I had not been to Texas since I lived in America and not to Austin since 1983, so I accepted with alacrity when I received the invitation to judge there. I recalled with amusement that in 1983 I gave a talk to a wine society in Austin and when the President thanked me, he congratulated me on my excellent English, but said that he could detect my charming French accent. For those who know me I am English to the core and speak with a pronounced Oxford accent.
It was a long journey from Bordeaux to Austin via Amsterdam and Detroit. I arrived at about 18.00 on the Wednesday evening, having been picked up in a very smart chauffeur-driven limousine, and in time to wash and brush and take a taxi to LOGAN’S ROADHOUSE the place in Buda for RIBS. I enjoyed a half-rack with shoestring potatoes and an O’Doul’s non-alcoholic beer. A taxi back and an early bed in the sparse, but comfortable Fairfield Inn in Buda, in Hays County, regarded as a suburb of Austin, with a population of some 15,000.
We were not to taste until Friday, so we were free until the evening get-together dinner on the Thursday. I had a good breakfast of porridge, waffles with maple syrup and toast and marmalade. I met up with some other judges and went back to Logan’s for a lunch of fried catfish and chips. I then rested until our evening meeting in the hotel lobby. We were taken away in a luxury bus to “The Lodge at Grace in Buda”, a non-denominational community fellowship hall run by Stephanie Cannon. A vast wooden edifice where we were given 15 wines to taste, some of them Texan, before a buffet dinner, “the Steaks and Cakes Reception Dinner”, where the masterpiece was a huge piece of beef. The carver cut me a massive slice of rare standing prime rib roast of unparalleled tenderness. A friendly, noisy and amicable get together before being bussed back for an early 21.30 bed.
We were made very welcome by the delightful Bonnie Villacampa, the founder manager of the competition and a live wire in every way. She was everywhere at once, exhorting, encouraging, bullying, smiling, laughing and embracing. She kept us on our toes effortlessly and extracted the very best from all of us. Michi Hagerty was the efficient competition Director.
The Competition Day
Friday was tasting competition day and we were bussed back to the same hall. Tables were elegantly laid with white tablecloths. We were a total of 20 judges from 8 countries divided into 5 juries of 4 judges each. Conditions were good and comfortable. The room was warm and airy with plenty of space. We had 8 good glasses which we kept all day and 556 wines from 7 countries to judge.Entry fee for the producers was a mere $65 per wine.
We had olives, bread sticks and Voss mineral water. We had cardboard spittoons, but as always, I had my own. We had a huge decanter of still water and a personal adjustable table-lamp. Finally, a huge metal bucket to empty everything into. The tasting process was totally different to the normal international tasting competitions.
Firstly, the judging was done on our own smart phones or I-pads. We spent almost an hour getting connected through our emails to their server. Each judge had a separate connection. I pleaded total ignorance and was provided with an I-pad and the connection made for me. We had to enter all the information on a small square piece of paper, which was the tasting sheet, then scan it to our telephones or computers and fill in the same information there before ticking “send” and off it all went to the backroom boys who collated it.
As said above, this piece of paper was the tasting sheet on which was marked the coordinates of the wine, the Grape Variety, the Vintage and the Sugar Content. We had to fill-in our judgement for 4 criteria: Colour 1-5 points, Aroma 1-15 points, Flavour 1-20 points and Overall Judgement 1-10 points. Also attribute a medal or not. The above shows clearly that marks were out of 50 and not either 10 or 100. This is the very first time that I have marked a competition out of 50, but in the final analysis it changed very little once you were used to it. We awarded Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals and a Double Gold.
A Double Gold was achieved if all four judges gave a Gold. Bronze, Silver and Gold could be marked + or – (for example G-,G, G+), but the medal awarded following the 4 judges’ marks would only be a straight Bronze, Silver or Gold. In order not to get the samples confused we put the above-described tasting slip under the appropriate glass. Flights were in series of 8 wines each.
To start with it was slow and somewhat confused, but by the third flight we had understood and were working smoothly. I say WE, but I was the lucky one. I was provided with a helper, who was no less a person than the manager of the Hall, Stephanie Cannon. I marked the paper slip and she then entered the information onto my I-pad. This made it easy for me as I pleaded total computer illiteracy. Stephanie was truly a treasure, both kind and endlessly efficient.
There was a sandwich and plenty of fruit and cheese for a simple but filling buffet lunch sur place, and the tasting continued all afternoon until around 18.00. By then we had tasted 8 series of 8 wines each, the last series being fruit wines with cranberry, pear, raspberry, strawberry and pineapple. When all was completed, we were bussed to a reception at a modern social art gallery with curios and paintings for sale. Snacks and wine were liberally provided. My good friend Tim O’Connor and I hitched a lift back t the hotel and a little later Bonnie arrived and took 6 of us off to Austin, to a high-end steak-house, RUTH’S CHRIS STEAK HOUSE. Here we drank CAMUS 2016 and I ate a vast Rib-Eye steak with shoestring potatoes and onion rings; then an immense, warm apple pie. We all went back to the hotel with Uber and I was in bed by midnight.
On Saturday I had the same breakfast with crispy bacon added and we continued the tasting until lunchtime. In the afternoon we judged the finals. We tasted all the wines that had won gold medals and chose the winners and the runners-up. We went back to the hotel for a short rest and to get dressed for the “Boots and Bottles” Gala Evening. This was back again in the Hall, which had been completely revamped and redecorated. It looked magnificent. There were lashings of food, hundreds of wines, country music and singing, wine tours for sale, a huge range of items to buy, raffle tickets, massage and much more….
I spent a very jolly evening eating ribs, tasting blueberry Vodka, being massaged and listening to country music, before taking the bus back with Tim and lying on a bed in his room drinking Lopez Heredia and Enfant Jesus Burgundy. I retired about midnight.
Sunday was Vineyard Visiting Day organised splendidly by Bonnie. We had a late breakfast and left at 10.30 to drive a long way to HAWK’S SHADOW WINERY AD VINEYARD in Texas Hill Country, in Dripping Springs. Wonderfully rustic! Limestone caves full of Bordeaux barrels. Belonging to Doug and Tom Reed and Chip Conklin, the first wines were made in 2011. Classical European grape varieties: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Riesling, Chenin, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Touriga Nacional. The winery also gives house-room (co-location) to Siboney Cellars, owned by Miguel and Barbara Lecuona, and we tasted their wines as well. Texas is vast! In Central Texas the vintage is in late June through July. In West Texas September/October and in North Texas late October. I took away with me a bottle of Hawk’s Shadow 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon matured in Tonnellerie Nadalié oak barrels (the cooperage is 10 minutes from my home in the Médoc).
Our second visit was to Ron Yates at Ron Yates Winery, Newsom Vineyard, Texas Hill Country at Spicewood. Ron is the 8th generation of farmers and ranchers and is totally passionate about his wine making. The Texas Wine Industry is now a $13.1 billion industry, but Ron is a small, fine, 50-acre winery aiming for the best possible quality. His Viognier 2018 was outstanding and his 2017 Touriga Nacional magnificent. Very low yields, maturation in the finest French oak barrels, attention to the smallest details and an overwhelming aim to be the best. His red wines have already won “Best of Texas”. He promised to come and see me in Bordeaux and bring his Cabernet Sauvignon with him. I was hugely impressed as, very stupidly, I had not expected to find such fine wine in Texas.
Sadly, instead of visiting another vineyard we went back to Austin, to a warehouse that called itself The Austin Winery. A thoroughly depressing place with no character and very poor wines. It claims to have pressed 85 tons of grapes in 2018, but the results were seriously unimpressive. We left as soon as we could, cancelled a visit to some other wine vaults and went to a steakhouse for our last dinner, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse. Splendid! We drank Camus 2016 again and I had roasted marrow bone, a 16-ounce New York Strip Steak with a lobster on the top and Key Lime Pie. We were a merry party as Bonnie had also invited all the volunteers who helped at the tasting competition and the Sunday Judges Wine Tour Team. It was a wonderful last evening and the same luxury bus took us back to the hotel where I declined a drink of Champagne in Tim’s bedroom and retired gracefully. Tim is a doctor from Rochester, with whom I taste at the Great American International Wine Competition in the Finger Lakes, and generously stood me both the steak meals. Entertaining and excellent company.
The next day was a long and tedious journey home, including missed flights, lost suitcases and excessive weariness. However, I finally arrived and went straight to be with all my memories intact.
The competition and all involved in it are to be warmly congratulated on a magnificent performance and great generosity and hospitality. It must be good for the Texas wine industry, and it shows clearly how wine production is developing and improving not only in Texas, but all over the USA. There are over 100 vineyards in Texas and some 950 throughout the USA. Thank you, Bonnie,thank you Michi, for your warm welcome, for enlightening me about wine in Texas and in helping Texan wines become known far beyond heir borders. Please invite me back!
John Salvi Master of Wine