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2007 Judges
A
panel
of five
professional
wine judges
will judge
all of
the wines
entered
in the
Wine Festival
during
the two
days prior
to the
public
Festival
events.
They will
award
Gold,
Silver
and Bronze
medals
to the
individual
wines
that merit
them.
They then
select
a Best
of Show award
winner
from among
the Gold
medal
winners.
The awards
will be
presented
during
the Public
Tasting to
allow
everyone
a chance
to taste
medal-winning
wines.
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Andy Perdue
is editor-in-chief of Wine Press Northwest, a quarterly consumer magazine that focuses on the wines of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho.
He's the author of "The Northwest Wine Guide: A Buyer's Handbook" (Sasquatch Books, 2003), wine columnist for Seattle Homes & Lifestyles and Northwest columnist for Vineyard & Winery Management. He writes a weekly wine column that is distributed via e-mail and produces a weekly video show on Northwest wine that is distributed via the Apple iTunes Music Store.
Perdue judges, reviews and rates about 5,000 wines per year. In addition to his writing, he also is a judge at several regional, national and international wine competitions, including: L.A. County Fair Wines of the World Competition, Riverside International Wine Competition, Grand Harvest Awards, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru, Dallas Morning News Wine Competition, Washington State Wine Competition, Oregon State Fair Wine Competition and Okanagan Wine Competition.
Perdue is a third-generation journalist who graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in journalism and a minor in Middle East Studies. He moved to the Tri-Cities in 1989 to work as an editor at the Tri-City Herald. In addition to running Wine Press Northwest, he's also the Herald's Interactive Media director.
He and his wife, Melissa, live in Richland. |
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Ann Littlefield
fell in love with wine during college years spent studying in Europe. A longtime international industry veteran and professional wine judge, she specializes in new market development. Pioneering many facets of the international wine business, Ann’s diverse focus includes marketing, buying, selling and teaching in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Ann launched and developed a successful company to market and sell wines of the world to the international airline industry. She went on to create global wine sourcing and corporate wine programs for the leading Internet wine retailer. A resident of Napa Valley, Ann’s current focus is development of direct wine marketing programs for diverse wineries, worldwide.
Ann judges in many prestigious wine competitions, including Los Angeles International, San Francisco International, Riverside International, Dallas Morning News International, San Francisco Chronicle, Long Beach International, New World International, Pacific Rim International, San Diego International, The New York Wine Classic, Sonoma County, Mendocino County and Monterey County. |
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Coke Roth
from Tri-Cities, Washington - Prior to attending law school in 1990, Coke Roth ran the Tri Cities branch of his family’s beer and wine distributorship for close to two decades. Coke was the founding Chairman of the Tri Cities Northwest Wine Festival and worked in various capacities since our Festival began. Coke has been judging wine at major fairs and festivals since the mid 1970’s, conducts wine and food education classes and has written numerous articles on food and wine. Coke is a tasting panelist for WinePress Northwest Magazine, allowing him the opportunity to evaluate several thousand wines per year. With this Competition, Coke will have judged in ten major regional, national and international competitions in 2007. Coke is an attorney in the Tri-Cities. |
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Donald Galleano
is a third generation Southern California winegrower and owner of Galleano Winery, the producer of Old Vine Cucamonga Valley Wines. His current affiliations in the wine industry are as a professional wine judge in international wine competitions, a board member of the Wine Institute, a professional member of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture and a Foundation Member of the Los Angeles County Fair and Wine Competition Steering Committee. |
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Harry McWatters
Harry McWatters is president of Sumac Ridge Wine Group, founding president of the British Columbia Wine Institute and secretary/treasurer of the Canadian Vintners Association. McWatters has been in the wine industry since 1968 and is credited with building the craft in British Columbia into the award-winning, internationally recognized industry it is today. In 1979, McWatters and a partner formed B.C.'s first estate winery in Summerland. He was one of the first Okanagan-based estate winery owners to make sales trips throughout the province to promote home-grown quality wines. His early efforts led to the creation of the British Columbia Wine Institute
and subsequently the VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) program in 1990. He has won numerous awards as a winemaker and marketer, including
Wine in the All Canada Wine Competition and Top Winery of the Year from the Globe and Mail, plus the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and an honorary doctor of laws from Okanagan University College. The British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA) inducted Harry in 2006 its newly formed BC Restaurant Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was created to pay tribute to individuals who have shaped the vibrant culinary industry in British Columbia. In addition to his long history of producing outstanding wines, Harry is also highly respected as an international wine judge. |
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The
Silent Judge is appointed
by the festival steering
committee to
observe
the
process and report the
judges’ observations
back to the wineries after
the Festival. The Silent
Judge does not have a contributing
vote to the medal awards.
Like the other five judges
the Silent Judge does not
have access to the wine
names as they are evaluated,
but tastes all the wines
as an observing judge only.
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Richard Larsen Richard is a Plant Pathologist at the WSU/USDA-ARS research station in Prosser, WA, and has been involved in the Washington wine industry since 1990 after moving to the state from North Carolina. A member of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, he has a continuing and abiding interest in wine and the wine industry. He periodically conducts wine sensory evaluation seminars and serves as a judge on panels for regional wine competitions including the Tri-Cities Wine Festival in 2004. This year, Dr. Larsen will serve as a non-voting judge on the Festival panel and will be meeting the needs of the wineries by preparing for them a written report on the judge’s general impressions of the wines representing each wine varietal group and the details of the judging for each group.
Angelo TavernaroAngelo Tavernaro, master Sommelier and Certified Wine Educator was born and raised in Northern Italy. Angelo is an actively involved, passionate and enthusiastic wine educator and has been a judge in many wine competitions including the Court of Master Sommliers testing programs. During Angelo1s 20 years at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, he created wine list consisting of 700 wines for the Palace Court Restaurant for which he proudly
received the coveted Wine Spectator1s Award of Excellence and the Best Award of Excellence. Angelo is one of three Master Sommeliers in the state of Washington, one of 75 in the U.S. and one of 135 in the World. Angelo currently is an adjunct professor at Columbia Basin College in Pasco and also at YVCC in Grandview. Angelo will participate in the Festival this year as a non-voting judge and co-author of the written report to the wineries summarizing the judge’s overall impressions of the wines entered.
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More
info: Judges Seminar | Public
Tasting | Seminar
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