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Jefferson Cup 2016

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The Jefferson Cup Invitational Wine Competition has concluded and there’s some press popping up around it.

 

But you can see the complete results at…

The Jefferson Cup Invitational has celebrated its seventeenth year as the only competition that honors the best of the best among wineries from all of America’s wine regions. Each year we select great wines from across America; the 2016 competition included wines from twenty-seven states. At the end of the second day of this year’s tasting, November 18, 2016 wines from NINE different states had captured top honors. Just as the event’s namesake would have it, democracy reigned at this year’s Jefferson Cup Wine Competition.

The two-day competition culminated with the awarding of twenty-four Jefferson Cup Trophies. Jefferson Cups were awarded to wines made from both vinifera vines (the European species responsible for more famous wines such as Chardonnay and Cabernet) and non-vinifera vines, which flourish in the more extreme climates in the U.S.

These twenty-four prestigious Jefferson Cups, the Sweepstakes Awards for our competition, were awarded to two sparkling wines, ten white wines, nine red wines, one fruit wine and two dessert wines. “While many competitions insist upon selecting a pre-ordained number of sweepstakes winners, our judges are allowed to find the top wines, whether there are only one, two or three, or even NO winners in some categories, as has happened in previous years,” says Jefferson Cup Invitational founder Doug Frost. “This year for the first time ever, we had a fruit wine and a muscadine based wine as winners, and there were once again great examples of wine, both from vinifera and non-vinifera grapes.” Together with thirty-one other Jefferson Cup nominated wines, these twenty-four wines represent some of the most compelling wines made in America.

Although many expect California to dominate the awards, Jefferson Cups were won by eight other states as well: Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Washington State. California didn’t dominate, winning fewer Cups (five) to Michigan’s six Cups. The Jefferson Cup nominees, all Double Gold recipients, included wines from fifteen different states. And while there is no quota for non-vinifera wines in the Jefferson Cup finals, with both red wines and white wines, the number of vinifera and non-vinifera wines among the nominees was virtually identical.

Many people have begun to call the Jefferson Cup Invitational, the “Olympics” of wine competitions. This competition is not open to every winery willing to submit an entrance fee. Rather we select the best of the best, culled from tastings and competitions in America throughout 2016. The Jefferson Cup Invitational was founded in 1999 in honor of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson fathered our constitution, helped champion the international concept of human rights and was a seminal figure in America’s cultural, culinary (including wine) and agricultural history.

About the Jefferson Cup Invitational

The Seventeenth Annual Jefferson Cup Invitational took place on November 17 and 18, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri. The Jefferson Cup is a different sort of wine competition, in that it is an invitational in which over seven hundred wines are pre-selected which exemplify top viticulture and winemaking throughout America.

While in years past, the Jefferson Cup has utilized unique nomenclature for its awards, this year the competition has adopted Bronze, Silver, Gold and Double Gold medals as its standards, responding to requests of many participating wineries. Out of seven hundred twenty participating wines, the judges selected just one-hundred-ninety wines to receive the Bronze Medals, honoring wines exemplary of their regions and varieties, Three-hundred-forty-five wines received Silver Medals, and the judges found sixty-six wines to be worthy of Gold Medals and thirty-one being granted Double Gold Medals. These are truly great wines, reflecting our goal of finding and praising wines of true American excellence.

Those fifty-five Double Gold wines (and Jefferson Cup nominees) were tasted by the entire group of twenty judges. Out of those honored wines, the judges collectively picked twenty-four wines to be awarded the Jefferson Cup. And by selecting both vinifera and non-vinifera wines for the Jefferson Cup each year, the goal is to respect the diversity of American viticulture and Jefferson’s own acceptance of native varieties and hybrids. Jefferson fathered our constitution, helped champion the international concept of human rights and was a seminal figure in America’s cultural, culinary (including wine) and agricultural history.

“In most other competitions there is ‘open’ seating,” says Frost, ”and California represents 90% of the entries. As a result it usually captures 90% of the honors,” he said. “What we are doing is following Mr. Jefferson’s example and allowing every quality wine-producing region in America a place at our table. Each year we select great wines from across America; the 2016 competition included wines from twenty-seven states.”

Following the Jefferson Cup competition, the remaining wines are donated for an annual event that benefits children and adults in need. This year the Jefferson Cup raised more than $100,000 for Angel Flight Central (www.angelflightcentral.org). We hope that these events reflect well upon the great heritage of Thomas Jefferson.

The 2016 JEFFERSON CUP winners are:

For Sparkling Wine:

L. Mawby Vineyards Sandpainting nv Leelenau Peninsula

St. Julian Winery Sweet Nancie nv Lake Michigan Shore

 

For White Non-Vinifera Wine:

Adam Puchta Winery Dry Vignoles nv Missouri

Fireside Winery Glow nv Iowa

Holy-Field Vineyard & Winery Vignoles nv Kansas

Lakeridge Winery & Vineyards Southern White nv Florida

White Pine Winery Traminette 2015 Lake Michigan Shore

 

For White Vinifera Wine:

Barefoot Cellars Sauvignon Blanc nv California

Dry Creek Vineyards Estate Block 10 Chardonnay 2014 Russian River Valley

Fox Run Vineyards Riesling Lot 11 Lake Dana Vineyard 2014 Seneca Lake

Chateau LaFayette Reneau Riesling Semi-Dry 2015 Finger Lakes

Fox Run Vineyards Riesling Lot 11 Hanging Delta Vineyard 2014 Seneca Lake

 

For Fruit Wine:

Easley Winery Cranberry Jubilee nv American (Indiana)

 

For Red Vinifera Wine:

Brian Carter Cellars Solesce 2012 Columbia Valley

Carol Shelton Wild Thing Old Vine Zinfandel 2014 Mendocino County

Reininger Winery Helix Syrah 2012 Columbia Valley

Walla Walla Vintners Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Walla Walla Valley

Goldschmidt Vineyard Forefathers Cabernet Sauvignon Lone Tree Vineyard 2014 Alexander Valley

 

For Red Non-Vinifera Wine:

Aubrey Vineyards Trail Rider Red nv American (Kansas)

Missouri State University Norton 2015 Missouri

Noboleis Vineyards Norton 2015 Missouri

 

For Dessert Wine:

12 Corners Vineyards Vidal Ice Wine 2016 Lake Michigan Shore

St. Julian Winery Solera Cream Sherry nv Michigan

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Flavor Bridge to Nowhere

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BY DOUG FROST
Special to The Kansas City Star, October 12, 2016

Sitting in my usual dim sum restaurant, I noticed Christmas decorations overhead. I was so horrified I almost stopped chewing on my chicken feet. Is it really that time?

Not quite, but the media are pivoting to the holidays, and entertainment guides have started popping up in newspapers, magazines and social media. They all promise to simplify your life. But not this columnist: I promise to complicate things.

Most of these guides offer sage notions of matching food and wine. After providing listicles of their Top 10s, they conclude by telling you to stop worrying about any of this (at least the good ones do) and drink whatever you like. Me, I’ll start out with that premise. I’ve been shouting it my whole career because I have a problem with authority. Also, because we all like different things, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

The prevailing notion of these erstwhile guides is that you should select a wine to go with a dish based on each sharing the same flavors. One insists that cranberries go well with California Zinfandel. Yes, Zinfandel has the flavor of cranberries, among many other flavors.

But cranberries are tart and Zin is not. In fact, it’s usually rather warm, ripe, even slightly sweet and figgy at times. When you put tart food with a wine that is slightly sweet (or vice versa), it can make both of them seem out of balance, as if you had a brownie and decided to suck on a lemon at the same time.

Or here’s another fraught match: apple and Chenin Blanc. Yes, Chenin Blanc has apple flavors, but like apples, Chenin Blancs vary from dry-as-dust to sweet-as-pie. If you serve a dry Chenin Blanc with a sweet apple dish, neither will shine.

Many chefs have been trained to suggest wines based on a concept known as “flavor bridging” — a dominant flavor in the dish is the “key” to the wine you should choose. I’ve had chefs tell me they’ll marry this fish dish with the Chardonnay by adding peaches to the dish.

Why peaches?

Many Chardonnays have a peach flavor. But why would I want to drink a liquid version of the dish in front of me? Chefs don’t drop everything on the plate into a blender and expect it to taste as good as all those individual elements.

Chefs know better. Look at how plates are composed: a traditional chef will offer a protein matched with a starch, a vegetable, an appropriate sauce or seasoning, a bitter green leaf and citrus slice to finish. The goal is for each element to highlight the others in a constellation of differing flavors.

I’ve seen this bridge building ad nauseam. Lamb with mint sauce is a classic. So someone matches the dish with a “minty” Australian Shiraz (some Aussie reds are genuinely minty in flavor); makes sense, right? Except mint sauce is usually sweet, and such wines are often very tannic, astringent and even bitter.

You don’t see them serving spaghetti squash with two other squashes (but don’t they share the same flavors?) and maybe some spaghetti on the side. They know better. Still, certain famous chefs continue to promulgate this notion of flavor bridging, and cooperative writers have complied, selecting their wines by finding flavors in common with the foods.

But if nothing else, flavor bridging is boring. So what’s a person to do, now that I’ve complained about all these misguided guides?

Well, first off, let’s return to the first principle: drink what you like. Stop worrying about things going together or not going together.

Most of us like things to be fair and balanced (and get angry when certain media usurp the term for something that’s anything but). The safest guide (as rules don’t really exist) is to ask that the wine doesn’t overwhelm the food, and the food doesn’t overpower the wine.

That’s it. Nothing too complicated.

It’s the same with my Chinese restaurant. I asked about the Christmas decorations and the waitress said, no, they hadn’t put them up this week or last week. They just keep them up year around. It’s easier and simpler.

Doug Frost is a Kansas City-based wine and spirits writer and consultant. He is one of only three people in the world to have earned the titles of master sommelier and master of wine. He contributes a monthly wine column for The Star’s Food section and the Chow Town blo

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/living/food-drink/article106698212.html#storylink=cpy

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Pet Nat Sounds

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I open a bottle of Texas (yep, howdy, boy, Texsus is wut ahm talkin’ bout) Pet Nat wine and it’s a fisssssss not a Pop! All is well and good. Pet Nat wines, you see, are not always fully sparkling. Usually they’re a bit light on the heady alcohol, but this being the Great State of Texas, this stuff is 13.2%. By Pet Nat standards that is freaking close to Port. But then the Pet Nat world is not your normal wine world – its name was birthed in the Loire Valley but its roots reach back to antiquity. Any wine bottled before fermentation was completed was likely to be naturally petillant, or pet nat. Yeast, you see, also produce CO2 while they are converting sugar to alcohol.

A few Loire producers decided to cute up this old thing by giving it the darling moniker of Pet Nat. It’s worked. Lots of people are doing it the Pet Nat way. Even in Tejas.

So visiting some of the central Texas wineries that interest me, and Williams-Chris is definitely once of those, and amongst all the reliable wines they sell is a genuine Petillant Natural (cuz it says so on the label) Rose 2015. I buy one and chill it to chill out on my Austin evening. Dried strawberry, touch of cranberry and red currant. Kinda cool. Clean. True and tasty.