Wine Life

"Now in its sixth year, the 2018 North Coast Wine Challenge launched Wednesday morning at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds with nine judging panels tackling flight after flight of North Coast wine.

Although wine competitions often start with white wines, reflecting the way people drink, chief judge Daryl Groom said he changed it up because red wines benefit from being evaluated earlier in the day.

“While your palate is fresh, it’s easier to judge the more challenging wines, which are the reds,” Groom said. “Then we break for lunch, and we judge the whites.”

This was the first year the blind tasting competition was held at the fairgrounds in Santa Rosa rather than at the Hilton Sonoma Wine County hotel, which was destroyed in the October wildfires.

Inside Saralee & Richard’s Barn, the 28 judges sat at round tables faced with numbered wine glasses. The judging panels for the blind tasting were divided into a mix of palates: a winemaker, a sommelier, a wine buyer or member of the media.

The two-day competition drew 1,014 entries from 185 wineries, including 39 wineries new to the contest. Only wines made from grapes grown in the six North Coast counties of Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, Marin, Napa and Solano were eligible.

The competition, presented by The Press Democrat, continues to grow and evolve under the leadership of Groom, who launched a mentor ship program last year for young associate judges nominated from the wine industry. In 2014, he created an even playing field by doing away with price categories — except for a luxury class for wines retailing over $75."