Judgment of Denver

At last week’s 2016 Colorado Governor’s Cup wine competition I, in my capacity with the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, organized a wine tasting I’m calling “The Judgment of Denver.” Each year at the Governor’s Cup we do a calibration tasting to have the judges calibrate their palate/scores to benchmark wine (that benchmark isn’t always high). This year, I decided to model the calibration portion of the competition after the 1976 “Judgment of Paris” because it was the 40th anniversary of that original blind tasting and Warren Winiarski, founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, was once again one of the judges. These two facts seemed like good enough reason to reenact the tasting once more – multiple retastings of the original wines and a New Jersey vs. French wine tasting have been reported on many times. None of the judges, except Warren Winiarski (I thought I should check with him on the idea), had any idea what they were tasting apart from a flight of Chardonnay and a flight of red Bordeaux blends/varietals.

Ranking the score by the judge overcomes some problems caused by using the raw judge score, however in the case of this tasting no real changes resulted in adjusting of the data. Using a rank-order analysis (similar to statistical analysis of both the Judgment of Paris and the Judgment of Paris) the results of the “Judgment of Denver” are as follows in order of ranked sum (it just so happens raw scores follow the same order):

Chardonnay

1. Chalone Vineyard 2011 (55 points against – 110 total score)
2. Guy Drew Vineyard *2014 (55 points against – 108.5 total score)
3. Freemark Abbey 2013 (55 points against – 107.5 total score)
4. Joseph Drouhin 2008 (59.5 points against – 105.5 total score)
5. Plum Creek 2014 Reserve* (61.5 points against – 104 total score)
6. Settembre Cellars 2011* (79.5 points against – 80.5 total score)
7. Stone Cottage Cellars 2014* (89.5 points against – 70 total score)
8. Chateau Montelena 2013 CORKED

Red Bordeaux Blends/Varietals

1. Ridge Vineyards 2011 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (39.5 points against – 123.5 total score)
2. Chateau Montrose 2012 St-Estephe (59 points against – 112 total score)
3. Winery at Holy Cross Abbey 2012 Merlot Reserve* (60.5 points against – 109.5 total score)
4. Bookcliff Vineyards 2010 Cabernet Franc Reserve* (69 points against – 105.5 total score)
5. Freemark Abbey 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon (77.7 points against – 99 total score)
6. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 2011 Fay Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (82.5 points against – 96 total score)
7. Sutcliffe Vineyards 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon* (91 points against – 82 total score)
8. Creekside Cellars 2010 Robusto* (97 points against – 79.5 total score)

*denotes Colorado wine

Take the results as you want, but they were statistically significant. If you want to read the statistical (I’m not a statistician and I’m not in academia anymore so in no way would this a rigorous study) evaluation, you can do so here.

That looks like about what you’d expect - the Colorado wines clearly the worst, but the best showing CO wine on that day being competitive with wines from elsewhere.

Thanks for sharing those results (again) Kyle. Pretty good showing for CO wines I would say.
Did Warren have anything to say about the finish of his Stag’sLeap?
Tom

How were the Colorado wines picked?

Warren did have a laugh at the placement of the SLWC. He said he couldn’t pick it out (it wasn’t from his years as winemaker) and he actually ranked it in the bottom half of the flight.

Overall, the judges were quite shocked when we told them the lineup. They said though they had preferences of the wines, there were no real inherent qualitative differences that would cause them to identify any of the wines as not being on the same level in each flight. It was a fun little exercise!

To be clear, the mean/median score for the CO wines was 92.4/93.0. For the non-CO wines, it was 107.6/107.5. This tasting was great evidence that CO wines aren’t that good.

Your understanding of statistics is not very strong.

The “other” wines were selected by what was available at retailers in Denver.

The CO wines were selected by a combination of which wines have performed well at the competition in the past and to use eight different wineries from a variety of CO regions. I wouldn’t say the selection represented the “best possible” from CO, but was good nonetheless.

I should note that two judges mentioned the Creekside was “off” after the labels were revealed, but since no-one said anything during the tasting, i left the results as is.

Interesting. As a drinker of Colorado wines, I think the results fall inline with my personal experiences. Years ago, Colorado wines in general were marginal at best, with an exception or two. Today, especially for the Bordeaux varietals, I would put Colorado wines right in there with at least Oregon and Washington and possibly some California offerings. I have had some great Cabs, Petit Verdot and some blends from 2013/2014 that have been some of the best Colorado wines I have ever had. I am headed up to Creekside tomorrow to pick up some more of her 2013 Cab which is outstanding.

Yes, but the results may be different if KJ Vintners Reserve and Mouton Cadet were used as the ‘competition.’

It’s always good to see a newer region moving forward. The big issue I usually see is pricing (the big problem for well made Virginia wines). How do the CO prices compare to the non-CO wines from the event?

Well, Michael…guess I’d have to agree there. I’ve…uhhhhh…followed them from the very start. The Ivancie wines that were made there in Denver
were pretty marginal at best when I started tasting them back in the early '70’s. Think the main problem was the grapes they had to use.
The winemaker seemed competent enough, though. He went on to greener pastures. Name was Warren something-or-other!!!
Tom

Kyle,
Did MikeDunne or AlderYarrow have any comments on this result and the CO wines in general??
Tom

The CO prices were something like: $16, $18, $22 $24, $26 $30 $50, $50

The non-CO wines were approximately: $30, $38, $40, $40, $55, $90, $105, $110

The average bottle price of CO wines $17. Most fall into $15-$25 range. There are but a handful of CO wines above $50/bottle. The average size of a CO winery is ~1,200 case annual production.

Doing advanced statistical analysis would be a waste of my time (though well within my ability) for a tasting that either has no statistical significance or, if it does, evidences the inferiority of CO wine, which is sort of like “Napa cab over 14% alcohol” and “brett in Pegau” on the list of wine board revelations.

I don’t want to speak for them (they should have their own thoughts published in the coming days/weeks), but overall they were both very impressed. They noted that yes there are clunkers in CO, but the top wines rival the top wines from anywhere. Alder and Mike were quite impressed with the syrah and cab suav. I did hear Alder say that a viognier (maybe it was a roussane) was better than most CA rhone whites he’s tasted.

You are correct. When you know the outcome of something it is not worth doing that thing. I will defer to your superiority…

Good…glad to hear that, Kyle. Send me a head’s up when they put something out.
When will the official results be out??

As I’ve mentioned before, I wish they were a bit more adventuresome in the varieties they plant up there in CO.
Would like to see Nebb/Teroldego/Refosco/Schioppettino/Mondeuse…all sorts of stuff.

I assume you were as amused as I this morning when Heimhof dislocated his shoulder patting himself on his back
for being one of the first national wine critics to recognize the glories of PasoRobles. I had to bite my tongue… Jeez!!!
Tom

The winning wines are here

The full list will go on the website next week.

And yes, those cultivars were mentioned several times. Unfortunately the growers/winemakers are the ones that need convincing… not the people in that room! Someday, someday…

Did not read Stevie yet today… Good for him, though

LOL!

Remind me not to read your future ranking analyses!