by Max Zänker
LV Life Editor
Testing over 300 wines a day, more than 70 judges selected one out of 4,000 international wines for the title as Best Wine at the L.A. County Fair Wines of the World Competition, last weekend at the Pomona Fairplex.
The award went to a Hahn Estates 2002 Syrah, which also won the title of best red wine.
“I was very surprised,” said Hahn Estates winemaker Adam LaZarre. “We’ve had a lot of success this spring with the many competitions, but I never expected anything like this. It’s an incredible feather in our cap.”
Just like the wines, the judges came from all over the world. The group consisted of connoisseurs, winemakers, wine writers and restaurateurs.
“First, you look at the wine and judge it’s clarity,” said Don Galleano, wine judge at the competition, winemaker for over 30 years and Southern California director of the Wine Institute.
“Then, you smell. About 60 percent of the overall valuation comes from the nose. Finally, you drink it and it goes through three stages of taste, the front, middle and finish paddle of your tongue.”
Judge Howard Soon came all the way from Canada to be part of the competition.
“It is a great honor to be asked,” he said. “The experiences with the international judges and the international mix of wines brings me as a winemaker a new quality level.”
And the experience includes a lot of discussions and controversy.
“With wine it’s just like with art, you can’t argue about it’s quality,” Soon said.
“Even when we judge in groups of five, we often come up with five different winners.”
The judges announced best of class, gold, silver and bronze medal winners in the 12 classes, according to the grape’s family, like White Riesling, Chardonnay and Merlot.
The highest honors announced were best wine of the competition, best red and best white wine, which was won by a Geyser Peak 2003 Sauvignon Blanc.
A Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noir from Methodes Champenoise won the prize for best sparkling wine. Besides the high quality of wine, one of the most impressing things at the competition was the organization.
All wines had to arrive at the Fairplex wine cellar before April 5 to recover from transportation bottle shock before being judged. The wines then are unpacked and all bottles checked for clarity, cloudiness, sediment and other indicators of problems.
At the day of the event, the glasses are marked with place code numbers, as the judges are testing blind, only knowing which family of wine they are testing, before the wines are carefully poured in is finally set in a accurate order in front of the judges.
“This is one of the best organized wine events,” said Richard Crean, board member of the wine steering committee. “And the judges, who have attended so many events, talk about that all the time.”
The event went over three days. On the first two days, wines were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. The ones of outstanding quality made it to the final day, where the judges decided on the Best of Division and the Best Wine of the Competition Award.
University of La Verne president Steve Morgan attended the competition as an observer and tasted the wines.
“I am a wine hobbyist and a enthusiastic consumer,” he said.
Besides the taste, wines were judged in extra label competition for innovative design.
And, as even the best wine even gets better with a great meal, the event also featured the Olive Oils of the World competition, honoring oils with medals and Best of Class awards in seven categories, including lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, rosemary and jalapeno.
S.C.A. Virgen del Castillo, a Spanish oil, won the prize for best international olive oil.
Max Zänker
