Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Asheville Wine Food Festival 2013


Asheville Wine Food Festival 2013
Second Home Winemaker Competition
August 24, 2013


A "Consumer Wine Quality" panel of judges from the French Broad Vignerons attended the Asheville Wine and Food Festival Home Winemaker Competition for the second year.
"Consumer Wine Quality" training sessions have been open and free to the public for the past two years, and provided by the French Broad Vignerons with their own instructor, Chuck Blethen.
Thirty-Four wines of various styles were donated by eleven home winemakers from Asheville and surrounding areas of the state.
Judging the large quantity of wines was accomplished in three "flights" on August 19 and 21 at two local locations, and the final judging flight was on 8-24-13 from 12-5 PM at the Asheville Wine Food Festival in the US Cellular building in downtown Asheville, N.C.
Thomas Daniel Mincarelli was the "Chief Wine Judge" and "Wine Evaluation Coordinator" at all three of the judging flights.  John Kinnaird and Bill Gertz assisted Tom with the event.
The French Broad Vignerons judged and displayed the 34 wines at a large booth at the Asheville Wine Food Festival Home Winemaker Judging event.
A benefit of this kind of local event is that home winemakers from across the state are provided opinions and recognition from trained wine experts that can assist them in enhancing their winemaking skills.

Wines can be made in many styles from dry to sweet, and anywhere between as was the case again this year!

AWFF Wine Categories
1-  DR-Dry Red: May be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes and fruit.
2-  DW-Dry White: May be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes and fruit.
3-  SR-Sweet Red: May be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes
4-  SW-Sweet White: May be a pure varietal or a blend of grapes and fruit.
5-  MS-Muscadine/Scuppernong: Pure varietal or a blend.
6-  DP-Dessert Wine: Residual sugar higher than 3% and fortified grape wines.
7-  LQ-Liqueur: Any fruit/nut vegetable or combination.
8-  SP-Sparkling Wine: Any non-still wine.
9-  FW- Fruit Wine: Any fruits or combination not including grapes.
10- HM-Mead:  Any honey-based wine.
NOTE: (Semi-Dry or Semi-Sweet may also be a charachteristic of a wine style)

Scoring of the wines were designated in three categories of quality:
Blue Ribbon: 18-20 points.
Red Ribbon: 15-17 points.
Yellow Ribbon: 11-14 points.
No Ribbons are awarded with less than 11 points scored.
The score numbers were averaged without rounding up or down of the numbers. All scores were double checked for accuracy.
This years home winemakers were awarded 25 Yellow Ribbons and 9 Red Ribbons.
Achieving a Blue Ribbon is not easy as this years scores revealed!

Winemakers-Wines-Awards
1- Tony Gaddis  
Dry Red Style:
Malbec 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Petite Sirah 2011- Yellow Ribbon
Cabernet Sauvignon 2011- Yellow Ribbon
Carmenere 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Pinot Noir 2011- Yellow Ribbon
Dry White Style:
Pinot Grigio 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Sauvignon Blanc 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Dry Muscat 2012- Yellow Ribbon

2- Bill Gertz 
Dry Red Style:
Merlot 2011- Yellow Ribbon

3- Thomas Daniel Mincarelli 
Dry Red Style:
Grenache 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Merlot 2011- Red Ribbon
Merlot 2012- Red Ribbon
Beaurdoux Blend "Mystery Blend" 2012- Red Ribbon
Beaurdoux Blend 50% Malbec x 50% Cabernet Sauvignon 2012- Yellow Ribbon

4- John Kinnaird 
Dry White Style:
Blend of Petite Mansing x Sauvignon Blanc 2012- Red Ribbon

5- Ken Chrismon
Muscadine/Scuppernong Style:
Semi-Dry Scuppercham 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Sweet Scuppercham 2012- Red Ribbon
Semi-Dry Scuppernong 2012- Red Ribbon
Sweet Scuppernong 2012- Red Ribbon
Scuppernong/Muscadine Blend 2012- Red Ribbon
Dry Red Muscadine 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Semi-Dry Red Muscadine 2012- Yellow Ribbon 
Sweet Muscadine 2012- Red Ribbon
Fruit Wine Style:
Strawberry Select 2013- Yellow Ribbon   

6- Cornelius Ashe 
Red Semi-Sweet Style:
Steuben 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Chamourcin 2012- Yellow Ribbon
White Semi-Sweet Style:
Catawba 2012- Yellow Ribbon
Fruit Wine Style:
Red Raspberry 2012-Semi-Sweet  Yellow Ribbon

7-JD Diefenbach  
Dry Red Style:
Blend Chambourcin 90% x Zinfendel 10% 2010- Yellow Ribbon

8- Marc Williams 
Honey Mead Style:
Metheglin 2012- Yellow Ribbon

9- Alan Staton 
Dessert Wine Style:
Sweet Red Port 2013- Yellow Ribbon

10- Kristin Moyle
Dry Red Style:
Pinot Noir 2011- Yellow Ribbon

11- Jackie Fontaine 
Dry Red Style:
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010- Yellow Ribbon
Dry White Style:
Chardonay 2011- Yellow Ribbon

A Special Thanks to:
Bob Bowles and the 2013 Asheville Wine Food Fesstival
The French Broad Vignerons & Trained Consumer Wine Judges
The 11 Home Winemakers that donated their wines!
Thomas Daniel Mincarelli
John Kinnaird
Bill Gertz

Cheers soon!

Thomas Daniel Mincarelli CEO
"Eagles' Nest" Sustainable Micro-Home Winery & Vineyard

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