Inside the judges’ circle: A peek into the largest competition of American wines in the world

The aroma of fermented grapes is heady in the air, slapping senses awake with its pungency.

Inside the cavernous building, volunteers bustle about, rolling carts full of sparking glasses, each with a sip’s worth of wine inside.

Behind the drapes, judges dressed in white lab coats with wine-stained lips hover over Merlots and Pinots, Rieslings and Chardonnays, swirling, sniffing, sipping and spitting while scribbling notes.

The San Francisco Wine Competition has risen from humble beginnings—in the early ’70s, six winemaking friends from Sonoma got together to taste jug wines concealed in brown bags.

The operation is professional and seamless, from the volunteers organizing case upon case of wines and labeling each bottle with a number to pouring and distributing hundreds of glasses to the 60 judges.

Facilitators with whiteboards and squeaky dry erase pens loom over the panels like high school math teachers, tabulating scores and moderating comments.

A testament to their knowledge and experience can be seen when a truly outstanding wine receives a Gold designation straight away from all the judges or a “clunker” is dismissed as NM (No Medal).

Comments range from “nice bounce, good spice,” “smoky, tasty, representative of the fruit,” “the finish falls off,” “cake frosting,” “cat pee,” and — “I’m getting cannabis from the nose,” garnering chuckles all the way around.

Though the judges’ work is done for another year, the public still has an opportunity to taste these award-winning wines and nibble on gastronomic delights this weekend at the Public Tasting on Saturday, February 14 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.
(c) Wine – Read entire story here.