Best wines on the vine

Danette Goulet

FAIRGROUNDS -- Gone are the days of having to stare at endless shelves

of wine labels without a clue. The experts have done all your dirty work.

In the Wine Court at the Orange County Fair, anyone of age can merely

go up and order an award-winning wine for only $1 for a one-ounce taste,

regardless of the price of the bottle.

“I haven’t had a bad one yet,” said Dan Linkey of Fountain Valley, as

he relaxed with a taste of chardonnay.

At the fair’s 2001 Wine Awards, more than 500 California wineries put

2,677 wines up against one another and were judged by a panel of their

peers.

These two factors are what make the wine competition at the Orange

County Fair so distinctive, said Dennis Esslinger, president of the

Orange County Wine Society, which co-sponsors the event.

“It is California wines only,” he said. “Wines have to be made from

grapes grown in California -- that makes it very unique. It’s not like

L.A. or San Francisco’s.”

The second rare trait of the Orange County event is that the judges

are all wine makers or winery owners.

“All the others use wine writers,” Esslinger said. Orange County

“judges tend to be very critical because they are in the business.”

At a two-day competition held in June, judges sat in five-person

panels and gave wines either no medal, bronze, silver or gold. If four

out of five judges individually gave a certain wine a gold medal, it is

named a four-star gold.

As a special treat, in honor of the competition’s 25th anniversary,

four best-of-show wines were also named.

Wineries “loved that, so we’ll probably continue that each year,”

Esslinger said.

Founded in 1976, the Orange County Wine Society Inc. is a rapidly

growing nonprofit educational corporation whose purpose is to promote the

knowledge and understanding of wine.

There are about 1,000 members with about 300 active in volunteering

for events such as the fair, where they pour the wine.

The funds brought in at the fair through tastings, wine classes and

the sale of an award-winning wine manual are the society’s sole

fund-raisers, aside from members’ annual dues.

While it’s a crucial time for the wine society, it is pure pleasure

for those who stroll in to listen to the evening pianist and sip some

wine.

“It’s a quick way to sample local wines without the drive,” said Sue

Morgon of Mission Viejo.