Winning the Missouri lottery may involve beating very high odds, but winning a medal in the Missouri wine competition has sadly become not very much of a feat – the recent State Fair competition awarded medals to 76 percent of entries, or 197 medals out of 258 entries. That means the bar is very low, and has been getting lower through the years. It also means that many of our tax dollars are going to medal and ribbon manufacturers.
"All the states have that kind of winning ratio," one of the judges told me, but coincidentally, results of the Michigan state competition arrived a few days later and showed that 66 percent of entrants were medal-winners. I think Michigan standards are also pretty low, but it just emphasizes that the marketers and the salesmen have taken over, and the skill of the winemakers has lost much of its importance. To my way of thinking, state wine boards have lowered the minimum medal-winning scores a lot, or judges have become very soft. For the record, I was a judge the first time the Missouri State Fair honored winemakers, back in the mid-1970s. I was a judge for many years thereafter, but have not been invited for the last decade or so.
A couple of weeks ago, however, I was invited to the ceremony and luncheon that accompanied the presentation of the Governor’s Cup, awarded to the state’s best wine. All the wines had competed several weeks earlier, and the nine best-of-class winners had vied for the big trophy. The secrecy-loving Wine and Grape Program kept the winner under wraps until it could have a huge event so as to engender a massive media celebration and an outpouring of publicity.
What? You didn’t hear about it?
The party was at the Summit Lake Winery, a new winery in Holts Summit, Mo., a couple of miles north of Jefferson City on U.S. Highway 54. From its tasting area, one can see the Capitol building.
And a little drum roll for the winner. . . .
Augusta Winery’s 2004 estate-bottled Chambourcin, a French hybrid grape, was the champ, breaking the lengthy winning streak of Norton, a native American grape, in terms of Missouri dry red wines. The winner, made by Tony Kooyumjian, is a little lighter than the Norton, but with fine plummy flavor notes, a good finish and a lovely aroma. It was a wine with real charm and an excellent value at $11.
Dry red was one of three best-of-class medals for Kooyumjian, owner of Augusta and Montelle wineries, both in the Augusta area. He also won in the semi-dry red category with Reserve Red a non-vintage blend. It’s a pleasant, uncomplicated wine that had good fruit but was a little sweet for my taste. It is, however, a splendid bargain at $8.50. Kooyumjian’s third best-of-class medal was for a distilled spirit, an apple brandy under the Montelle label.
Stone Hill Winery, in Hermann, took home four best-of-class medals for winemaker Dave Johnson. One of the state’s top wineries, Stone Hill won for best semi-dry white with a 2006 Traminette ($16), sweet white with a 2006 Vignoles ($16), best late harvest/ice wine with a 2005 late harvest Vignoles (already sold out) and best dessert/fortified wine with its 2004 Port ($20).
Mark Blumenberg of Blumenhof Winery, in Dutzow, earned a best of class with his 2006 Seyval, tops in the dry white competition ($11) and Crown Valley Winery of Ste Genevieve won for best sparkling wine with a 2006 Chardonel Brut ($16).
I sampled the nine best of class winners. All were clean, well-made, tasted like the grapes named on the label. The sparkler was delightful, a small bubble and pleasant dryness with a hint of yeast and excellent finish. The Blumenhof Seyval was superb, feeding my bias toward the Seyval grape. I wish more winemakers around the country worked with the French hybrid; I’d match it against most Sauvignon Blancs. The two sweet wines from Stone Hill were delicious, and while the versatile Vignoles grape can be vinified across the sweetness spectrum, I think it’s at its best at the sweet end, where the notes of mango and apricot and melon all come across. The ice wine is a beauty, and the shame is that no more is available. The semi-dry winner, a 2006 Traminette, has a little of the natural bubble found in the grape’s Gewurztraminer parent. Augusta’s two reds, as noted, were outstanding, and so was Kooyumjian’s brandy.
In addition to the Governor’s Cup and the Best of Class honors, 29 gold, 79 silver and 89 bronze medals were given out by the judges, a team that included Glenn Bardgett, St. Louis; Rene Chazottes, Los Angeles; Doug Frost, Kansas City; Michelle Meyer, Basehor, Kan.; Dave Peterson, Romulus, N.Y.; Sarah Schmidt, Waverly, Mo. and Patricia Wamhoff, St. Louis.
Missouri now has 72 wineries, and 23 won medals, including Adam Puchta (Hermann), Augusta (Augusta), Blumenhof (Dutzow), Baltimore Bend (Waverly), Bommarito Estate (New Haven), Cave Vineyard (Ste. Genevieve), Chaumette Vineyards (Ste. Genevieve), Crown Valley (Ste. Genevieve), Durso Hills (Marquand), Hemman Winery (Brazeau), Hermanhof (Hermann), Jowler Creek (Platte City), Les Bourgeois (Rocheport), Montelle (Augusta), Mount Pleasant (Augusta), Native Stone (Jefferson City), Oak Glenn (Hermann), Peaceful Bend (Steelville), River Ridge (Commerce), St. James (St. James), Stone Hill (Hermann), Sugar Creek (Defiance) and Westphalia (Westphalia).
-Joe