Winners of the 2013 Austin Country Fair Wine Show Judging

Winners of the 2013 Austin Country Fair Wine Show Judging

On Saturday, October 12, 2013, the Austin County Fair held their 2013 Non-commercial Wine Show and Judging at the Austin County Fairgrounds – Turnverein Building, in Bellville, Texas. The event was coordinated by the Austin County Grape Growers Committee.

In this event, the wines were evaluated by two panels of judges in the following classifications: 1-Red Wine- Dry, 2-Red Wine – Sweet, 3-White Wine – Dry, 4-White Wine – Sweet; 5-Fruit/Berry, 6-Dessert/Port Style, 7-Kit Wine/Non TX Grapes, 8-Kit Wine/Non TX Grapes, 9-Native/Mustang Grape, 10-Blush.

The aim of this competition is to promote local grape growing and winemaking in Austin County and the surrounding area, a region that is rapidly expanding with commercial vineyard and winery operations specializing in Blanc Du Bois and Lenior (Black Spanish) grapes and wines.

Having served on the judges panel several times, I can definitely say that with every year the quality of the wines has increased. This year was no exception!

Featured winners were the Runner Up Best of Show Michael Goode and the Best of Show Martha Tarkington:

and the Best Austin County Produced Wine Billy Schaffner (Representing Billy was his daughter Laurie Michalke, Granddaughter in Law Lauren Michalke, great grandson Sterling Michalke and granddaughter Michaela Fleming):

The complete list of winners of this year’s competition in the various classifications are given below: