Bar Z’s QuattroXXI wins another medal! Silver this time and in the Rhone Shootout!
Results of the 2013 Rhone Shootout here.
Some Personal Notes and Observations:
Those of you who have been following me for a long time, know that I have always been ALL ABOUT PINOT. So why a Rhone Shootout? I was persuaded by several members of our judging panel and I am very happy that I was convinced to Romance the Rhones.
This is the 2nd Rhone Shootout.
Last year’s tasting and event was so much fun, we decided to do it again.
We put out the word and the wines came in daily with deliveries from GSO, UPS, Fedex, and DHL. Rhone wines came from a myriad of producers all over the world. The wines were catalogued and sorted.
Truth be told, more…
In this, the 2013 Rhone Shootout, the Affairs of the Vine professional judging panel tasted 261 Rhone wines, most from California and Oregon but some from Washington, Texas, Michigan, Australia, and France. We found outstanding examples of Rhone wines from wineries that we know and we’re delighted by many of the wines submitted from producers new to us. The overall quality of the wines was incredible. In fact, we awarded more gold medals on a percentage basis than we have ever awarded in any previous Shootout and for the first time ever, awarded Double Gold Medals to those wines that were found to be outstanding by both our female and male judges.
The Rhone Shootout was a comprehensive and focused tasting of Rhone wines. The judging panel, an incredibly diverse panel of 62 wine professionals, tasted 261 wines over a three-month period. Just 32 wines were tasted by the experts per day, allowing the judges to be completely immersed, focused and fair to the wines. Palate fatigue is not a factor in our tastings. The wines are tasted completely blind without reference to appellation, vintage or price. Each wine submitted to the Rhone Shootout was tasted a minimum of twice. The top rated wines were then tasted by our panel of experts at the Rhone Shootout Finals on June 15, 2012. Again, each judge was responsible for tasting, scoring, and analyzing only 32 wines.
Detailed notes accompany the scores of each judge. Gender counts…scores and comments are recorded separately and posted on the Affairs of the Vine website. All wines awarded Silver and Gold medals are listed.
The Rhone Shootout judges’ decisions should have been put to the test during the Rhone Shootout Challenge at Romancing the Rhones which was scheduled for on July 14, 2013 on Treasure Island in San Francisco. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the event. I had unexpected surgery in late June and was concerned that I would not be able to pull everything together for a fun and professional event if I was not functioning at full capacity. It was the right decision.
Wines that received Double Golds, high awards by both the male and female judges will appear twice, once at the beginning of the results indicating Double Gold status and again within the confines of the scores and hearts by the male and female judges.
Without further ado, THE RESULTS
http://affairsofthevine.com/2013/07/14/romancing-the-rhones-complete-results-of-the-2013-rhone-shootout/