"AND THE WINNER IS?"

I honestly don't know where to stand when it comes to wine competitions, and I am not alone - wineries struggle with whether to enter their wines in blind tastings, magazine and newspaper awards, wine society competitions and judgment by wine critics around the country.

Every month, another competition pops up, requesting samples to "rate" the wines against other wines. In a recent competition for which I was asked to be a judge, 200 wines competed, ranging from Rieslings to Cabernet Sauvignons to obscure varietals to the "best wine of the year." A few weeks later, I was a judge in another wine competition, and again, another 280 wines were tasted in a blind competition, trying to find the "best" wine.

It is fair to provide consumers with good information, and blind tastings increase the fairness for those wineries that don't easily get publicity. Blind-tasting competitions can especially help a new winery hoping to get information on their wines out to consumers.

But let's be honest here: these competitions don't really pronounce the best wines. They are a subjective rating of wines submitted. I saw a smattering of ratings from the recent wine competition with the same wine awarded 75 points by one judge and 90 points by another. (It was an odd-duck varietal and difficult to score, because it was crammed into a category of mixed white wines. Had it been judged on its own merits with the same varietals, the scores might have had more meaning.)

At a typical wine competition, a group of judges - wine writers/critics, wine educators, sommeliers, or other wine industry folks - blind-taste wines and score them on a sheet. They judge a Cabernet Sauvignon with other entries of the same varietal, and use the same method for judging Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or whatever other category of wine has been submitted. Sometimes there are wines that don't fit well into a category. Scores are tallied and, if needed, a semifinal round is arranged to find a best of the best.

Many wineries don't compete in wine awards for a number of reasons. Some simply don't want to be judged, preferring to give the public the final say. Smaller wineries have a limited amount of wine and can't afford to submit multiple samples to everyone who claims to be a wine writer. Those wineries with tons of publicity don't need additional media attention - they sell out the moment the wines are released or have a mailing list of clients that will buy their wines without additional publicity.

OCEANS OF WINE

So why submit wines to competitions at all? The answer rests with the consumer. If you are a novice wine drinker - and statistics show that most people in the United States fall into that category - trying to wade through the oceans of wine labels can be overwhelming. Gold medals and best-of-show awards are an indicator, one more hint at helping the buyer make an informed decision. Consumers are looking for anything to distinguish one wine from another.

A well-run competition can unveil some real gems that normally get overshadowed by the deep pockets of large, corporate-owned wineries with skilled marketing departments. Since blind tasting removes all preconceived notions about the wine, a little independent winery has just as much chance at positive recognition as its well-heeled corporate neighbor.

A good example from last year occurred when I sat on a wine panel that tasted 50 wines to recommend with a holiday meal. Bags covered the labels, so none of the nine panelists knew what they had in the glass other than that it was a red wine or a white wine. I was stunned when the identities were revealed, and one of the winners turned out to be a value-oriented white wine from Washington that I would have passed up without a second thought.