Oenophiles love to sniff and sip a variety of wines, before comparing notes about their favorite vintages. While they frequent area tastings, scour wine shops for deals, and read all they can find about memorable releases, the creative souls who make the stuff like to stir up some buzz by pitting their oenological skills against fellow practitioners.
This year, commercial winemakers will find that the prestigious Central Coast Wine Competition (CCWC) makes it even easier for them to showcase their wares in a variety of county fair settings. For the first time, the competition will include not only wines from vineyards in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, but also from as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area and south to the Los Angeles County line.
The competition’s geographical boundaries have expanded to embrace Ventura County, as well as all of the Central Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA), a vast region that includes portions of six counties. This AVA boasts a whopping 100,000 acres of grapevines—many sharing a similar maritime influence due to prevailing breezes carrying hints of the Pacific Ocean.
“In the past, the Santa Barbara County Fair Wine Competition was only open to wine grown and produced in Santa Barbara County,” Joe Brengle, Santa Maria Fair Park deputy manager, wrote in an e-mail, “so it was limited on the wines that could be entered. By merging with three other county fairs, we will see wines entered from San Benito County to Ventura County, opening the doors to a lot of wineries.”
Such a radical expansion makes the CCWC the largest wine evaluation event committed to recognizing vintages produced exclusively from Vitis vinifera grapes grown in the Central Coast region of California.
It unifies county fair competitions in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Monterey, as well as that of the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, and creates a single impressive matchup from a disparate group of contests once fragmented by distance and diverse growing conditions.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with these incredible agricultural venues on the Central Coast of California,” Vivian Robertson, CEO of the California Mid-State Fair, noted in a press release. “The fairs will utilize economies of scale, and by combining our resources, we’ll be able to host the best competition for our exhibitors.”
The improved CCWC spotlights California’s fastest-growing wine region, while promoting the stunning variety and high quality of the liquid gems produced by its commercial grape growers and wineries. It offers a venue where wines can be professionally judged and then showcased at each fairground before a combined total of a million or so visitors eager to learn more about Central Coast wines.
If in doubt about how effectively those be-ribboned awards draw attention to stand-out vintages, just ask Ken Volk, owner/winemaker of Kenneth Volk Vineyards, whose efforts at the 2009 Santa Barbara County Fair Wine Competition won Best Syrah, as well as three gold and five silver medals for a variety of his other wines, including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
That same year, Santa Maria’s own Costa de Oro Winery took home Best White accolades for their 2007 Chardonnay, while Best Cabernet Sauvignon went to Rancho Sisquoc Winery’s 2006 Cab.
All three winemakers admit that these eye- and interest-catching awards lend a hearty boost to vintages that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. They elevate a wine’s profile, provide valuable talking points for marketing campaigns, and let buyers know right away when they’ve come across a special bottle.
Judging of the CCWC takes place in mid-June, with entries due after April 1. The winning results will be available for perusal—and occasional tasting—at the Santa Barbara County Fair (July 14 through 18), Mid-State Fair (July 21 through Aug 1), Ventura County Fair (Aug. 4 through 15), and Monterey County Fair (Sept. 1 through 6).
In 2003, the California Mid-State Fair held its first-ever commercial wine competition—called the Golden Spur Syrah Challenge, which attracted 53 winemakers who submitted 70 wines for judging. In 2009, the competition had swelled to 600 entries.
“With the merger of the four fairs,” Brengle wrote, “we are expecting to receive over 800 entries. The award-winning wines will be on display at all four fairs, and there will be some special awards representing each of the counties.
“This is a great opportunity,” he added, “for the wineries to get [valuable] cross promotion throughout the Central Coast.”
While local winemakers rack up prizes for their wares, wine lovers reap the benefits of their wins through tastings and festive events designed to showcase the region’s finest wines. Oenophiles can sniff, sip, and compare a world of tasty wines without ever leaving the beautiful Central Coast.
K. Reka Badger can sniff, sip, and compare with the best of ’em. E-mail comments or ideas to rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Mar 25 – Apr 1, 2010.