From the Cynic's Guide to Wine:

Q: What's the simplest way to identify a below-average Michigan wine?
A: Look for the Bronze Medal on the bottle neck.

Think I'm kidding, or being gratuitously nasty?  Let's look at the numbers. 

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Best Dry White: 2006 Left Foot Charley Pinot Blanc, "Island View Vineyard"
Best Semi-Dry White: Gills Pier 2006 Riesling
Best Dessert: 2005 Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling Ice Wine
Best Dry Red: 2005 Longview Cabernet Franc Vintner Reserve
Best Semi-Dry/Sweet Red: Leelanau Cellars Great Lakes Red
Best Sparkling Wine: Tabor Hill Grand Mark Brut

I heartily concur with the first four. Each of them received my vote for Best of Class and I'd run, not walk, to land some bottles of the Left Foot Charley, Chateau Grand Traverse, and Longview.

I never got to taste the Great Lakes Red because, under the competition's rules, as the only sweeter red to receive a gold medal at a judging table it automatically became "Best of Class" without a taste-off or vote by the entire group of judges. If you like sweet red wines, give it a try.

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It's 2 PM, and we're taking an unexpected break for glass-washing. A number of tasters at various tables have complained of fish-like aromas infesting the glasses, which are being rinsed, but not washed, betweeen flights. Tablemate Brian Cain observed that the smell is simply reminiscent of Grand Rapids tap water to him -- but this view didn't prevail, so we're on a half-hour hiatus while all the glasses get re-rinsed.

Before the break, we voted room-wide for the best-of-class dry red. The decisive winner was a 2005 Cab Franc double-gold medalist that came from our table; my guess is that it's the Brys, which I think I recognized from two previous tastings. This is a wine that I've always rated extremely highly but with my fingers lightly crossed -- it's so monstrously tannic and closed right now that one can only hope it eventually comes around to pleasurability after five or so years of cellaring.

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It's a dirty job, but...

I'm judging at Table 4, along with wine writer Ray Heald, MSU viticulture professor Paolo Sabbatini, and wholesaler Brian Cain. Our table received some plum tasting assignments this morning: 2006 Pinot Grigio (1 gold medal), Dry Gewurztraminer (2 gold medals) and Cabernet Franc (2 gold medals). Because we taste all the wines blind, we have no idea the identity of those we gave medals to.

Afterwards, the entire room retasted and voted for best-of-class among the gold medal winners among the gold medal winners in all the dry white and sparkling wine categories. A 2006 Pinot Blanc won the whites in a walkaway; the strong assumption around the room being that it's Bryan Ulbrich's Left Foot Charley Island View Vineyard. A "traditional" Champagne-style blend took the best-in-class bubbly.

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Tomorrow's task: to judge 365 wines. With six tables of four judges apiece, that's an average of 61 wines each judge gets to taste.

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I'm headed to MSU's Kellogg Center in East Lansing this afternoon, a newbie judge at the 2007 Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition.

According to the press materials, we judges are a mongrel assemblage of 24 "experts" who range from Doug Frost, the only Master of Wine AND Master Sommelier in the US, to Scott Harvey, Riesling guru and California winemaker extraordinaire. Included in the mix are members of the press, wholesale, retail and restaurant trades, consumer tasting groups, and all three Michigan-resident Master Sommeliers.

Why so many judges? That's based on the logistics of the competition. Four judges work together as a crew at each table, jointly tasting and judging the entries in specific categories. With six tables of judges and perhaps 350 wines entered, that gives each of us close to 60 wines to evaluate. And while Robert Parker is reputed to taste through as many as 200 wines in a day (!), my palate fatigue can set in after as few as a couple of dozen -- particularly if they're big reds or sweet dessert wines.

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