The Wine Knows

We are in the heart of wine competition season in North America.

Last week was the Pacific Rim Wine Competition in San Bernardino, Calif. The Northwest Wine Summit - the Northwest's largest judging - starts today. And the greatest of them all, the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition, is later this month.

I'll bet Bob Bertheau is wearing a muscle shirt around Chateau Ste. Michelle today. If he isn't, he should be.

Barnard Griffin came home with the best red wine of the 2009 Monterey Wine Competition in California. The Richland, Wash., winery won for its 2006 Reserve Merlot, which retails for $30.

Pacific Northwest wines fared extremely well last week at the Grand Harvest Awards wine competition in California's Sonoma County.

At least 37 Northwest wines brought home gold medals in the competition, which takes a particularly close look at how wines show a sense of place, or terroir.

The results are in at the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, which wrapped up around noon today in Cloverdale, Calif.

We're still sorting through the complete results, but I wanted to post the Northwest wines that earned top awards: Best in class, double gold and gold.

Wine Spectator's annual top 100 list is out, and as usual, the Pacific Northwest has fared very well. In fact, fully 7% of the wines on the list are from Oregon and Washington, though a few notables are conspicuous by their absence.

A Walla Walla winery took home top honors at the 30th anniversary Tri-Cities Wine Festival on Saturday night at the Red Lion in Pasco, Wash.

The Russell Creek 2005 Winemaker Select Syrah was chosen as best of show in the annual competition, which this year drew a record 328 wines.

LONDON — The International Wine Challenge in London announced Sept. 1 that its trophy for "World's Top Icewine" was won by Mission Hill Family Estate in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

Westbank, B.C., winemaker John Simes won the award with his 2006 Reserve Riesling Ice Wine. The IWC receives 9,000 entries from 40 countries. Its panel of 400 judges includes more than 25 who are certified Masters of Wine.

Once upon a time, Gewürztraminer was a grape variety of some importance in Washington. Part of this was the thinking that Washington is so far north of California that it would require cool-climate varieties to be viable.

These days, we all realize the folly of that thinking, with the Columbia Valley's general lack of rain along with the long, hot summer days.

Yet I still love a good Gewürztraminer, and Washington continues to make a fair amount. In 2007, it was the No. 4 white wine grape with 4,100 tons harvested.

Beginning Friday, judges from throughout the state will begin gathering in Yakima for the annual Washington State Wine Competition. This must be around the 23rd annual.

This is the only judging that looks exclusively at Washington wines, and the competition typically receives 350 entries. Not comprehensive, but it does provide a solid snapshot of the industry.