On Friday

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On Friday, March 4, 2005, The Wine Society of Texas (501c3 - nonprofit educational organization) held its 6^th annual Texas ’ Best Wine Competition at the Conrad Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston . This wine competition is the largest and most popular Texas-only competition. Approximately 150 wines were entered to the competition from 31 Texas wineries; nine, award-winning, non-Texas wines were used as “ringers” to benchmark the competition. Pouring, tagging and serving were under the direction of Kevin Simon from the college with assistance from his hospitality students. Judging was based on a blind tasting using a modified University of California – Davis 20-point evaluation method with points awarded for color, clarity, aroma, taste and overall impression. Medals were awarded based on competitive evaluation of the highest scoring wines in each wine category provided that minimum required scores were achieved for gold, silver and bronze medals. NOTE: Photos available upon request.

A description of the competition and judges (best panel yet!) and use of net proceeds is provided online at:

http://www.winesocietyoftexas.org/2005WineCompetition/2005CompetitionLetter.htm

This years judging panel included wine notables from around the State of Texas :

Wes Marshall – Wine Writer/Austin Chronicle ( Austin )

Michele Sanders – Lone Star Wines ( Ft. Worth )

Chesley Sanders – Lone Star Wines ( Ft. Worth )

Chris Shepherd – Brennan’s of Houston ( Houston )

Silas Rushton – Advantage Wine Sales and Marketing - Glazer’s (Houston)

Randall E. McCrea, CSW - A Class of Wine, LLC ( Georgetown )

Sean Beck – Backstreet Café & Hugo’s (Houston)

John Demers - Delicious Mischief and ArtsHouston

Mark La Rue – Smith & Wollensky (Houston)

Mark C. Roberts, CSW - Wine Service Consulting Inc. ( Plano )

Martin Korson – Central Market ( Houston )

Dan Redman - WineRight Inc. (Houston)

Jim Cubberly - Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill ( Austin )

Mark Mattingly - Fine Wine Specialist – Republic (Houston)

The winners by category and medal are given online at:

http://www.winesocietyoftexas.org/2005WineCompetition/2005winecomp_winners.htm

The Top Ten Scoring Wines (shown in no order below) will go to a public Taste-Off for the 2005 Lead Steer Award at a venue to be announced later:

Spicewood Vineyards, Rosé of Merlot 2004

Texas Hills Vineyard, Orange Moscato, Newsom Vineyard 2003

Fall Creek Vineyards, Granite Reserve 2003

Becker Vineyards, Claret 2003

Llano Estacado , Chenin Blanc 2004

Delaney Vineyards, Sauvignon Blanc 2002

La Bodega Winery, Private Reserve Merlot 2003

Llano Estacado , Cabernet Sauvignon Cellar Reserve, Newsom Vineyard 2002

Flat Creek Estate, Travis Peak Select, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2002

Flat Creek Estate, Muscato Blanco 2004

Good news!! Eight of the top ten scoring Texas wines out scored all but one of the award-winning non-Texas Ringers (the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc). Furthermore, Newsom Vineyard (Plains, Texas ) scored big with two Single Vineyard Designated wines making it into the top ten scoring wines and four in the medal winning categories. More analysis will be coming out in future articles and news releases.

The competition ringers and benchmark wines were:

Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (Wine Spectator 2004 Top 100 Wines) 2004

Chateau Gruaud Larose Bordeaux – Ste. Julien(2004 Best Selling Restaurant French Bordeaux ) 2001

Kenwood, Chardonnay Russian River Valley Reserve 2002

Columbia Crest Grand Estates Columbia Valley Merlot (Wine Spectator 2004 Top 100 Wines) 2001

Yellow Tail Cabernet-Shiraz 2004

Chalone Vineyard Estate Syrah (Wine Spectator 2004 Top 100 Wines) 2002

Château Souverain Sonoma County Chardonnay 2003

Domaine Amido Les Amandines – Tavel 2003

Echelon Viognier, Esperanza Vineyard – Clarksburg (Gold Medal – 2003 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition) 2001

Wineries will receive a detailed confidential scoring analysis relative to other Texas and the benchmark wines with judges’ comments.

Regards,

Dr. Russell D. Kane

Executive Director

www.winesocietyoftexas.org

HoustonWine.com, 1004 Congress Street, Second Floor, Houston, TX 77002