Wine Talk by Robert Whitley

Most wine enthusiasts would agree there's almost nothing better in the wine experience than uncorking a great bottle at an unbelievable price.

It doesn't happen as often as you might think, largely because so many consumers fall into the trap of equating price with quality. Too often the more expensive wine is perceived to be the better wine. That's why all commercial wine competitions make their judges taste "blind" when evaluating wines for medals.

That simply means the wine entries are coded and delivered to the judges in stemware identified only by a sticker with the matching code, so those behind the scenes will know which wine to assign any award. Judges know neither the producer of a wine being evaluated nor the price.

I have found over the nearly 20 years that I've been presiding as director over various wine competitions that these events are one of my greatest resources for reliably identifying value wines. If I needed to be reminded of that, the results of the recent Monterey Wine Competition drove the point home.

As I scan the list of gold-medal winners that the Monterey judges nominated for best of show, I'm particularly stunned by the prices on the nine wines in the white category: All retail for less than $20. The winner was the lovely off-dry 2007 Ventana Vineyards Riesling from Arroyo Seco at $18. This juicy, well-balanced California riesling also won best of show white at the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition earlier this year.

It's a fabulous wine and modestly priced. And though the Ventana riesling was the clear winner, there really wasn't a clunker in the bunch. New York's Goose Watch Winery took second-place in the vote for best white with an aromatic 2007 Traminette ($13) from the Finger Lakes region, and Kendall Jackson's 2007 Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay ($14) placed third.

Three well-priced sauvignon blancs also generated considerable support among the judges, including the pungent 2008 Starborough Sauvignon Blanc ($13) from Marlborough, New Zealand. The 2008 Fallbrook Winery Reserve Sauvignon Blanc ($16) from Monterey County and the 2007 Clayhouse Sauvignon Blanc ($14) from Paso Robles are more California in style (meaning riper, rounder and less green around the edges) but just as appealing.

Prices were higher among the 10 wines nominated for Best Red, but even the most expensive (the 2006 Keating Malbec from the new Rockpile appellation in Sonoma County) came in under $50.

The winning red was the delicious 2006 Barnard Griffin Reserve Merlot from Washington's Columbia Valley at $35.

Aficionados have long known that Washington is some of the finest terroir in America for the merlot grape, and this Barnard Griffin reserve hammers home that point. To see so many judges absolutely gaga over a merlot was a wonder to behold!

Ventana finished second in the vote for best red wine of the competition with its 2006 Rubystone ($18) from the estate vineyard in Arroyo Seco. This Rhone-style blend was a real find for me when I discovered the previous vintage last year, so I was pleased to see the latest release do so well.

Rubystone is unusual for a California Rhone-style blend given that it's not syrah based. The workhorse here is the under-appreciated grenache grape, which gives the wine a spicy kick and loads of juicy red fruit. Syrah, playing a lesser role than usual, contributes tannin, structure and black fruit aroma.

The third-place red was another value wine from California's Central Coast, the 2006 Robert Hall Cabernet Sauvignon ($18) from Paso Robles. Robert Hall is perhaps the most underrated winery in the booming Paso Robles district, so its success is no fluke. The Robert Hall wines are consistently high in quality and always reasonably priced.

And zinfandel lovers will be happy to know the judges uncovered a wonderful zin from Lodi, Calif., (the 2006 Mettler 'Epicenter" Zinfandel made from old vines) at $19. I found this wine very appealing because it exhibited the spicy, brambly aromas I look for in a zinfandel without the overt sweetness and alcoholic kick of most modern zinfandels.

The Old World was well represented in the best of show red category, too, with the Valdubon 2003 Ribera del Duero Reserva ($24) from Spain making a strong showing. This wine continues to exhibit youthful tannins and begs for more cellar aging, but the price is remarkable given the quality.

Dessert wines turned out to be the redoubt of the most expensive wines, as Navarro's 2007 "Cluster Select" late harvest Riesling ($59) took honors in that category. Navarro, one of Mendocino County's most stellar wineries over the past three decades, also saw its 2007 Late Harvest Riesling ($35) make it to the finals before losing out to its stablemate.

One of the more amazing stories of the dessert round of voting was the presence of Rancho de Philo's Triple Cream Sherry ($35) from Rancho Cucamonga, east of Los Angeles. This wine is incredibly consistent, and has been voted Best Dessert wine at the Monterey Competition twice in previous years. It has also won the same honor at the San Diego International Wine Competition.

For complete results of the 2009 Monterey Wine Competition, visit www.montereywinecompetition.com.

To find out more about Robert Whitley and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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