Winners at the 2014 Austin County Wine Show

Jerry-and-Winners
Grand Champion Jerry Watson, Silver Medalist Martha Tarkington and Bronze Medal winner Ken Krienke at the 2014 Austin County Wine Show (Photo credit: Barker Photography – www.barkerphotography.com)

Winners at the 2014 Austin County Wine Show

I once spoke with Texas high plains winegrower Neal Newsom about the differences in growing grapes for wine and growing other crops like hay and cotton. He looked back at me and said, “When we go to show, it’s a heck of a lot more fun when we meet-up to review and discuss wine grapes and drink wine than we have at hay meetings.”

Well, that is exactly how I feel having recently been a judge at the 2014 Austin County Wine Show Non-Commercial Competition sponsored by the Austin County Grape Growers Committee. I had far more fun tasting (and afterwards) drinking wine than I would have had chewing on a stalk of hay, that’s for dang sure.

Having been a wine judge for several years now, it was also good to see (and taste) that the wines made by amateur (non-commercial) winemakers in Texas continue to get better every year. It is good to see that Blanc Du Bois, the white grape of the Gulf Coast and post oak plains continues to be gaining acceptance by winemakers and consumers alike.

Austin-County-Grape-Growers

This year’s winners were:

Dry Red Wine: Gold – Scott Greene; Silver – Doug Rowlett; Bronze – Ken Krienke

Sweet Red Wine: Gold – Billy Schaffner and George Holm – Tie; Silver – Martha Tarkington; Bronze -Martha Tarkington

Dry White Wine: Gold – Barrett Rouse; Silver – Scott Greene; Bronze – Jerry Watson

Sweet White Wine: Gold – Jerry Watson; Silver Martha Tarkington; Bronze – Ken Krienke

Fruit / Berry Wine: Gold – Dave Grimme and Billy Schaffner – Tie; Silver – Dave Grimme; Bronze – Alfred Tomasek and George Holm

Dessert & Port Style Wine: Gold – Barrett Rouse; Silver – Kenneth Wuensche; Bronze – Scott Greene

Kit Wine (Non-TX) Grapes – Dry Red Wine: Gold – Alfred Tomasek; Silver – Richard Clayton

Kit Wine (Non-TX) Grapes – Dry White Wine: No awards given

Kit Wine (Non-TX) Grapes – Sweet Wine: Gold – Richard Clayton; Silver – John Martine; Bronze – Richard Clayton

Native Grape / Mustang Wine: Gold – Danny Koester; Silver – John Martine; Bronze – Alfred Tomasek

Blush Wine: Gold – Kenneth Wuensche; Silver – Kenneth Wuensche; Bronze – Barrett Rouse

Overall Winners: Grand Champion – Jerry Watson; Reserve Grand Champion – Barrett Rouse

Overall Austin County Winner: Grand Champion – Scott Greene

Jerry Watson, Overall Grand Champion from this year’s judging for his sweet Blanc Du Bois, said, “I started making wine from kits in the seventies then in the nineties, when we started growing, I moved on to fruit and then grape wines. Normally, I make dry Blanc Du Bois, but this year, I also made some sweet Blanc to keep my sweet wine drinking friends happy.”

When I asked him what it took to make good wine with Blanc Du Bois, he said, “A good slow, cold fermentation works best; something around 50-55 F that takes 2-3 weeks to complete. Then, make sure that the finished wine has a good sugar/acid balance.”

Greene-&-Palasios
Jack Palacios & Scott Greene – The grapes for Scott’s gold medal, Grand Champion Syrah was grown in the Palacios family vineyard in Brenham, Texas.

Scott Greene, this year’s Austin County Overall Grand Champion, wanted to make sure the man who grew the grapes that were in his award winning wine was acknowledged. He said, “I want to make sure that you mention Jack Palacios. The Syrah in my wine was the produced in his vineyard. Syrah is not exactly a big grape for this part of Texas and Jack and his operation are to be commended. The Palacios family have been growing vinifera grapes with some success for several years not to far from here in Brenham. I have been the beneficiary, as I made the wine, but Jack should get an award for growing the grapes.”

Then, Scott added an additional note that indicated he was looking for further winemaking challenges. He said, “I’m still trying to find the Holy Grail for making a Black Spanish red table wine.”

Scott, as you well know, many have tried, but very few have succeeded. Perhaps it will be next year for you. Maybe it will be a Black Spanish/Syrah blend. Congrats to you and all participants and winners of this year’s Austin County Wine Show.

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Love to taste, talk and tweet about Texas wines and where they are in the global scheme for wines. After all that's the only way they will reach the full potential.

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