdue University professor Ellie Butz, who calls them under-recognized wine regions, runs the biggest competition for budding wine states at the Indiana State Fair and served as a Florida judge.

"My impression is that winemaking is getting better and better,'' Butz said. Despite the need to use fruit and muscadine instead of noble grapes, some are now smart enough at winemaking, packaging and tourism that "they could be dropped in Napa."

Medal rules for wines are not quite the same as the Olympics or dog shows. Judges weigh each wine alone so several, or none, in a group might win medals. To win gold, two of three judges must rate that wine 19 or 20. To get double gold, all three judges must rate it perfect or near perfect. On the last day, judges convened in a giant jury to taste all double gold winners and pick best of show from among them.

"As a whole I think more of the wines are well-made, but there were less and less standouts this year,'' said Al Beck of Premier Beverage in Tampa.

Wineries in non-traditional areas are, however, clearly improving, especially in white wines.

"The white wine that won the contest was from Kansas!'' Sarkisian said with surprise. "It was just a field blend of white grapes. It was spectacular, crisp and very refreshing.''

In the east, the most gold went to former pioneers now well established in their states, including St. Julian in Michigan, Holy-Field in Kansas, St. James and Stone Hill in Missouri and Florida Orange Groves in St. Petersburg.

Judges also recognized new ventures, such as Empire in New Port Richey and Keel & Curley's blueberry wines from Plant City. Florida amateurs entered more than 150 grape and fruit wines in their own division; gold medals went to Thomas Swigeart of Bradenton, Al Kreuger of New Port Richey, Dallas Baker of Tampa and Dee Roberson of Brandon.

Among California entries, biggest winners were not Napa cabs or chardonnays, but more often from newer vineyards around Paso Robles and Santa Maria and frequently made from spicy syrah, zinfandel and petite sirah.

None of the winners will make a Wheaties box, but their gold medals show up on a wine bottle. If it does "It certainly has an impact on sales,'' said Beck, "if you hang a necker on a bottle that says gold medal winner.''

It's always fun to say you won it at the fair.

[Last modified March 8, 2006, 12:04:43]