Sip Northwest Magazine
“Behind the Scenes of a Wine Competition”
Wine judge L.M. Archer examining an entry in the McMinnville Wine & Food Classic SIP! Wine Competition 2019. ©RobinsonPhotography
Ever wonder what it’s like to judge a wine competition?
Recently, I joined an esteemed panel of wine judges, including Maxine Borcherding, Christopher Czarnecki, Eric Degerman, Carl Giavanti, Otto Han, Hoke Harden, Christine Havens, Patrick McElligott, Ken Robertson,Steven Sinkler, and Fred Swan to adjudicate the 2019 Sip! McMinnville Food & Wine Classic Wine Competition at The Barberry in downtown McMinnville.
So what’s it like to judge a wine competition?
I can tell you it isn’t easy tasting through 208 wines, submitted by 59 wineries. Wines under review included 135 reds (including 69 pinot noirs), and 51 white wines (including 18 chardonnays), and took a full day of tippling to determine a winner.
I can also tell you that it takes discipline. Swirling, smelling, sipping, analyzing and spitting flight after flight of premium Oregon wine in search of that one “Best in Show,” plus awarding a slew of golds and silver medals…can lead to palate fatigue.
Luckily, Oregon offers an amazing array of merit-worthy wines for consideration.
So how do we do it?
How do we overcome palate fatigue?
What are we looking for while judging?
More importantly, which wine won “Best in Show”?
You can catch a sneak peek of all Erin James’ excellent behind-the-scenes coverage of the 2019 McMinnville Wine & Food Classic SIP! Wine Competition, including answers to all those pesky questions…and more. Link to the Sip Northwest Magazine article here.
Learn more about the Sip! McMinnville Wine & Food Classic here.
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Copyrighted 2019 L.M. Archer. All Rights reserved.
Have a question about the Sip! McMinnville Wine & Food Classic? Feel free to leave your comments below.
Posted in Wine Competition Wine TastingTagged McMinnville Food and Wine Classic Oregon wine
