San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Wine enthusiasts eagerly await return of public tasting
After a three-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting returns this Presidents Day weekend.
Thousands of wine lovers will gather on Feb. 17 to explore the competition’s 2024 award-winning selections at the Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion. Many bottles will be poured by the winemakers themselves and showcase a rainbow array of varietals ranging from southern Italian-style Aglianico to Croatian-style Zinfandel.
Drawing from the competition’s more than 5,700 wines submitted by more than 1,000 wineries throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, the tasting celebrates the cream of the crop, led by Sweepstake winners in categories including sparkling, white, rosé, red and specialty.
More than 150 Best of Class winners took home top honors this year, too, plus more than 1,500 gold-medal winners from hundreds of North American wineries.
Rounding it out are table after table of medal-winning wines in other categories, plus food pairings from Bay Area artisan producers.
The tasting event draws consumers from all over since this is the largest competition of North American wines in the world, and some attend almost every year. Marika Klaver, for example, celebrated as “soon as (she) was of legal age” by attending the tasting in 2012.
“I drove down from Chico with two of my college girlfriends,” she said. “From 2013 to 2016, I unfortunately didn’t attend because I was living on the East Coast. But from 2017 until the shutdown in 2020, I would drive over from
Sacramento and pick up my friend from Walnut Creek along with my siblings for a group trip.”
This year, the commercial interior designer, 33, will be driving with a friend from Sacramento the night before, meeting her family in San Francisco and staying at a hotel near Fort Mason.
To tackle the hundreds of wineries pouring multiple wines at the tasting, Klaver has developed a strategy over the years.
“My plan of attack typically begins by looking over the SFCWC winners list to see who will be there — any favorites I already know, as well as who got some of the higher awards,” she said. “Then, when I’m actually at the event, I’ll walk around the tables in alphabetical order and start with the lighter varietals. I’ll take a break here and there for food and water, and then go around again for reds.”
» “Top competitions like this are another way to differentiate our wines and introduce them to new wine drinkers.”
Pennie Haase, director of national marketing and northeast regional sales at Alexander Valley Vineyards in Healdsburg
The gathering is also highly popular with the wineries who participated in the actual competition held the month before.
Setting up a table at the public tasting is not mandatory for wineries entering the competition, yet some wineries have poured at the tasting for nearly every one of the years they have been part of the winning line-up (the competition is in its 24th year).
“We have supported this competition from the beginning,” said Pennie Haase, director of national marketing and northeast regional sales at Alexander Valley Vineyards in Healdsburg. “Top competitions like this are another way to differentiate our wines and introduce them to new wine drinkers. When you tell the story of blind competitions and their diverse judging panels, it illustrates the quality and caliber of the wines that receive top awards. This third party endorsement is just what some wine drinkers need to help them make a selection.”
Alexander Valley Vineyards Western Regional Sales Director and grape grower Stewart Vandenberg often pours at the event and has found the gathering excellent for keeping connected with his sales bases.
“It’s great for meeting new people and introducing them to our wines, as well as pouring new vintages of old favorites to longtime AVV fans,” he said.
The winery won Double Golds for both its 2021 Alexander Valley Vineyards Chardonnay and its 2022 Sonoma County Dry Rosé of Sangiovese.
This year, Las Positas Vineyards of Livermore Valley won a White Sweepstake award for its 2023
Verdelho. Winemaker, general manager and partner Brent Amos has attended since 2005 and uses part of the event time to network, plus expand his knowledge of lesser-known grapes such as the Old World varieties that his winery focuses on.
Increasingly, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition has been adding judging categories for ever-more-popular but still unusual grapes, like Las Positas’ Roussanne, Tempranillo and Nebbiolo.
“From an industry perspective, it is always great to meet and interact with other wineries and a great opportunity to try all of the
top award winners,” Amos said. “Generally, I seek out the smaller producers who have unique wines.”
One thing wine professional Mitch Hawkins would like to see, after his 15-or-so years of entering the competition and attending the public tasting, is more time in the universe. The owner of Hawk and Horse Vineyards in Lower Lake (Red Hills AVA of Lake County) said that he is pretty much at his table that day, pouring wines instead of joining the party.
“I always do well in the competition so going to the public tastings is a win-win,” he said. “The location is out-of-sight. I remember people bringing toy wagons into Fort Mason; they’re prepared to buy. There’s been 49ers games going on, and people still come down to see us. They’re really wine people.”
Hawkins makes a point to get to the venue early, to say hello to fellow winemakers and sample a few extra-special sips. And then he prepares for three straight hours of event time where he said he doesn’t text, he doesn’t eat and he likely won’t visit the restroom.
“That building, it just gets a roar — you can’t even hear the person next to you talking,” he said. “I bring an assistant, but we’re jamming, and people — well, they want to see ‘the Mitch show.’ The day just flies by.”
Traditional media still has its pull, Hawkins believes.
“Really, if it’s not (a traditional magazine or recognized critic), sales results can be so-so,” he said. “I’m getting really picky about events I go to, but I wouldn’t miss this one. For this event, it’s bragging rights.”
This year, his winery won a Best of Class for its 2021 Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon Sparkling Wine and a Double Gold for its 2019 Cabernet Franc.
The two publicity efforts work together, Amos believes for his Livermore Valley estate.
“Awards from competitions definitely help with marketing and sales,” he said. “Customers respond to medals and are often more willing to try new wineries or visit wine regions they haven’t visited before when they see the publication of awards.”