State Fair Wine Competition recap : Food : Smile Politely

State Fair Wine Competition recap

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Posted in FOOD & DRINK to Wine Punk by Samuel R. Vandegrift on Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:00 am

Judging for this the 2009 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition occurred in our humble Urbana this week. Twelve judges tasted around 300 commercial wines produced from all over Illinois. I've had the pleasure of judging this completion for the last several years. As a whole, these wines possessed the highest overall quality of any set yet. The full results are available soon at illinoiswine.com.

The following wines ended up with top honors decided by modified consensus of all the judges. Each of these nine wines received awards beyond the gold, silver or bronze. Oh, and they are all quite good.

Hickory Ridge Norton 2005: Best in show, and for what its worth, very well deserved. This is a beauty of a Norton, our own indigenous Midwestern grape. Smokey and meaty on the nose with a complex midpalate fully loaded with spice, cranberry and boysenberry.

Galena Cellars Eric the Red Marechal Foch: I wish Galena would put a vintage on this so you can find the right bottle. This is their most recent Foch release, a pretty, medium weight wine with raspberry and roast beet notes with a solid, earthy finish.

Hailey's Winery Road Trip Red NV: Again, I want to know what vintage this is. Made from a grape called Noiret. This is a dead ringer for Southern Rhone sirah with explosive crushed pepper, rosemary and black cherry on the nose. Complex, suave and delicious.

Lynfred Winery Seyval Blanc 2008: Seyval blanc is rarely allowed to express its character in such a pure way. Full of bright lime, lemon and grapefruit with lots of mint and mineral notes underneath.

Fox Valley Winery Vignoles 2007: This is a beautiful, perfectly balanced, gorgeous, gem of a wine. Delicate and floral with a piercing kefir lime tinged minerality that evens out the subtle sweetness.

Fox Valley Winery Chardonnay Rsv 2007: Another subtle wine from this producer. The chardonnay was grown in Southern Illinois.

Owl Creek Whooo's Blush 2008: A copper tinged Chambourcin rose with great balance. Sweet but not overwhelming.

Pomona Strawberry Dessert NV: This smells like strawberry jam. This tastes like fresh berries. Yes, you could drink Champagne with your shortcake, but why not drink this?

Galena Blackberry: Fruit wines can be so much fun. This hits the mark through its pure expression of what blackberries taste like right off the cane.

Wild Blossom Prairie Passion Meade 2008: Awesome meade. This captures the essence of summer. Imagine all the scents of biking down a country lane with flowers blooming on either side. Delicate, harmonious and fun to drink.

These are the big winners this year, but lots of other wines were delicious. More to come in subsequent weeks.

14 comments

Brad

06/15/09 at 06:17

Thanks Sam! I agree, the quality keeps improving year after year! Note to the readers, these wines typically sell out quickly at the wineries, so now is the time to start hunting them down.

Paul Simpson

06/15/09 at 06:16

Good synopsis Sam and whole hearted agreement, these wine just get better and better every year.

Andrea Antulov

08/26/09 at 08:17

Good job of cut, paste and Hutzpah. Is this correct or does it say, can’t spell or too important to proofread: “judging this completion.“
Hutzpah - A man kills his parents, “but judge, I’m an orphan.“
But is it writing worth reading? An interest expressed without any real facts… and people pay you for this? Synopsis: I like these, good luck finding and pairing them.
I guess some people distribute praise for mysterious reasons.
Have we met…friend? I notice a friend request. It seems to me you’ve already collected over five hundred. None as critical as I apparently.

Anna Barnes

08/26/09 at 08:49

Sam’s opinions of wine have served me well over the years. Some Illinois wines are available locally from some of the larger producers at Sunsinger, Corkscrew, and Picadilly. However some are only available directly from the wineries themselves. Award-winning vintages typically fall into the latter as Brad notes.
Andrea: Instead of cryptic carping you could have offered constructive comments like pairing seyval blanc with summer salads and lighter fish; Galena blackberry with chocolate cake; the Hailey’s with grilled/braised meats, and vignoles with blue cheese since you seem to know so much about Illinois wines.

Joel Gillespie

08/26/09 at 08:03

Hey Andrea, long time no see. Efforts like Sam’s unfortunately got overshadowed and picked apart amidst the deluge of local coverage that the State Fair Wine Competition received. Just so you’re aware, nobody’s getting paid to write or edit for Smile Politely beyond the occasional free beer. We’re doing the best we can in between work or school and family, so we hope you’ll excuse the occasional typo. If you have any fact-filled flawless copy to share, please feel free: http://www.smilepolitely.com/contribute/. Cheers!

Andrea Antulov

08/26/09 at 08:38

“Cryptic carping?“ It is not my choice to do someone elses homework. Suggest wine pairings!, this does not fall under “constructive comments.“ Did this work approach work for you getting others to do your home work in the past? Compensation is compensation. The concept is honor.
Loyalty is a virtue… when it is not self serving or blind. May I call you Anna, Ms. Barnes?
For someone with such a resume, typos of such, are not excused.
What kind of free beer? Are we talking dry hopped IPA?
For someone requesting personal information without a howdeedo…HUTZPAH!

Seth Fein

08/26/09 at 08:17

Andrea —

Would love to chat more about this in person. I will be at the Farmer’s Market from 8am - 12pm this Saturday. It would be great to put a face to the name! Looking forward to it!

Best,

Seth

Caleb Curtiss

08/26/09 at 08:40

@ Samuel,

Great article. I am ashamed to say that I actually know very little about Illinois wine. Thanks for sharing your expertise!

@ Andrea,

“It is not my choice to do someone elses homework,“ and “did this work approach work for you getting others to do your home work in the past” are both extremely akward constructions. The latter example is, for all intents and purposes, incomprehensible.

I point this out because, while I appreciate your sensitivity to language, I find it troubling not only that you’d criticize the construction of such a nice article, but that you’d do so with your own very sloppy prose. Now, this is not to say that you aren’t entitled to have your say…it’d just be nice if next time, your say had something more to say.

Andrea Antulov

08/27/09 at 08:37

I don’t have the snooty resume or pretend to, or padding one, nor am I seeing free IPA, so my sentence construction, and proof reading is not really of interest to anyone beyond those defending ... the status quo.
The conceptual idea that the reader should forgive the “occasional typo” because someone is not being paid enough is disgusting to no small number of people who may know or not care what “vignoles” means.
Mr. Fein - I have email.

Seth Fein

08/27/09 at 08:16

#10

Well hell yeah, Andrea! Me too! That’s awesome! Do you have a jetpack, as well?

Just as I suspected — you are too afraid of what might happen to have an actual conversation with someone about things that pertain to this community. You prefer to sit back and complain. All talk — no results.

Don’t let the La-Z-boy get cold, young lady!

Jim Kelly

08/27/09 at 08:23

#11

Here’s how a less-snotty, non-asshole might have put it: “Nice seeing these wines described in such detail. It would be wonderful if the author could suggest pairings.“

Andrea Antulov

08/28/09 at 08:16

#12

#10 A conversation…well you have done much to warrent my interest and trust. Speaking of community, Carle Hospital held a very long and dull meeting last night. One of the many tidbits - the doctors that own Carle are going to attempt to become a non-profit. Does this mean lower fees, no. Does this mean the school budget and park budget will take a devastating blow, yes.
#11 Made me laugh…out loud, repeatedly.
You guys are so polite, pleasant, no wonder this is such a success. Seriously I wish my writing was up to par to play, but Mr. Fein, you scare so!

Gente

08/28/09 at 08:10

#13

Did you just call her a “young lady” and throw down your “you do nothing in this town but bitch” line again? And to Andrea Antulov? Hysterical! That added to your beyond idiotic ‘reactionary feminist’ quip to Jane Boxall’s comment earlier add up to a fine spew of manly man demagoguery this week, Fein. And you even did it while working in your reminder that you are so very working on the behest of the community! Way to shut em down, jefe.

I mean, way to be a patronizing and misogynist bully once again, dude.

Seth Fein

08/28/09 at 08:05

#14

Gente —

You are absolutely right. That was a little out of sorts. I apologize if you were offended by that, and certainly, I did not intend to come off as misogynistic.

I’ll do my best to be more mindful in the future.

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