It’s a low-key affair, as far as American competitions go. No bands, no uniforms and (disappointingly) no cheerleaders. Instead, there were 21 judges sitting at seven tables, each tasting four to five wines at a time. Very quiet murmurs if any talking at all. All furrowed brows, hunched shoulders and scowls of concentration — what the event lacked in glitz it made up for in intensity.
The Northeast Gold Wine Competition in the Mallory Agricultural and Education Complex on the Eastern States Exposition grounds gave wine producers from around the region an opportunity to have their product evaluated by some of the best in the field.
The judges have a specific goal in mind.
“What they are trying to do is be systematically able to characterize the wine such that they can share their opinion,” Bob Madill said. “It is really subjective but they need to share it with their table mates so they can, jointly, come to a conclusion about the wines.”
Madill is a wine consultant and a judge trainer for the American Wine Society. He was observing Saturday’s competition of not just wines from around the Northeast, but ciders and meads as well.
The judges are trained to work with a common vocabulary so they can articulate the nuances and subtle flavors that they taste in each of the samples, but not necessarily give their opinion about the taste of the wine, Madill said.
As the judges observe, smell, then taste the wine, they make notations on a form that will be tabulated later and from that the best wines will be announced.
Paige Stawasz, the competitive events coordinator for the Eastern States Exposition, said the Northeast Gold Wine Competition is held each year on the Big E grounds and attracts many of the finest wines bottled in New England and New York state.
“This year we had 155 wines of all varieties and 67 ciders and meads submitted for the competition,” Stawasz said. ‘They pay to be included and a wine that scores very well in the competition may be included in our wine bar during the running of the Big E.”
That is nothing to be sneezed at. The exposure the Big E offers a vineyard is important for sales plus vintners can get the information sheets judges fill out as they evaluate the wines and use that information to improve their product. Also, a well-placed wine at the Northeast Gold Wine Competition is a feather in any vintner’s cap and a treasure trove for the vineyard’s marketing department.
Attendants rolled out “flights” of wine for each table. Any time they bring out a new set of wines it is called a flight. Each flight includes four to five different wines, one sample for each judge. All the wine glasses the samples come in are identical in every way.
A judge will swirl the wine around the interior of the bulbous glass and look at how it slides off the glass, then smell the wine, both by pushing their nose into the glass and by holding the glass an inch or two from the lip. Only after observing the wine does a judge take a very small bit into his or her mouth. Unlike the movies where the sommelier takes a large gulp of wine, swirls it vigorously from cheek to cheek and practically gargles it like a cheap mouthwash, judges in West Springfield held the wine in their mouths for a brief moment, then discreetly spit it into a red Solo cup.
“You spit,” Madill said. “You never swallow anything.”
At a table near the back, Ben Watson, Mark Grysko and Michelle Pagano chatted while waiting for their next flight. The three make their own cider, Watson and Grysko as amateurs, Pagano does it commercially. Watson is the author of the book “Cider, Hard and Sweet: History, Traditions and Making Your Own.”
“The book has hung around long enough that people have started asking me to judge ciders. I’ve tasted so many ciders in so many places. I have tasted in England, France and Spain,” he said. “Mark and I organized the Franklin County Cider Days, about 25 years ago. That became a national and even international event.”
Watson said he has also made mead; the third drink being judged at the Gold Competition.
“Mead is the easiest,” Watson said. “You put some honey and some water together and let them ferment.”
Grysko has been judging cider for nearly 40 years, he said.
“I was a home brewer and then I heard about mean making and cider making. I have been involved in the Cider Days event since its beginning.”
Grysko said he makes it a point to sample the ciders from each place he goes.
“I’ve traveled to England and Scandinavia, and I always try the cider from those countries. Each place has its own expression. It’s fascinating.”
Pagano said as a commercial producer, the feedback she receives from competitions is invaluable.
“I’m judging for two men who have been doing for way longer than I have,” she said. “Their feedback is invaluable to a producer. There are some cider producers who make cider based on what they know and love and other who make it based on style guidelines and feedback from judges. I try to do a little of both.”
The results of Saturday’s competition will be posted on the Eastern States Exposition website.
Source: Some fine wines: Big E competition puts Northeast vineyards to the test
