• What is it? One of the top competitions in the United States and perhaps the preeminent competition for regional wine.
• When and where: Aug. 4-6, 2010, West Lafayette, Ind.
• Biggest surprise: How many grape varieties we judged that even I wasn't familiar with. I thought I was on top of this stuff, but then they threw grapes like fredonia at us.
• What's different: The atmosphere. We were on an expedition, traveling to places where we had never been. Judge most competitions, and it's pretty straightforward -- cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and the like. But at Indy, you never knew what was going to come next. That was damned exciting.
• Who I judged with: My pal, sommelier Rene Chazottes of Los Angeles; distributor Michel Pascal; and retailer Donna Lattanzio. We had great fun, though I'm still not quite sure what Rene and Michel were saying to each other when they spoke French. ("That Siegel -- sacre bleu, what an awful palate.")
• Compensation: An honorarium (have not received it yet), plus travel, meal and lodging expenses.
• Overall: This is not just a well-run competition (and thanks to Carmen Branson and Sharon Harper, our pit cru -- who brought the wines to our table and did a marvelous job). But It's also a well-executed one. Indy has a point, and that is that terroir matters, and that wine is wine regardless of the grapes that are used. That is a refreshing approach in today's wine world, where every sample that arrives seems to be another wine just like the previous one. Does fredonia make wine that tastes like cabernet? No. But it's not supposed to, is it?
Recent Comments