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Wine Judging | Judges Seminar | Saturday
Seminar | Public Tasting
 History
The Tri-Cities Wine Festival began in 1978 as a fund-raiser for
the Tri-City Visitors & Convention
Bureau. It was held in July
during Water Follies weekend at the Hanford House hotel in
Richland. Modeled after the Seattle Wine and Food Fair, the casual
tasting featured 40 to 60 wines. Coke Roth, a Tri-City attorney
and well-respected international wine judge, recalls that a grand
total of 13 wineries entered the first
festival, with the
only advertising being a sandwich board in
front of the hotel and tickets at 12 bucks a pop.
It was such a success,
that the festival went on to become an annual event. Eventually,
with the interest in the event and the number of entering wineries
getting
larger, the festival outgrew its Hanford House venue and moved to
the spacious Pasco Red
Lion
hotel. The mall at the old
Columbia Center was then tried out for a few years. Unfortunately,
along with this change, attendance dropped dramatically, and the
convention bureau
dropped their patronage of the event.
The board of the Tri-Cities
Wine Society, which took over running the event in about
1990, saw this as a real loss to the industry and the community,
but
did
not have
enough
money
to
promote
the festival properly to ensure its survival. Robert
Young and Bill Preston came to the festival's rescue by loaning
it the seed money it needed, and the present incarnation of
the festival was born. The loan was paid back within a couple of
years, and the festival has been self-sustaining ever since. The
venue was also moved back to the Red Lion hotel where the festival
continues
to be
enjoyed to this day.
For many years, the festival was directed by Jerry Main who helped
it establish a solid reputation as an excellent competition
with objective judging. Helping him, was his wife Jerri who conducted
the judging along with a cadre of devoted volunteers. At
the festival’s 25th anniversary in 2003, the Mains decided
to step down from their leadership
roles to devote more time to their well-deserved retirement. The board
of the Tri-Cities Wine Society then elected Blaine
Hulse, a trained
judging facilitator, as their new Festival Chair. Blaine
and his wife Loretto had served on the steering committee for several
years prior to this,
chaired the Gourmet Dinner and been
involved
in many aspects of the Public Tasting. One of Blaine’s goals
for the future of the festival
is to make it more accessible
to both the wineries and the public. In keeping with this, the festival
has established this new website.
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Wine Judging
Wines are entered in the Tri-Cities Wine Festival from Oregon, Washington,
Idaho and British Columbia wineries.
Thursday and Friday prior to the public tasting, a panel
of five well qualified wine judges sample all the
entries. These
judges are drawn from an experienced
pool of candidates from the United States and sometimes
worldwide. Past judges have included well recognized
wine writers
for major publications,
sommeliers, wine distributors or buyers for major chains, Masters
of Wine, winemakers or wine educators. Many have had extensive
judging experience
at such prestigious
events as the Los Angeles County Wine Competition, the Dallas
Wine Fair and international competitions.
Due to space limitations we're only able to accept entries from
about 65 wineries each year on a first come, first entered
basis. Each winery is each able to submit
up to three wines for judging so there are nearly 200 wines to sample
during the Saturday night public tasting event. In recent years,
with a bit of careful organizing, we have been able to increase the
number
of
wines
offered
for sampling to as many as 210.
Judging is conducted
under strict and exacting guidelines. Double blind standards insure
an objective and unbiased examination of all entered wines. We
follow the Wine Institute’s guidelines for objective competitions.
Bronze,
silver and gold medals are awarded, plus a Best of Show award.
The judges are told only the year and the category of each wine,
and
in some cases the
residual sugar (when relevant). The wines are randomized within
each tasting round — or “flight” as
they are called — to
assure that neither alphabetical order nor entry
order can be a revealing
factor. Flights are limited to no more than 20-24
wines. Should entries exceed
that number (as in popular varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon
or Merlot), pass/fail flights first eliminate non-medal
contenders. Wines that pass this round then go
into a final flight
for possible medal winners. Best of Show is selected from among
the gold medal winners.
More info about this
year’s Judges
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Gourmet Dinner
In its inception, the Gourmet Dinner was actually a kick-off lunch
with speakers, held on the Friday before the Public Tasting. Due
to concerns that some people were returning to work after consuming
an array of fine fines with their luncheon faire, the Steering Committee
decided to change it to a dinner format and upscale the menu. The
choice of wines at this dinner has not been restricted to the Northwest.
In fact, the approach has been to broaden the food and wine pairings
with exceptional choices of uncommon varietals from around the world
while showcasing the fine cuisine produced by Tri-City chefs. Every
year our endeavors center on the illumination of the eclectic art
of matching delicacies with beguiling vintages.
Starting this year, the "Gourmet Dinner" will evolve into the "Judges Seminar".
More info about this year’s Judges
Seminar
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Judges Seminar
The choice of wines at this seminar has not been restricted to the
Northwest. Just as with the gourmet dinner of previous years, the
Judges Seminar approach will be to broaden the food and
wine pairings with exceptional choices of uncommon varietals from
around the world while showcasing the fine cuisine produced by Tri-City chefs.
More info about this year’s Judges Seminar
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Saturday Seminar
In keeping with our educational mission, we host a renowned expert
on specific subjects during the Saturday seminar. Starting at 11
AM, the seminar examines an appellation, a varietal, or some incisive
topic associated with the world of wine. Subjects in the past have
ranged from the wines of the Piedmont, French Burgundies and South
American vintages. Attendance is restricted to about 95 people, and
there is always a waiting list.
More info about this year’s Seminar
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Public Tasting
Saturday night, starting at 5:30 PM and lasting until
9:30 PM, the Red Lion Ballroom is transformed into
the most
fabulous concentration
of
Northwest Wines found
any where in the world. With 65 wineries pouring
up to three wines each, the public can choose to sample nearly
200 wines
in a single
evening.
At around
8 PM, the award winners are announced in a festive
display marking the winning
wines with their medals and balloons to signal where
the bronze, silver and gold
medals can be found. Finally, the much anticipated
Best of Show Award
is presented to the wine deemed by our expert panel
to be most representative of the finest
example of craftsmanship and style.
More info about this
year’s Public Tasting
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