The Boutique Wine Lover's Wine Reviews and Wine Related Stories

I came across this very interesting article that really helps put wine advertising into perspective with respect to wine quality. It's the medals that count for a quality wine, not how many times you see it plastered on bus stands or on the back covers of magazines. That's one of the great things about boutique wines, and their makers: with small budgets but big hearts, they pour their soul into their wines and what comes out is measured by their success at the competitions they enter. The more medals, the better they are!

Jeremiah Josey

Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sandra Silfven
Wine competitions tell the real story of quality

Big wine competitions - as opposed to big glossy wine magazines - provide wine evaluations based on the worthiness of what's in the bottle - not on the label or who advertises.

Wine judges at the big international events never know whose wine they are tasting. There's no chance of being swayed by a particular producer or its reputation. And at competitions that do not sort wines by price, the results can get interesting. A delicious Two-Buck Chuck can compete shoulder-to-shoulder with the high-rent stuff.
And oh, by the way, you'll seldom read about the results of wine competitions in wine magazines -- they would compete with the mag's own wine ratings.

At the Riverside International Wine Competition in Riverside, California, May 2-3, price was not a consideration. It's a unique event considering its age, 28 years; its organizer, the feisty and demanding wine journalist Dan Berger; and the judges, an elite team handpicked by Berger - a who's who of winemakers, writers, sommeliers and educators.

There's no blood on the judging tables at the end of the day, but as a participant, I can tell you all the bad stuff is weeded out.

This year's list of gold medal winners, announced recently at www.riversidewinecompetition.com, included six Michigan wines - and that's a feat.

The competition had 1,770 entries. Judges of interest included Gary Eberle of Eberle Winery in Paso Robles; pioneering winemaker Dr. Richard Peterson, who helped shape the California industry; Riesling and Zinfandel pro Scott Harvey of Scott Harvey Wines; ex-Penfolds winemaker Daryl Groom of Groom Wines; and Eric Miller of Pennsylvania's Chaddsford, a leading winery in the East.