Choose Folsom
A Very Successful 5th Annual Folsom Wine Fest Competition
The next morning following the wine judge’s dinner, we were eager to begin judging the wine competition. As Coleen Schwietert, Coordinator for this event mentioned the previous evening, 480 wines were to be judged Saturday. Sunday would then whittle down the Double Gold winners to be awarded The Best of Class for various categories. For sixteen judges from all around northern California, this was going to require a Herculean effort, but all the judges were ready for the task at hand.
The event was held in the Falcon Roost Room at Folsom Lake College.
Photo ©Mike Dunne
Each judge arrived at their assigned workstation, complete with snacks of protein and carbohydrate morsels to help cleanse our palates during the judging. Also, the prerequisite wine glass, dump bucket and both still and sparkling waters. Each station of 3 judges were also assigned a volunteer recorder to submit the completed scorecards to Coleen.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Coleen provided the logistics on scoring the event and went over the timing for the day’s activities.
For Session I each table completed the assigned tasks having specific wines to evaluate and score. Each judge was to score a series of 6 or 8 wines individually and then collectively announce our score for each wine and then discuss to reach a consensus. Our table for example had seven flights of red wines to taste and judge. They included Nebbiolo, Barbara, Grenache, Mourvedre/Mataro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Primitivo, and Alicante Bouschet. We then broke up for lunch, which for me was unusual but needed with so many wines! Great sandwiches with protein help fortify the body and specifically the palate.
On to Session II which for our table, was a series of five wines, both white, rosé and red. They included Viognier, Dry Rosé Blush, Carignan/Carignane, Red Blend/Proprietary and Red Dessert/Late Harvest. In total, for the first day our table completed reviewing 86 wines! A great table of judges with Lori Alaniz and Sudsy Torbeck with generally all-around scoring in the same brackets. When the range of scores were divergent, a lively and respectful discussion ensued to reach a timely conclusion.
Day two started off with Coleen stating that judging from the previous day, 18 judges arrived at Double Gold awards for 78 wines! That was a new record for this competition in the last five years.
Here were the judges on Day Two:
Photo ©Michael Kelly
and
Photo ©Michael Kelly
With that in mind the goal was to taste each of the Double Gold awarded wines and determine which ones in each category should move on to the Best of Class competition to be awarded. This was done individually with each judge scoring and the numeric scores compiled by Coleen. We then began with a reduced number of judges from 18 to 12 to review, judge and comment in detail each of the 78 Double Gold winners in each category. All inputs were provided to Coleen to “crunch the numbers” on her laptop.
Once each category had narrowed it down to advance one wine to the Best of Show categories, the judges then tasted those wines and voted individually. So today, Sunday, the judges each tasted somewhere more than 150 wines, some twice in narrowing down the winners.
Here are the Best of Class for each category:
Best Sparkling: Gwinllan Estate for their 2021 Blanc de Noirs produced via methode Champenoise from El Dorado County (Note: This is the 5th year in a row that they have won this distinction). It was also a Double Gold Medal at SF Chronicle Wine Competition!
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Best Rosé: Cielo Sulla Terra Estate Vineyard and Winery with their 2024 Primarosa, a Primitivo Rosé from Fair Play in Amador County.
Photo ©Mike Dunne
Best White Wine: It was a tie with Sobon Estate 2024 Viognier from Amador County. This was started on our panel on Saturday and each of us were astonished by this wine. The other wine tied was the 2024 Inner Sanctum Cellars Chardonnay from Calaveras County. It was also a Gold Medal winner at SF Chronicle Wine Competition.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
and
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Best Red Wine: Jazz Cellars for their 2022 Syrah from airola Road Vineyard in Calaveras County. This was a great win for owner Joe Lazzara and Bob Smith. Have known them both for some time and happy for their achievement.
Photo ©Mike Dunne
Best Dessert Wine: Golden Leaves Vineyard & Winery for their 2023 Asmodeus Estate Merlot Dessert Wine from Fair Play in Amador County
Photo ©Mike Dunne
This event could not have been pulled off without the hard work of the volunteers categorizing the wines, pouring the wines, labeling each vial, delivering the vials non-stop to the judges without spillage, dumping spit buckets, preparing judges snacks, ordering food and various other assorted duties.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
I know many of you may think “Wine Judging” is a simple task, but it is truly hard requiring immense concentration and a refined palate to discern the wheat from the chaff. Remember this is a blind competition with judges not knowing the wineries involved. The judges who participated on Saturday and Sunday spent more than 13 hours in this laborious task providing you with some guidance on the best possible wines to be enjoyed!
For your information most of the wineries will be pouring at the Foothill Wine Festival, returning to the Palladio in Folsom on Saturday, November 8th! Tickets are available at foothillwinefest.com .
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly
Welcoming Judges Dinner at 5th Annual Foothill Wine Fest Competition
Started out the competition with a judges’ dinner held at IL Forno Classico in Rancho Cordova. Il Forno is a family run business initially operating in the Historic Folsom in 1985. Besides the restaurant at Gold River, they offer a private dining room and wine room and shop. The fully stocked wine store houses about 600 different wine labels. They offer their wines at competitive prices to enjoy with dinner or even take home a unique offering. Their pricing is extremely competitive and offers to match any wine list price for the same wine and vintage. Year after year they have attained the Wine Spectator Award for friendly wines pricing.
Scott Litteral is the owner and pictured below is Scott with his family. Scott is also one of the judges at the Folsom Wine Festival Competition. He personally has tasted all the wines in the cellar being offered. He also mentioned that he has more rare and expensive wines stored on the premises “out of sight” and under lock and key!
The restaurant specializes in fresh seafood, angus steaks, New Zealand Lamb, sauteed pastas, crafted sandwiches and the finest hand-tossed pizzas.
Picture from Il Forno website
The evening started off with each judge bringing a bottle or two of wine to share at the table with fellow judges. You know you are going to be in for a treat when wine judges bring in their selection of wines!
Each judge brought a unique and older vintage of wine. For example, below are a picture of only two of the 20+ wines shared: a 1986 Inglenook Estate Reserved Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2020 Carmignano DOCG (super Tuscan).
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Other wines, too numerous to enumerate, included a 2013 Smith-Madrone Reisling, 2019 Cuda Ridge Carmenere, 2018 Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon, even a homemade wine and on and on.
Coleen Schwieter, Foothill Wine Competition Coordinator, gave a welcoming speech noting that 480 wines were submitted this year from 78 wineries in the Sierra foothill counties. This was a sizeable increase from the previous year of 350 wines. Coleen mentioned the competition is supported by the Folsom Chamber of Commerice and extremely appreciated! She also provided an outline of the events for the next two days regarding logistics and introduced Scott Litteral.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The menu this evening included a choice of either Cesar Salad or Mixed Baby Greens. Below is a picture of the Cesar salad with hearts of Romaine, rosemary croutons, shaved parmesan and Caesar dressing. I chose the Caesar salad:
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Next up was a choice of Naughty Pasta (too long a description but very tempting), Seafood Risotto tossed with salmon, snapper, shrimp, spinach, Chardonnay-lobster sauce, fresh tomatoes, Chicken Parmigiana lightly breaded, baked with marinara and mozzarella, served over spaghetti, Oven roasted Salmon filet with garlic herb compound butter, lemon risotto and sautéed broccoli, and the last option was Grilled Angus Filet Mignon with brandy cream green peppercorn sauce, roasted Yukon gold potatoes and sauteed haricot verts. Many of us chose the Angus Filet Mignon:
Photo ©Michael Kelly
If all these delicious dishes didn’t fill you up, the desserts were beyond decadent! Not only in taste but in size/portions! The choices were Tiramisu, Chocolate cake, Crème Brulee or Toffee Cheesecake. I left the full-size dinner spoon for a reference:
Photos ©Michael Kelly
I think just about everyone took home a portion of their dessert as it could not be consumed after such a filling and wonderful meal.
We all hopped on the shuttle vans that they so graciously provided and headed back to the hotel to get a good nights rest for the opening round of wine judging.
Thanks, Scott, for providing such a wonderful venue and delicious food. If you are ever in Rancho Cordova area, this is a stop worthy of your time and consideration.
Picture of Scott Litteral Photo ©Michael Kelly
A special shout out to Coleen Schwieter for all the coordination and logistics for the evening and the upcoming days. Pictured below is Coleen and her husband Randy.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
As you can see in the pictures everyone enjoyed the time socializing, sharing stories and enjoying the evening. Below are Tom (judge) and Wendy Bender from Sonora who were enjoying the festivities:
Photo ©Michael Kelly
While enjoying the evening it was also an opportunity for the judges to say hello to each other as we typically see each other at various events during the year. It is also an opportunity to meet new judges that we may not have spent time with previously. Below are judges (L to R), Lisa Gomez (The Vine), Carrie Boyle (Vintage Wine Marketing, River City Wine, writer) and Lori Alaniz (Sheldon Wine & Spirits Shop):
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Sláinte or perhaps better yet for this venue, salute!
Michael Kelly
https://californiawinesandwineries.com