Behind the scenes at the 2024 North Coast Wine Challenge
Thirty judges will sip through 1,121 naked wines — stripped of their labels, prices and packaging — in a blind tasting at Tuesday’s North Coast Wine Challenge.
Organizers of the two-day competition, which is sponsored by The Press Democrat and is now in its 12th year, put much effort into concealing the identities of the entries.
Maintaining their anonymity is essential to the integrity of the competition and ensures the judging, which takes place at the Sonoma County Fairground’s Showcase Café, is absent any predilections.
“I feel blind tasting is the purest form of the true evaluation of a wine,” explained Daryl Groom, chief judge and organizer of the annual competition. “There’s no bias.”
The NCWC contest
The judges are tasked with reaching a consensus on the hundreds of masked wines that have streamed in from makers based in Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Lake, Mendocino and parts of Solano counties.
During the contest, the judges are expected to taste from roughly 5,000 glasses of wine.
A high-speed dishwasher will reel out glasses in 3 minutes after they have been sanitized — not with soap but with a hot water rinse that reaches as high as 150 F.
In between sips, the judges will — collectively — consume 3 pounds of roast beef, nine loaves of bread and about 10 cans of Graber olives. The food helps to cleanse their palates so they can discern the differences in the wines.
To usher in unique perspectives, the lineup of judges includes winemakers, sommeliers, wine buyers and journalists, as well as four associate judges who will join in the discussion vetting the wines, although their scores won’t be tabulated in the results.
This year, NFL player DeShon Elliott, a 26-year-old safety who was signed a two-year contract March 15 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is an associate judge.
Elliott said he is developing his palate and is taking part in the contest to continue that work. He said he has been fascinated with cooking for some time and possesses a keen sensitivity to aromas and flavors.
After Elliott and the other panelists share their opinions, they’ll ultimately decide which wine will rise to the top.
Vintners are hoping to snag the top honor, the crème de la crème overall sweepstakes winner — the Best of the Best.
The other sweepstakes medals include: Best of Show Sparkling, Best of Show White, Best of Show Rosé, Best of Show Dessert Wine, Best of Sonoma County, Best of Napa, Best of Marin, Best of Mendocino, Best of Lake and Best of Solano County.
When the contest concludes Wednesday morning, all the sweepstakes winners will be announced on The Press Democrat’s Facebook page (facebook.com/pressdemocrat) and on pressdemocrat.com.
Then, next week, in The Press Democrat’s April 10 Feast & Wine section the full list of gold and double gold winners, as well as the entire slate of sweepstakes winners, will be published.
The wines that receive 90 or more points in the competition are awarded gold medal status. And these wines, along with the double gold and sweepstakes winners, will be poured — alongside food pairings from local restaurants — at the North Coast Wine & Food Festival on June 15 at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. (pdncwc.com)
Mums the word
On March 25, soon after the wine arrived at the Showcase Café, 45 staff members began the elaborate process of concealing the identities of the wine.
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